Middletown transcript., 1906-11-17
THE OFFICIAL BALLOT

Week. ufhd y tON w ID de9 Y y gsac
expense Of preparing and print
ing the official ballots and when
Che latter bill was before the
Levy Court on Tuesday Com.
missioner Scott opposed its pay
Inent, bnt uneffectually There
can Be 10 question that the pres
ent election law is entirely too
expensive as well as cumber-
some. But that is the fault
neither 0f the Clerk Of the Peace
nor the printer The price paid
this year, S12. 50 per thousand is
more than a quarter cheaper
than was paid during Mr. SCOTS
presidency Of the Levy Court,
when more than Sl7 per thous.
and was paid. Fear was ex-
pressed that the Clerk of the
Peace was to present bill Of
$500 for preparing and super
vising the printing and distribu-
This is the same sum that
has been allowed at every cleo
tion since the present law was
enacted, in addition to which the
Democrats were in the habit of
allowing extra compensation to
the Deputy Clerk of the Peace,
the President of the Levy Court,
County Treasurer and other Off
cials whose duties were increas-
ed by reason of the election.
ton. The difference seems to be
that formerly Democrats got the
money, now it is Repub blicans.
The burden of Eoeyy Erening's
plant seems to be that the Com
pany who received the contract
did not do the actual printing
Every EUening well knows that
the setting of the type and the
presswork was not the only
work. The writer had occasion
to go into the Neaos Office while
the ballots we're being folded,
counted and boxed, and was as
tonished at the number of people
employed and the labor involved.
The law requires that there be
placed in each of the boxes land
there are Two Of them for each Of
the 119 Election Districts in the
county twice as many ballots as
there were votes cast at the last
election. Therefore the number
of ballots was nearly i've times
the actual number of voters
There seems to us no reasonable
ground to complain at the price
for the ballots. The trouble is
with the law.
The Journal uses this condition
as an excuse to make another
personal attack upon the present
Clerk Of the Peace and INDUCES
in hard words, robbery, " "eut-
rageous imposition, " etc, being
frequently interspersed through
out its editorial Everyone
knows the animus of the writer.
It has no desire to subserve d
public interest. We expect that |
people will be using the same
kind oflanguage about theJ Journal
when its bill for advertising the
license list is presented. It had
no contract with the State, nor
was it authorized by the Clerk to
print the advertisement. But,
the ad. from the Morn
ing Mesos, it has its little bill ready
for the Legislature. This bill
also accounts for the honeyed
words it is now bestowing on
former Union Republicans who
have been elected mem bers of the
Assembly.
This, of course, has nothing to
do with the main question, but is
only a little side issue. The i'm
portant fact to be born in mind is
that 10 register and poll the vote
Of New Castle County, costs be-
tween $25, 900 and $50, 900 aud
that it is entirely too much.
There are ll9 Districts, in each
Of which three registration off i
GERS sit for five days and rent of
the rooms has to be paid. TheL
the lists of the voters registered
in August must be printed and
posted At The election, five
men are paid for one day and
two for q second day. On top of
this comes the printing and de-
livery Of the ballots. This sub
iect should receive the earnest
attention of the Assembly. I'm
der the present constitution,
there Is probably no way TO re-
duce the number Of registration
days, II there were, We think
that two days sittings for tie
purpose of striking off names of
dead and removed voters and