Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-21
PLEDGE PEOPLE, NOT PARTY
REPUBLICANS AN
sWER DEMOCRATS QUERY.
Come Back With Demand for Assur-
ance OF opsS5ttionS to eVote-
chestiSE Election Law"

| CUMBERLAND, Nd, October 81
Horace P. Whitworth. chairman of the
republican county committee, and F.
Brooke Whiting, chairman of the repub-
| lican state central committee for Allie
! gany county, have replied to the commu-
| nication of Jasper n. Wilson. chairman
| OF the democratic state central committee
for Allegany county, and John P. Schcll-
| haus. chairman of the democratic county
committee, on the subject of the illegiti-
mate use of money at elections.
| The reply. after noting the substance of
the communication that no money be
used either in the campaign or on cleo
ton day by the committees or candidates,
| both parties to enter pledge, says:
! We gather from this that you are I'M
der fear that unless your committees
and candidates are pledged they may
indulge in such Illegal practices. and you
desire to do something to stiffen up
| their good morals and rescue them from
| the impending temptation.
LAS the bribery of voters at an election
| and the illeg1timate uses of money in
campaigns for thosa purposes are crimes
| denounced by the laws of Maryland and
punishable by those laws, if parties are
convicted of them. and as such practices
| in themselves, apart from legal punish
ment. are SO manifestly contrary to all
morality. decency and fair play, we will
say for ourselves and for all the memoe RS
of the committees represent and for
all the candidates of our party. and for
all others in our party over whom we
have any control whatever, in advance
of any pledge on the part of you. your
committee candidates. do pledge our
selves, not to you or the democratic party
or any committee or candidates you rep
resent, but to the whole people of Ale
gany county and the state of Maryland,
that we will not use any money In tls.
coming campaign for the purpose of brib-
Ing voters to vote or refrain from voting
for any particular candidate. measure or
issue, and will not use money or other
thing In any of the illegtimate ways COW
cred by the specifications of your letter.
and we make this pledge wholly ire
spective of the fact Of whether you will
make similar pledge or not.
Honesty and Decency.
Our pledge is based upon the honesty
and decency of our position in the af-
fair, and We should think that if you
are afraid of corrupting politics in re-
spect of the matters stated in your letter
you would have long ago made up your
minds to observe like honest and de-
cent course simply because such a course
would be right in itself and not because
it is to be used upon any condition of
similar promise on our part.
IF 1t is right to abstain from bribery.
as all decent men concede and all decent
men insist, then we do not understand
why your course in this matter is to be
regulated by the conduct of the opposite
party. If it Ii decent thing to do you
ought to he willing. as we are, to do it
wholly irrespective of what anybody else
does.
And now we wish to call your atten-
ton and the attention of the voters gen
orally throughout Allegheny county to
the real. live, vital issue which the peo-
pie are interested in and which affects
the suffrage and manhood of every one
of them. We are especially interested
In this campaign in electing five members
of the house of delegates who will go to
Annapolis next winter and there vote
for the repeal of the Ubiquitous law of
1901. under which annually 1000 to 800
honest unbribed voters in this county
are cheated out Of their votes by the ma
chinery of the democratic election law"
The reply discusses at length the law
enacted to subserve the 'behests of a cor
rupt and rotten democratic state ma
chine and concludes:
Hit at Election Law.
ION the part of ourselves and our COM
mittee and the republican candidates for
the house of delegates we are authorized
to pledge you, sirs, and the whole people
of Allegany county that If those can
didates are elected they will go to Annap-
oils next winter and each and all will
vote and do everything In their power
to repeal this infamous, vote-cheating
democratic machine election law and in
| its place re-enact the election law of
| 1896, which has been tried and under
! which we had perfectly fair elections In
Maryland for five years and until it was
| repealed by the extra session. Will YOU
and your committee and candidates for
the legislature make a similar pledge
| and promise to the people of Allegany
| county? We challenge you and them to
| do so. And since you have inaugurated
| the policy of demanding pledges, we de-
mand of you and them that they do so,
| to the end that the people of Allegany
| county may know where you and they
stand on the question of the repeal of
| this living. breathing outrage upon the
| suffrage of your fellow citizens in Allie
| 1r,r,.r ho