River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-09-17
SHALL THE PEOPLE RULE
Declared to Be a Paramount Issue
in Democratic Arkansas.
The Situation Tnto1erable to Free
People.

JnaC the OVefSnau0WlnS issue Wnlcn
manifests itself in all the questions
now under discussion, is, shall the peo-
pie rule? No matter which way we
turn; no matter to what subject we adj
dress ourselves, the same question con-
fronts u.s."
If Mr.. Bryan will turn towards al
most any Southern state which has
been under permanent Democratic con-
troll, he will quickly find a field for
practical work in the direction of hav-
ing the people rule. Let him, for in
stance, turn towards Arkansas, where
there is a campaign in progress involv-
ing, above all other issues, the reform
of the present electoral system of the
state.
The Issue in Arkansas.
OF this system, and of some of the
issues involved in the campaign, George
L. Mallory, Secretary Arkansas State
League of Republican Clubs, in an adj
dress delivered August q, 1908, at
Maumelle, Arkansas, said:
'In the last national contest the Re
publicans of this state polled AZ per
cent of the total vote cast. Roosevelt
received only 1900 fewer votes than
Parker, and this with the returns held
back for twenty days by the election
boards before the results were an
nounced. If it required twenty days to
tpatch up majority OF only 1900 for
Parker, who is there who will not say
that by every application of circum-
stantial evidence Roosevelt actually
carried Arkansas in 1904.
"The Democrats often say they grow
tired of hearing the Republicans ever
Iliastingly talking about the Arkansas
detection law. But just as long as this
ubiquitous system remains with us and
the machine that it has created con-
tinues faithfully and unerringly to
grind out majorities for the dominant
lparty, giving the minority no represen-
tation of their own choice on the
county boards or at the polling places,
just so long will we cry the issue from
the housetops and demand the common
rights of American citizens.
81 have no hesitancy in saying that
the fertile source Of nine-tenths of all
the evils under which this state suf-
fers is the Democratic election law of
1891.
1.-THE law that places the whole ma
chinery Of elections in the hands of
three Democratic office-holders, often
themselves candidates for reelection, is
itself the strongest circumstantial evil
hot &c. fbn inf fn
the election. Add to this the refusal
to allow the Republicans, who cast 40
per cent of the vote in this state, the
right to name their own election judges
and clerks, and the evidence is almost
complete to convince the most conserva-
tive man of the fact that Republicans
in Arkansas are beforehand marked for
defeat, and that fairness and honesty
and the reputation of the state will all
be sacrificed, if necessary, to carry out
the corruption.
1.-THE Democrats have frankly given
as their excuse for this law that it was
created for the purpose of counting out
the negro. Yet we all know that the
worst features Of this law are invoked
in the white counties of the state
where the Republicans would surely
win if given an equal chance with the
Democrats at the polls.
IntoIerabIe Situation.
"The situation is intolerable to free
people. In 1776 my forefathers and
yours fought and bled because they
were taxed aud were not allowed rep
resentation. To-day, the Republicans,
Prohlbitionists, Socialists, and Popu-
lists are taxed and are DISTINGUISHED.
They all contribute to the support Of
the state institutions; they bear their
share of the cost of public improve
ments they do all that any citizen does
to pay the running expenses Of city
county and state, but they are not al
lowed representation. They pay taxes
but the law prevents them saying who
shall represent them as the LEVERS Of
taxes.
"More than that, this law opens
yawning grave to every rising man in
Arkansas who claims the right of indie
pendent thought. 1t stiles every laud-
able political aspiration; it stands with
a flaming sword in the path of anyone
who would gain preferment outside of
the Democratic party; it blasts hope
and kills ambition, and over it all it
laws it's bIighting hand upon the ballot
box, corrupting and perjuring our DEM
ocratic officials and robbing us Of the
elective franchise, the most sacred and
valuable prerogatiYe of free citizen
ship.
"This is the paramount issue in our
state campaign; not the state capitol;
not the convict system; not the trusts,
but whether Arkansas as a state is to
be honest and square with her people
and treat them all with equality and
even-handed justice, which is conceded
to be the right of every American citi-
zen under the Constitution. The Re
publicans who are working side by side
with the Democrats in business, the
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