The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-24
NEW BRAND OF "PURIsTs".

The country will smile in amusement at the
delicate refinement of the Illinois Democracy in
eliminating from lis resolutions the suggestive
word, Jackpot. According to the platform com
mittee, the word was not nice. 1t was spe-
cies of slang that did not comport with the dig
nifty of the convention. 1t was felr--or the con-
vention fell that it was the thing TO feel-that
il would be an unseemlv thing to debauch the
purity of convention diction by the inclusion of
a term tlched from the gaming table The con-
vcntion duly denounced The thing Itself, but
halted al lis designation.
Jack pot" became current in Illinois politics
when several members Of the Legislature con
fe-sed that they had been bcnc6ciares Of brides
offered for votes for Senator Lormer and for
measures desired by the ever present individual
with financial interest in acts Of Assembly. In
addition 10 the bride paid III hand, there was
fund contingent upon the bribctakers' execution
OF the work for which they were employed. This
fund was called the lack pot. 1t was the guard
of the bribers against a double cross 90 be ex-
act, berava) bv the men 10 whom the cor
rnpuon money was paid 1t was designed to SO
cure constancy IN purchase and sale bv the prize
hing up for the contemplation of still Unsuitable
greed. If anything thai number of confessed
criminals says is true the scheme worked with
beautiful precision, The Jack pot. it will be
remembered, was divided in a bath room. The
bribers and the bribed were perfect compliments
OF one another. Legislation moved on oiled wheels
and ball bearings, and the lubricant was in the
shape OF fresh, clean and crinkly bills.
This being the situation, there is tarcica touch
about the convention, literary scrupes The
time was scarcely one for iusistence on the point
OF view of purist in the English language.
1t Is true that the designation of the fund in
question as a jack pot was not good metaphor.
III that jack poi Is something TO which several
gamblers contribute and which only one appro-
PIRATES IN the end; whereas the Illinois lack
pot was fund made up by contributions from
one or two sources and divided among several
participants. However that NAV be. the men who
knew most about it called it jack pot. Ii was
known as a jack pot by those whose hands were
dipped INTO ITS generous pocket. 1t was gIeefully
hailed as jack pot by those who entered the
bath room-not for the purpose Of taking
bath SO that the jack pot, however redolent of
slang II may be in ordinary speech, is a very real
and definite proposition in Illinois. Unfortunate
Iy, more Democrats than Republicans seem to
have shared in lis benefits. At the hands of
Democratic convention it was not only secm1v
that the body should have denounced the prac
tlce but should have called it by name
Perhaps the presence on the platform commit
tee oil q Neal Browne, the gentleman who is
charged with having doled out the fund, and
who, though acquitted on ono charge is still I'M
der indictment on others, had something to do
with this strange literary squeamishness. No
doubt lack pot is word he does not like. 1t
IS something of which he prefers, no doubt, to
think no longer. But the Illinois Democracy can
cleanse itself only by recognizing the jack pot
and the jackpotiers, and having admitted them.
by destroying both them and their practices, root
and branch