The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-09-21
MARYLAND NEEDS
A RADICAL CHANGE

Government of the people, by the
people, may be, and often is, a mere
pretense. When the election laws Of
anv state have been so iuggled that all
manner of unfairness and trickery may
be accomplished under them, or when
political oligarchy has gained such as
cendancy that it dictates the nominal
lions of the party, then it is preposter-
GUS to speak of the government that re-
suits as being of the people, by the peo-
p,e, for the people, says the Baltimore
American. Such a government Is, as
as every comprehending observer very
well knows, of the machine, by the ma
chine and for the machine. When such
a condition as that just referred to has
been evolved in the electoral system in
any state, the one and only open way of
salvation is in peaceful political revo-
!ution-in other words, the placing of
the control of public affairs under en-
tirely different party management. That
is the one and only way of escape for
the people of Maryland from machine
ruled party that has intrenched itself in
power by an INSCRIPTIONS juggling of
Al. 4 al,
Each party has made certain conven-
tional promises of what it will under
take to do in case the people of the
state intrust with the power of making
and unmaking laws and administering
the statutes But party promises must
always be judged in the light of the
past performances. The Democratic
platform, for instance, promises to re
duce legislative expenses by the elimin-
alton of the padded payroll scheme. In
the legislature Of 1910 the Republican
members Of, both branches were ener-
getic and persistent in their attempts
to prevent the padded-payr0ll fraud,
but they We're outvoted. The legisla-
ture was overwhelmingly Democratic in
both branches. A party that promises
economy in the glittering generalties
of its platform ard then shows such a
contemptuous disregard Of those prom
Uses to pass out from the state treasury
SIS, 900 as free gift to about $50 peo-
pie who had performed no service what
ever to the state-are the people going
to take the renewed economy promises
of such a party at par? Can the olgar-
chy that rules the Democratic party in
this state fool all the people all the
time?
The Democratic legislature of 1910
passed a primary election law which, as
it applied to the counties, permitted
ballots to be marked anywhere and then
to be taken into the polling room and
voted Plainly enough, this feature Of
the law threw it WIDE open to the per-
petratiOn Of bribery and corruption, and
in spite of the quick get-together per
Torrance of the two wings of the Dem
ocratic party, and in spite of the siren
uous hush-uD tactics that have been en-
ployed, the rumblings Of the crooked
doings at the Democratic primaries, in
the city and in many Of the counties,
have not yet ceased to reverberate. But
as to this abortiye primary election law,
the last Democratic platform declares
that the principles which it embodies
must be preserved and rigidly enforced
and the Democratic party of this state
is hereby pledged to do So" AS to the
Wilson trick-ballot, the last Democratic
platform has not one word to say; the
Democratic leaders are standing upon
that scandalous perversion OF thestate's
electoral system. What the people of
this state have reason to expect if the
next Assembly is Democratic is that
the provisions of the trlck-balot law
will be extended so as to include addi-
tional counties and possibly Baltimore
city.
A fair and honest electoral system
will never be provided for this state by
=
legislature and a governor represen-
tative of the Democratic party as that
party is now controlled. Fair election
laws, primary and general, can only be
obtained by intrusting the performance
of this service to the Republican party
by the election of the Republican can
date for governor and Republican leg
islature. The Democratic machine has
been growing continuously holder and
more defiant of public opinion in this
city and throughout the state. Juggling
the electoral system has been a favor
lite performance of Democratic legis-
latures, and there will be more Juggling
if the Democrats win next November.