Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-01-26

Cairo and from Pike county to the
banks Of the Wabash
The disclosures OF the ballot market
|at Danv11le have sent boulder crash
Ing down tho mountain side. It is gain
Ing momentum daily. Legislators and
state officials who are conversant with
political methods in vogue downstate
say that before 1t is stopped many a
city and county will be tangled up In
tho wreckage.
Rapaejous Fraud Monster.
Strangely enough. the very political
machines which brought the vote-buy-
ing system to its present state Of de-
velopment arc expected to be the en-
gines for Its destruction. It has grown
into q 1apacious Ffankenstein's mon-
ster, and its creators would now be
glad to feed It poison. stick 1t in the
Of their incumbrance.
It has grown too expensive. In some
counties it now eats up all the profits
vote sellers and wholesale disfranchise-
ment Of the purchasable squads. 1t is
generally said at the statehouse. would
be greeted with toy by the politicians
who now buy votes on election day.
Keen interest Is being manifester In
the Vermillion county scandal by the
lawmakers. Most of them are chary
about talking for quotation, hesitating
to bring the vote-selling pack about
their ears. They say openly. however.
that the conditions in Danville are dup
Heated in other Illinois communities
galore and that batch of indictments
in Vermilion county would blow off
the lid in many sections OF the state.
During the week there has been con-
siderable talk Of starting an inquiry
by the general assembly into the vote
marketing scandal. The members In
general, however, believe that a cure
can best be effected thru grand juries
and by the enactment Of corrupt
practices law.
vsrmillion Mere Novice.
According to information given by
legislators Of long experience in poll
tics. Vermillion county is mere no.
vice. when 1t comes to vote buying. In
Edgar County, it is said. the art has
reached its highest degree OF perfec-
ton. State political leaders have talk
ed conhdentially for years of the pur-
chasable vote in Edgar county. prin-
cipally In the city OF Paris.
The system is said to have grown up
gradually in the past twenty years or
so. 1t started with cigars and wound
up with bank notes. The result. 1t is
asserted. is that in some precincts there
are voters who refuse to vote unless
they are slipped "a little CON-"
In Coles county, according to report
the conditions in some elections have
been as bad as In Danville. In Dan
vile the purchaseable vote is already
estimated. Some leaders in the dis
trict put it at 500. others say it Is 1900
at minimum: still others say that IL,
the last election it ran between $500
and 1000. The cities Of Mattoon and
Charleston are said to be the Coles
county points where vote buying Is
centered.
Smaller Cities Ho%bsds.
One amazing feature Of the growing
scandal il that some Of. the smaller cit
les are the real hotbeds OF the corrup-
ton. They have no ''hoboes." no bar
rel-houses. no transient population to
speak of, still they are said to be far
worse than the First and Eighteenth
wards in Chicago when it comes to
trafficking in ballots.
In Pittsield. over in Pike county, for
instance. the bought vote is said by
reputable persons to be about one-
fourth Of the entire vote cast It has
perhaps between 600 and 500 voters.
Leaders In the county say Pittsf1eld
has at least 200 purchaseable votes.
Jacksonville. in Morgan county, Is
another city in which vote buying Is
said to be far from unknown. In the
corridor talk today It Is said that votes
brought as high as $50 each in recent
elections.
Springfield. tho capital city, II an
other with an odoriferous record. Ac-
cording to the grand Jury investiga-