The citizen., 1911-10-06
EAIR PLAy-JeALousY.


The first, while not fatal, when not
used, is productive of causing often
the hardest feelings between men,
voters, who while of different political
views under ordinary circumstances
would be friends and co-workers for
the good of the body polite. The Balti-
more papers at this time are playing
the no fair play plan to the limit. In
the primary election recently held there,
in the miX-up of the count of votes.
Time of present writing some seventy
two election officials have been present
ed by the Grand Jury for Irregularities
in counting ballots and of these more
than half are Republicans. Yet be-
cause it is the Democratic side of the
primary fight which is being investi-
gated all the sins of commission
and omission have been charged to the
Democratic party, and this has con-
tinued increasingly until the Sun of
Sunday was forced to be fair enough
Jury so far but one Republican ballot
box has been counted, that of the
Eighth precinct of the Twenty-third
ward No other Republican box is to
be counted until the Democratic count
is complete, but there is reason to be-
lieye that in those wards where the
Republicans had contests an equal
amount of fraud will be discovered.
1t is believed that both parties are
tarred with the same stick"
There did not seem to be any sys
tenn in the cheating. The judges ap-
parently gave each candidate what
they thought he ought to have with
out any reference to the actual vote
cast for him. If they thought he was
a good fellow they seemed to have
'sweetened' his vote for him; if they
didn't, they took down a few of his
votes
The last sentence carries out the
Democrats persistent contention that
there was no organized conspiracy to
defraud The differences being large
ly charged to ignorance or incompe-
tency. We might add, ooh what diff
ference there will be when the day
light comes to the contents of the
Republican Primary Ballot Boxes. 1t
is generally supposed that the repre-
sentatives of G. o. P. will be in a
position after they are examined to
show the Democrats that they are but
sucking babes in election fine art. A
very strong point of intended honesty
by the Democrats is that to a man
they have decided that if there is the
slightest taint of fraud connected
with their candidates that they will
throw up their nominations. AT a
meeting of these candidates a resolu-
tion was unanimously passed about as
follows:
Our Republican opponents, who
are far more interested in securing
Republican success at the polls than
they are in Furnishing those accused
one-half of whom belong to their own
political party, are charging that the
primary election was fraudulent to
such an extent that many of those re-
turned as nominated did not receive
a majority of the legal votes at said
primary and are not entitled to places
on the Democratic ticket While we
feel that such a claim at this time is
made for political purposes, with
view to prejudicing the voters against
the Democratic nominees, we desire
to state in the most emphatic way that
we will not ticket the names of those
through fraud, and we each and all
pledge ourselves that if a recount of
the ballots demonstrates that anyone
of us did not receive majority of
the legal votes cast in the Democratic
primaries for the positions for which
will tender our designations to the
State Central Committee and ask them
to place upon the ticket the names of
those who did receive majority of
said legal votes. AS our only hope
of securing this information seems to
be through the count of the Grand
Jury, we now join in a request to that
body to act as speedily as possible,
giving to the people of the state such
facts as would tend to show them the
true conditions of the vote at that
election. We are deeply interested in
the speedy settlement of this question.
"In view of all the conditions, we
have a right to ask that the voting
public shall suspend their decisions
until all the facts can be laid before
them"
It seems to us this is Fair Play
personified not only to the voters, but
to the candidates own manhood.
Jealousy in ones own party is the
death knell to success, this unworthy
condition generally arises from the
loss of nomination or the covetousness
of another's success in political life,
from either cause IT does not lie fal-
low in the breast engendering it, but
spi eads like shaft by the wayside to
o~oo+o ~ Eaar vOfarc frov,