The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-03-11
TRAFFICK|NG IN VOTES.
A Far Reaching Evil Designed to
Defeat the Peoples Wishes.
Seller and Buyer Are
Alike Marked Men.

marked man. He is marked by tht
political leaders of his district a!
man for sale. He is marked as
merchant marks his goods to sci
for a certain price. He thus be
Genes the demagogue's stock II
trade, and election day is always
bargain day. This is not mere
conjecture, for am told,o good
authority, that every man in Dor
chester who will sell his vote Il
known and checked off on the PR.
vate voting lists of the political
leaders in. the county.
The vote, seller is marked in his
own estimation of himself. He
knows that no self-respecting man
ever sells his vote. The moment
a man sells his vote he ceases to
be a real man. He becomes.
mere bond-servant to his political
boss. It is right that the man who
sells his vote, and thus CONNER
cializes a heaven-given. power, should
be marked. He has bartered his
manhood for a price. He has de-
based himself before men. He has
violated an obligation to his coun-
try. He has forfeited a Divine
right. The man who buys the vote
is no whit better; if anything, he
| is very much worse. He puts the
temptation before his weaker bro
Their. Both offenders should be
heavily penalized.
But the worst feature of vote
selling has not been mentioned yet.
The man who sells his vote, not
only marks himself, but also marks
his sons for generations to come,
and it may. be for all of his pos
terity. Too often the sons fol-
low Immediately in the footsteps
of the father. I have recently
heard of a father who, when he
dickers for the sale of his vote,
contracts at the same time for the
sale of the votes of his three sons.
He sells four votes instead of one.
But whether the sons become gull
ty of vote selling or not, their fa-
theirs offense marks and handicaps
them. They must always be the
sons of a father who sold his BIRTH
right.
The man who buys votes like
wise marks his sons. Vote buying,
as well as vote selling, acts and
reacts upon the sons of the guilty
parties. I had a man pointed out
to me not long ago as a man who
sells his vote. was also, told
that his father was vote buyer.
The man who violates his conscis
ence and the conscienees OF his fel5
low-countrymen, by buying their
votes, throws down the moral fen
ces about his children as much so
as the man who sells his vote. Po-
| litical power thus amassed, like ILL
gotten wealth, often takes the wings
of the morning and flies away. So
the man who obtains his political
power through the purchase OF
votes need not be surprised IL 81
sons in the first generatlon
come civil outcasts, selling their
suffrage birthrights for a mere
mess of pottage.
All the political corruption from
which we are suffering today has
come from a corrupted suffrage.
The remedy for the evil lies in
better education for the people and
in better economical conditions.
There are two primary and inyiol.
able rights which every man posa
sesses, and they are, the right to
an education that will qualify him
for the best citizenship, and the
right to the opportunity to make an
adequate living for himself and
those dependent upon him. In
most cases the man who sells his
vote is ignorant and poor. Taking
advantage of the voters ignorance
and poverty, the trafficker in po-
litical corruption tells him that he
had better take the price offered.
1t is all that he will get. He will
not get any of the spoils of office,
so he had better take the spoils OF
the ballot. That is a falsehood, land
the political trafficker knows it
we'll, but it suits his purpose to
thus deceive the voter. The right
to the spoils of office is one OF
the least remunerations for ones
suffrage. The first and greatest re.
Enumeration is the right to be 9
real man. But the man who sells
his vote loses that reward. The
second and next reward which ev-
cry man who votes his own senti-
ments, and not another's, gets, is
the reward which comes in the con.
seriousness Of duty well perform
ed. The third reward which tht
voter gets is the right to help shape
and control the government undel
which he lives, and thereby make i
contribute most largely to thu
health and happiness of all thu
people. The ignorant voter mus
be educated to appreciate thes'
civil rights. The poor man mus
be taught that there are some thing
that are worse than poverty. ant
that to barter his manhood and t
entail the moral, civil and socia
rights of his children are two sucl
things. Garcon.
ia ftnsd lleaon