The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1917-01-12

the voter in the exercise of his duty
and corruption have become practically
unknown, the particular sections in the
Act prohibiting to that end being the
following:
at shall be unlawful for any person
to pay another for any loss or damage
due tn attendance a. the polls, OF in re-
gisucring OF for the expense of trans
purtaton to or from the polls. No per
son shall pay for personal services to
be performed on the day of Il caucus.
primary, convention, OF any election,
for any purpose connected thereWl,h,
tending in any wav, directly or indl-
rectlv, to affect The result thereof, eX-
cept for the hiring of persons whose
sole duty Is IT, act as challenges and
watch the count of Off bal. $
at shall be unlawful for any person
at any place on the day Of any C.tctlon
to ask, solicit, or i'll any IN ne" lrV TO
induce or persuade any voter on such
election day to vote for or refrain from
voting for any candidate, or the Gandl
dates or ticket Lf any political party OF
organization, or any measure submitted
to the people, aud upon conviction
| thereof he shall be punished by tine,
etc -
The statute containing these sections
| worked a revolution in the State. Be
| fore the law was passed Oregon was
considered the most corrupt state IN lts
elections of all the United States, and
the change has been At least startling
Let Maryland follow this lead.
In North Dakota, the law is practl-
cally duplication OF that OF Oregon.
The law of Alabama is simple aud
direct, upon the points We are discuss
ing and declares among other things
that it shall b. corrupt practce FOR any
| person on election day.
| "To hire or to let for hire any auto
| mobile or other conveyance for the
| purpose of conveying electors to and
| from the polls, or, to do any cleo
| pioneering or to solicit any votes Or to
| promise to cast any votes for or against
| the election or nomination Of any can
| didatc, or in support of or in opposition
| to any proposition that is being voted
on on the day on which the election
| affecting such candidates. or PROPOSE
| tlons is being held"
Other provisions of election laws are
| to be noted In Kentucky The county
| committees are authorized to appoint
| challengers and inspectors buT they
| must appoint alternately those among
| groups or rival factions In other
| words, Kentucky in its law recognizes
| what MARYLAND does not, that the duty
| of a party committee is to represe Mt
the entire party and not to b. the In
| strument of a faction.
| In Nevada no appointive officer is
allowed to be called on to contribute
to campaign expenses. In several states
| among them Florida, Oregon and Ne
| vada. anonymous and libelous publ
| cations are prohibited unless the candl =
| date has had an opportunity to Seply
number of days before the election.
| This stops the practice existing In
| MARYLAND, of circulating roorb !cks
| few DAYS before election so that the
| person most affected has no possible
opportunity of reply.
| The best election law is none too
| good for Maryland, and these sugges-
| tions are offered so that we may profit
| from the labors of other state.
We will not forget that we need to
reform, not alone the law, but our
attitude toward the law. Let it not be
| with Us as in Venezuela during the
| reign of Castro A traveller who had
| been told by Venezuelan of Castro's
| violations of law, remarked: But that
| is contrary to your excellent consiItu-
| ton" To this the Venezue an replied
| scornfuly: "What is the Constitution?
| 1t is book"
JACKSON Il. RALsToN.
Hyattsvllle, Md