Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1921-04-14
THURSDAY. APRIL IA, 1921.
THE PAUL.HARRIsON CONTEST

Among the numerous contested
election cases that will be brought
before the House of Representa-
tives of the Sixty-seventh Con
gress at this session a very inter
esting one is that of Captain John
Paul, OF farrisonburg, against
Judge Thomas w. Harrison, of
Winchester, in the Seventh Nir-
ginia District, chiefly composed
of the Valley counties. This is
unique in that allegations OF fraud
are lacking The usual contested
election case-as for instance
that of Mudd vs.. Compton in the
Fifty-frst Congress-turns on the
contestant claiming that had GER
tain votes been counted for him,
or had certain votes not been
counted for the contestec, the re-
suit of the election would have
been different. In this last case
from Southern Maryland, the
contestant was counted in" and
the contestee counted out one
set of partisans claiming the
counting in" was right, and the
other that the counting out" was
wrong. Partisan influences are
often inseparable from contested
elections. where the majority of
either party in the House is mar
row. This time. howeer, the Re
publicans have such stupendous
majority in the House that there
is no need of the steam roller"
and the Paul VS.. Harrison con
test may be regarded in a rather
detached way.
Judge Harrison has served in,
previous Congresses with disting
ulshed ability, and one of his for
mer election victories was over
Captain Paul. The latter is now
a State Senator, was an officer
overseas and is a man of the
highest standing i'll Virginia. OF
course. a partisan political aspect
has been given the case in the
Seventh District. Paul's contest
is regarded as very unsportsman-
like. He was beaten by several
hundred i'll a bitter campaign
only the rankest partisans init
mate that by any possibility he.
was the choice of the people and
the asseverations in his contest
relate to irregularities" by which
he proited perhaps more than his
opponent. If Democratic men
and women had the path to the
polls made easy by these "irregu-
larities." a good many colored
voters who would regard it as a
crime to vote any but Republi-
can ticket were the beneiciaries
of like irregularities" One tech
meal violation of the election
laws was by Captain Paul him.
self. who is said to have marked
his ballot on the streets of Har
risonburg, when the statute vi
tiates any ballot not marked
within the polling booth. In his
notice of contest, Paul alleged
that men and women were inn
properly registered, persons had
been allowed TO vote whose
names were not on county treas
urers' lists. ballots were not
marked in booths, the ballot
boxes were in sight of persons de
string TO vote, ballots were not
strung and sealed, etc, etc,
On the other hand, it is claimed
that even if these errors had been
committed by election officials in
certain precincts. the ignoring OF
statutes applied alike to all Tot-
ers. Harrison was the beneficiary
of no fraud and To vacate his seat
would be to disfranchise the peo-
pie of a whole Congressional dis
tr;ct, who in good faith. and &C
cording to usage in previous cleo
tions, had registered their will as
to the person who should repres-