The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-09-13


The forgers thought they had cover
ed their trail. However, a peculiar
ity Of the printing process betrayed
the fraud. AS long as the nixon the
printing press was freely distributed,
the label appeared only as a black
smudge. But after examining hun
dreds of the bogus ballots, the DAILY
WORKER has found one on which the
ink had run thin. On this one bal
lot 1t has been possible to read with
powerful magnifying glass the name
mt. Vernon, Ill"
other Marks Of Fraud.
On obtaining copies of both the Off
cial ballot and the bogus ballot, the
DAILY WORKER set out to prove the
fraud practiced in the sub-district
election. Detail by detail, the proof
was worked out and is now publish
ed for the benefit of the members of
the United Mine Workers.
The next evidence of fraud discov-
cred was that the taking photo-en-
graver had made the mistake of max
ing the engraving larger than the
original type Of the ballot. A meas
urement of the two ballots shows that
the printed area Of the bogus ballot
is about 5-16 of an inch longer than
that of the good ballot, and about 3-16
of an inch wider. This surprisingly
clumsy error is alone enough to be-
tray the fraud. But the counterfeit
is even more definitely shown by the
fact that the lettering on the bogus
ballot is of an odd size that does not
exist in printers type. On the good
ballot the large type is of the size
known as "1S point" On the fake
ballot the same lettering measures
more than 1874 points. Type of such
size never was known to the print
ers' trade-never was manufactured.
The odd size proves that the bogus
ballot was not printed from type at
all, but from Photographic reproduc-
ton which slightly enlarged the orr
ginaI.
Next the DAILY WORKER had the
bogus ballot examined by an expert
photo-engraver, who pronounced de-
finitely that it had been printed from
an engraving and not from type. This
expert noticed that several periods
and commas had been lost in the acid
process, which had also left blurred
edges on the type in several places,
such as would be impossible except
in an engraving. He then discovered
the marks of the turned-up edges of
the zinc plate from which the en-.
craving was made, and one place
where Enthusiastically the engravers'
routing machine had cut semi-circu-
lar cash in a piece Of box rule.
BY such means the DAILY WORK
Err was able to establish beyond a
shadow of doubt that fraudulent bal
lots were used in the election.
How the Steal Was Put Over.
The next step was to find out to
what extent the fraud affected the
election results. This search reveals
a grimy trail which leads from the
union election of last December di-
rectly up to the present point of the
murder of one faithful member of
the union and the effort to lock into
the penitentiary Is others for no 9th.
er reason than to get them out of the
way of the crooked labor leaders and
their coal-company allies.
1t is not possible to prove exactly
every instance in which the bogus bal
lots were used to swamp the election.
The only place in which the DAILY
WORKER has been able to obtain ac-
tual possession of the bogus ballots
is Buckner, Ill. In several other local
unions it is morally certain that the
ballots counted were not the ballots
cast by the union members. The most
glazing instance of this moral GER
tainty is in the case of Local Union
No. 7S9 of West Frankfort, taking the
race between the progressive candi-
date, Frank Johnson, and the reac-
tionary harrington machine candi-
date, e. B. Loden. In this local union
Johnson received the nomination. Yet
in the election the official returns
showed Johnson as receiving only n
votes as against 53S votes for Loden.
The coal miners take this as prima
facie evidence of something crooked.
But copies of the ballots that were
cast there are unobtainable.
At Buckner the case is absolutely
clear. Here the tellers met at the
union Office on the night of the cleo
ton, December 9. The ballots were
brought in late and all of the tellers
were tired. AS 1t was midnight some
one suggested that the ballots be
locked up for the night and that the
tellers return the next day to count
them. This was agreed to, and the
ballots were left on the desk, the door
Of the Office was locked.
Next day when the tellers returned,
a stack of ballots was on the desk,
apparently the same as the night be-
fore. These were counted and show.