Year: 1879

9Ao " k6RuDAtCau ~ suos F~A


what are Inspectors For.


What is the use Of having Inspectors
Of elscti ,ns If not to inspect and decide
upon rhs legality Of the votes to BE- re-
csivedi The law gives no more author-
ity or power to one inspector than II
does to another, and it always takes
three to decide upon the merits OF .
disputed vote; the Inspector according
70 old time usags, whea honest slsctions
were held, giving the casting vote If the
Assistant Inspectors disagreed. Now it
seems though that third inspector is
Is useless an appendags to an election
board as a fifth wheel would be to a
wagon, and according to the practice OF
Democratic Inspectors last Tuesday,
there was no need for but one man in
the inside of the polls besides the clerk,
that one man being the inspector and
by a prearranged plan he is but the
machine to put the ticket into the bal
lot box when handed to him, provided
the knowing wink or tosa Of the head
il given by which he is to know that
the votsr Is all right. "This is our
election" said Iuspe etor Lee OF the
Fifth Ward Western district polls
to tho Republican Assistant, and
ave run this machine" says
the Inspector Of the Logan House
district. The Republican Inspector has
nothing to do whatever in the election
but to sit there and see the Democratic
Inspector take in Democratic votes and
cram them into the kox regardless Of
prot sts or objections. "I'll swear that
man is . good Democrat" said Ser
xeant Dolan as he brought repeater
up 70 the West District polls Of the
Third Ward. A dozen objected and
some told the Sergeant that the man
haG voted in the Fifth Ward; his reply
vas that "YOur'e liars
take the VOTE" and in the box the vot~
went. The assistant inspectors were not
consulted and why should they be! They
we're only put there to fill out the num-
bsr required by law and draw the pay.
The Inspector is put there by his party
and all he has to do is to take the votes
that are handed him by Democrats,
vouche1 for by some good Democrat like
Sergeant Dolan, who learned to use
his very chaste, polite and elegant
language in his OWL unlicensed
whiskey shop. We must say however,
that the Sergeant is only one amongst
the many who were engaged in voting
repeaters on Tuesday, but we single
him out as representative policeman
on Mayor Almonds force and as he
was an unlicened whiskey saloon
keeper before Mayor Almond took him
from his gin-palacs and made sergeant
Of him, it only shows that he did GER


tain work in that campaign for which
he was thus rewarded, and that he is
still fulfilling his contract as it was un-
derstood he would when he was ap-
pointed. But to return to the Inspec-
tors OF elections. Instead of selecting
mild, moderate men Of good sound
judgment, whs would scorn TO do a
dishonest act, the Democrats usu-
ally select men who very lightly
regard their oaths of Office and who
would hesitate at nothing to take lille


gal votes, provided they were Demo
cratic votes. To take these votes seems
to be their only object but at the same
time it is important to raise all the
quibbles possible to keep Republicans
frem voting and to insult the Republi-
can Assistant by refusing TO consult
him and making him of no account
whatever. With these kinds OF In.
spectors inside, the polls, and violent,
drunken, dishonest policemen outside
swearing in repeaters' votes and threat.
sning to arrest the man who raises an
objection, no wonder that the election
was a farce last Tuesday. 1t is time
the honest voters of the city were
becoming indignant at such sham cleo
tions, and that they were making move
towards prosecuting few Of the cleo
tion Inspectors. repeaters and police
officers who 80 shamefully violated not
only law but the decency of city elec.
tions. If this thing is allowed to go on
much longer it will not be worth while
for respectable people to go to the polls,
and more than that it will be absolute
ly dangerous to do 80. An earnest ef-
fort should be made to punish these
defiant law breakers and establish hon
est elections once more, and if the effort
is not made, then we might as well
resign ourselves, without murmer, to
mob violence, bootblack and hummer