Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1900 — The Party of Falee Pretense. [ARTICLE]

The Party of Falee Pretense.

The republican party has always posed as the champion of “an honest ballot and a fair count.” Anyone who has cared to know, has known for years that this pretense was false. The presidential campaign of 1888, with its Dudley “blocks-of-five,” the campaign of i 1896 with its bull-dozing, intimiI dation, false pretenses and black- ' listing, ought to convince any one. however dull of the hollowness of any such pretense. The most damning evidence, however, is found in their shameless criminal record in Indiana. The disgraceful mob who assembled at Indianapolis in January, 1897, commenced .making arrangements for the most corrupt election in 1900 that has ever disgraced the history of IndiI ana. The pencil was substituted for the stamp by this mob for no other reason than that by making an X with a pencil the mark would show through the ballot and give sure evidence that a purchased voter had “delivered the goods.” The disgiaceful lot who assembled there in 1899 completed his record of infamy by repealing ALL LAWS MAKING IT A CRIME TO PURCHASE VOTES. Who can read this infamous history without coming to the conclusion that these damnable acts were premed- 1 I itated? were deliberately, methodically planned for no other pur- 1 pose than to make doubly sure i that Mark Hanna methods might] be used in all their fullness in the ’ election of 1900? Already an example hasoccured under our immediate notice. The county seat election in Newton county is an excellent example of what may be expected in Novem-'

__ ber. Fraud ran riot everywhere. Knowing that there was no restraint on buying votes, every heeler turned himself loose. An eye witness says that two men passed by he and and a prominent Kentland attorney, going to the polls. “Those men are from Illjnois, and have no more right to vote here than you have,” the attorney is reported to have remarked. This is one of scores of instances from that county, and is but a mild fore-runner of what may be looked for in November. * * * Rensselaer, June 25.