If the reader has been at all interested, or edified by the display already made in this book of the product and operations of the manhood suffrage governments, perhaps he would like a glimpse of the methods by which these worshipful bodies are from time to time originally created. Here is a specimen account of a recent event, taken from the New Republic of September 29, 1917. There was a contest for the Republican leadership of the Fifth Ward, Philadelphia, in which ward, as it happens, Independence Hall is situated. The police were under the control of a local boss named Deutsch who was himself subject to the Vere Brothers. The opposition boss was named Carey. Ten days before election thirty patrolmen were transferred to other districts and their places taken by men who could be relied on to work for Deutsch. There were nightly fights and arrests; even reporters were arrested on false charges of disorderly conduct. On the eve of election the followers of Deutsch attacked a Carey meeting while a number of police stood quietly by. The following morning a detective was murdered and a district attorney slugged. The mayor himself was accused and was subsequently arrested on a charge of conspiracy in connection with the affair.
Another sample of manhood suffrage in operation was exhibited at the primary elections at St. Louis in 1904 when Folk was nominated for governor of Missouri. A magazine writer describing what took place says that the ring opposed to the nomination of Folk “stationed thugs outside the polling places with orders to slug, kick, beat, and if necessary kill,—anything to defeat Folk,” and that scores of men, some of them prominent, were knocked down in broad daylight, kicked and beaten, etc., while the police stood idly by. Also that “there have been instances where for weeks before an election members of the police department have gone about locating vacant houses and assisting in registering fictitious names from such houses” and he gives instances of houses where many more names were registered than it was possible there could be residents at the house. The result was that of the population of 600,000 people, not one delegate favorable to Folk was elected. “Former Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, Norman J. Coleman, and Secretary of Agriculture under President Cleveland, stood long in line to vote, without making any progress. He stepped out to make an investigation and found that men were being admitted into the polling place by a rear door and that there was no chance for him. Finally a politician whom he knew came up to him and said: ‘I will get one of the men out of the line up here and give you his place.’ As he was about to give Mr. Coleman the place he asked him for whom he was going to vote. ‘For Folk, of course,’ was the answer. ‘Then I can’t do anything for you.’”
The intelligent reader needs no argument to convince him that under a rule of substantial property qualification none of the above described ruffianism would find a place in politics. Under such a rule none of these precious gangs would appear at the polls or primaries; their leaders would be without political influence; a mayor or governor supported by such blackguards would never be chosen and would not even be a candidate.
In 1891, Roosevelt, as Civil Service Commissioner, went to Baltimore to examine the primaries and made a report from which Ostrogorski prints an extract. He there saw a fight for the offices between two factions of the Republican party. There was fraud and violence. Democratic repeaters were voted; accusations of ballot box stuffing freely made; a number of fights took place; many arrests, including some of the election inspectors; bribery was charged; cheating was talked of as a matter of course; men openly justified cheating as fair, provided you were not caught. Usually, however, primaries and elections are comparatively quiet; the previous manipulation of the controllable vote has been so perfectly done, the managers are in such complete accord, and opposition is so hopeless, that even the most violent and headstrong of the defeated party are subdued into silence, often no doubt quelled by envious admiration for the victorious scoundrels. Such must for instance have been the case at the elections in Colorado in 1904, when women voted and they as well as men took part in wholesale frauds. In eight precincts a thousand fraudulent votes were cast. Each candidate for governor charged gigantic frauds against the other. Investigation showed that both charges were true. In one county nine thousand fraudulent votes were cast. A number of election judges and others were convicted of ballot box stuffing, repeating, etc.
In 1908 Helen Sumner made a prolonged investigation of political conditions in Colorado, and thus describes the failure of universal suffrage in that new and prosperous state.
“Both sexes stay away from caucus and convention because they know they are helpless and that they can succeed only by debasing themselves to the level of hired political workers. The caucus and convention are arranged long in advance. Corporations, the saloon element, and special interests that seek control can afford to furnish the bosses abundant funds to hire these professional workers, and both men and women who value their honor and patriotism will not descend to these mercenary methods.” (Equal Suffrage, p. 94.)
It is useless to multiply instances of fraud and humbug at popular elections; the whole business is one gigantic piece of fraud and humbug. Its extent may most easily be described by the amount of money it costs. Ostrogorski says that: “It is considered that in 1896 the Republican National chairman disposed of a campaign fund of seven million dollars. In 1900 of three millions and a half, and in 1904 of three millions.” This national campaign fund of $3,000,000 to $7,000,000 is only a small portion of the total amount collected and disbursed for the purpose of misleading, defrauding, deluding, and humbugging the nation into giving a preference to one of two organized gangs over the other for two or four years more. Probably from $50,000,000 to $100,000,000 in all is expended in this way in a Presidential election. The latter figure is the estimate of the historian Sloane. And then we are told with well-simulated indignation of the expenditure of $2,000,000 a year for the support of the British Royal family. If only our millions were spent as innocently as in maintaining royal dignity or dignity of any sort! But our cash goes for the purpose of creating and maintaining indignities rather than dignities; to pay for the assertion and publication of lies and slanders; to stir up strife at home and abroad; to forward the interests of political managers and those behind them and to hire cheating and fraud at elections. The latter crimes are still being perpetrated. Wholesale election frauds were committed in New York City at a recent mayoralty election and many election officials were convicted. As late as November, 1919, there were widely distributed the circulars of the “Honest Ballot Association,” whose officers included New York men and women of considerable prominence and political experience. Its object was stated to be “To insure clean elections in New York City, and to prevent honest votes from being offset by trickery and fraud.” It states in its circular that “through its efforts the fraudulent vote of the city, which before its organization was a public scandal, has been materially reduced. Much remains to be done to prevent recurrence of like frauds.” In other words, the public authorities of New York City cannot be trusted to supervise and procure a fair election, and it is generally believed that in that respect New York is better off than some other large cities.
Nine States of the Union, namely, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, have been driven by misgovernment in one form or other under the régime of manhood suffrage to repudiate their solemn financial obligations.
Alabama. In 1819 the State of Alabama began to establish state banks, all of which became insolvent in 1842. To the debt of about $3,500,000 incident to this business, represented by bonds held by innocent holders in London and New York, was added obligations amounting to $21,000,000 incurred in the negro suffrage reconstruction period, elsewhere described. In 1876 the State scaled down the whole debt to $12,574,379, a repudiation, including interest, of about $15,000,000 State debt.
Arkansas. In 1837 and 1838 Arkansas issued about $3,000,000 of bonds in aid of two state banks. Part of this debt was subsequently repudiated. During the reconstruction period about $8,000,000 of state bonds were issued under legislative authority for railroad and levee construction and all were repudiated in 1880, thus reducing the state debt from $17,000,000 principal and interest to about $5,000,000.