“Chicago has never faced a graver problem,” declares Mr. Farwell. Vice, crime and graft are heinous offenses in the body municipal, but they are secondary to the debauchery of the ballot.
“Corrupt that and you sweep all things to ruin. Honest elections mean honest officials and the end of vice conditions. You cannot solve the social problems nor remedy the social wrongs until you have cleansed the ballot box of its pollution. I believe that today 50,000 illegal names stand on Chicago’s election books. That means 50,000 votes for crime, graft and ultimate ruination.”
THE LAW ABETS EVIL.
Even the present laws governing the primary elections seem to abet the crime.
According to the primary law it is not a fraud to buy votes!
It is a crime punishable by imprisonment to sell a vote!
The Vice Trust evidently had a hand in the creation of that travesty on justice. The tentacles of the octopus reach into Springfield, the State capital!
To the agents of the Vice Trust who pay tainted dollars for votes, freedom and prosperity!
To the starving, human wretches, forgetful of their birthrights, who sell their votes for the price of food or drink—shame and prison cells!