The Debauchery of the Ballot.
The Sacredness of the Ballot--Its Corruption by the Vice Trust--Methods of
Corruption--Affidavits Showing Corruption--A Cleansed Ballot Box--A
Cleansed City.
American advancement has its foundation in the principles of government by
the people, for the people and of the people.
Every American citizen, in theory at least, is an ideal autocrat. He is
the judge of his personal conduct; the maker of his surroundings; the
master in his home; the ruler of his nation by his power of representative
government.
Ideal democracy is God's highest gift to his best creation.
Prostituted democracy is hell's highest triumph; is evil's best
instrument.
Individual right to create a governing power is an American citizen's
first prerogative.
The most sacred thing in the mechanism of self-government of the United
States,--is the Ballot Box.
Tamper with the ballot box and you aim a body blow at the constitution of
the United States.
Defile its sanctity and you destroy the purity of our democracy.
Chicago is a seething mass of corruption, vice, graft and iniquity today,
as has been generally shown in the first chapter. That must be admitted.
Previously we have spoken of her evils in a general way.
The Vice Trust rules supreme. It is almost impregnable. The secret of that
herculean strength and power is--
The Debauchery of the Ballot Box!
The ballot of Chicago has been debauched, sold and enslaved!
Not more than ten men, powers in the political world, by insidious methods
have poisoned it, killed its political value for municipal betterment, and
made it the armament of their corrupt forces. With its aid they have built
up the monstrous Vice combine, and with it they retain year after year the
sceptre of vicious tyranny.
Investigations have proven the debauchery of the ballot. Investigators
have shown that the corrupted ballot box has won disastrous, political
victories. Investigation has demonstrated that all the forces of
moral-decaying vice have been used to destroy the honesty of the ballot,
so that vice might flourish and pay its tribute to its sleek-faced,
big-bellied masters.
It is our intention to show in this chapter how the debauched ballot box
is the secret power of the forces that make Chicago the wickedest city in
the world.
Granted the necessary political despotism to rule and pass sentence of
life and death on good and bad, what opportunity have the powers for good
to destroy the parasite?
40,000 ILLEGAL BALLOTS IN ONE YEAR.
The situation today is appalling. The foundations of government are
menaced.
From reliable sources, and from information gained by investigating bodies
backed by the reform element, 40,000 illegal names stand on the poll-list
of the city!
This is the heavy, moral and political-destroying artillery of the vice
generals. This is the battalion that drops "yes" in the ballot box to make
vice supreme.
It is composed of the riffraff of humanity, of the wreckage and driftwood
of the country.
Every member sells his citizenship for a piece of silver, a poisonous
drink, a mess of pottage.
They are the army of "floaters" and "repeaters," who are massed, housed
and fed in the regions of the vice lords, a week or two before elections,
and proclaim their unholy allegiance to their masters by the prostitution
of the ballot box and the overthrow of clean, honest, moral government.
Each man has a past;--vice wrecked the moral conscience of some, brutal
crime destroyed respect in others and drink slew the convictions of still
other thousands.
They infest, in the large majority, those political territories where
crime and vice are centered.
The means of defeating an honest election and securing politico-vice
control are many.
CHARACTER OF THE VICE CORPS; ITS WORK.
Every hobo, degenerate and criminal at large, knows when Chicago's
elections come due. From Maine to Washington, from Florida to Northern
Michigan comes the immigration to Chicago.
Six hundred lodging houses and cheap hotels in the First, Eighteenth and
Twenty-first wards--the vice territories of the city--throw open their
doors to the hired assassins of the ballot.
The vice kings have issued the order. The army is given lodging.
The barrel-houses, whiskey halls and underground hells furnish the
nutrition for the human vultures.
That is part of their agreement of existence. They, too, are concerned. A
defeat of their rulers would mean financial ruin and the loss of a channel
to protection for their crime doings.
Soaked with destructive liquor, fed with de-energizing food the "floaters"
and "repeaters" wallow in the mire, waiting to do their filthy service and
then depart.
The sub-leaders of these men are the appointed guardians of the ballot,
clerks and judges of election, principally.
They, too, are corrupt. Recent elections have even resulted in fixing
election crimes on them and sending some to jail.
The question, "Shall this city (Chicago) become anti-saloon territory?"
was to have been placed on the ballot, April 5, 1910. Sixty-eight
saloonkeepers and bartenders qualified as judges and clerks for this
election. No "floater" or "repeater" would have been prevented from voting
by these clerks and judges.
PADDED ELECTION REGISTERS.
In the primary election, held September 15, 1910, one third of the vote
cast in the First ward was made by "repeaters" or personators, in the
names of individuals who did not live at the addresses from which they
were recorded as voting.
This terrible condition was unearthed by investigators working for Arthur
Burrage Farwell, president of the Chicago Law and Order League. This fact
was ascertained by a comparison of the poll books used at the primary with
the records of a house-to-house canvass of the ward.
In March of that year the same reform organization caused the erasure of
702 illegal names from the registry books of the notorious First ward. In
a single precinct in that ward, with a registration of 668, 269 names were
those of "floaters" and "repeaters." These were stricken off.
Investigation before that September primary in the First Ward showed
10,996 names on the registry list. It also showed that 5,552 of the names
were of persons who did not live at the addresses given, but who cast
their purchased ballots at the primary election!
Similar conditions exist in the other lodging house wards, previously
mentioned, and also known as the "river" wards, because they are separated
by the Chicago river, the last resting place of many revolters from the
system.
The "debauchery of the ballot" is too mild a term for this crime.
THE PROSTITUTE: A MASK FOR THE "FLOATER."
Three hundred and twenty hotels, whose occupants are mainly prostitutes
and their unfortunate victims, are used to render honest elections
impossible.
The "floater" is called into the corner of the barrel-house and given the
"dope" by the boss' lieutenant.
His name is "Panhandle" Harry for instance. He is told that on election
day his names are successively, M. Graham, L. Wilson, B. Smith, etc. He is
to use his suddenly acquired aliases at different precincts.
He is to cast one, two, three or perhaps ten votes for the vice lords. He
does so. Hundreds like him do so.
For each name he has an address of the prostitute's name he bears, for
that is the subterfuge. Her name with but an initial for the maiden name
appears on the register of the hotel. It is sold to the man who sells
himself and then sells his vote.
The working of the system was revealed in a ludicrous manner.
Carter H. Harrison was a candidate for Mayor. He sent a printed note of
appreciation signed with a printed autograph to the registered voters of
the First ward in which he urged attendance at the primaries. Of course,
Mr. Harrison, himself, did not do this. His supporters did it with
permission for the use of his name.
One of these went to a notorious woman living in the Cadillac hotel,
Wabash avenue and Twenty-second street. That is on the edge of the South
side "redlight" district.
That woman's name had been placed on the registry list as hundreds of
others had been, by "repeaters"!
The woman who received the letter was puzzled. She showed it to the man
for whom she daily sold her body for hire. The mystery of the prostitute
subterfuge was revealed.
There are sixty-three women living in the Cadillac hotel. It is certain
that each one casts a vote by the proxy system explained, for the
existence of the hellish combine.
Could anything be more fiendish?
Is there any power that can dig down deep enough to uproot this crying
evil?
THE LODGING HOUSE PERIL.
In one lodging house in the Eighteenth Ward there is room to accommodate
200 men.
During the lapses between elections but 75 to 100 men occupy these
unsanitary quarters. At election they are crowded.
The occupants of these rooms are then registered under meaningless names
and cast ballots.
A majority of the men who count the ballots in these wards are also
corrupt. They help the stuffing of the ballot boxes. They are the supposed
defenders of the greatest privilege given to the American citizen;--that
of self rule. They are in reality, the slaves of the Vice Trust.
Occasionally the regular residents of the lodging houses work at
employments that they secure through the licensed labor agencies. But, no
matter how great the demand may be for laborers, no agency dares furnish
these men with work just previous to elections. What agent will deny that
to send voters out on the road to work at election time would mean ruin
through the loss of his license to do business?
As a specific proof of our statement of the debauchery of Chicago's
ballot-box, we print below the affidavit of a young man who voted six
times at the primary on September 15, 1910.
The affidavit is one of a score secured by Mr. Farwell of the Chicago Law
and Order League.
The affidavit follows:--State of Illinois, County of Cook, SS.
I, James Barnes, residing at 419 State street, being first duly sworn, of
my own free will and accord upon my oath depose and say:
That on Thursday, September 15, 1910, I and Frank Burns, and one Smith
whose first name is to me unknown, were standing at the corner of Clark
and Van Buren streets, when a man, a heavy set fellow with iron-gray
mustache, Hackett, by name, a hanger-out at Kenna's saloon, north-east
corner of Van Buren and Clark streets, asked us if we were doing any
voting. I said no. He said that he could take the three of us over and
vote us and that he would pay us 50c a piece and give us a couple of
cigars each. We said we didn't want to take any chances. He said it was
all fixed up--that he would give us the names we were to vote under and go
down with us and tell them it was all right. He gave us the names,
typewritten on a plain envelope, of which he had a pocket-full.
Burns and I went with him to the polling place on Clark street, between
Jackson and Van Buren streets, down in the basement. (4th Precinct, 1st
Ward, within 300 feet of the Union League Club.) He went down stairs with
us. There were two or three others waiting to vote. We gave the names we
had--I voted under the name of T. M. Hayes, 99 Van Buren street. Hackett
told the man in charge of ballots to give me a Democratic ticket. He did
so. I then went into the booth and was followed by another man who said he
would fix it up for me and he marked the ticket, told me to fold it and
take it out and vote it. He had small gray mustache, gray hair,
forty-eight or fifty years old, gray suit. I gave the ballot to the man at
the ballot box who took it and put it in the box. I then went out and the
man who marked the ticket went up stairs with me and said to me, "Go down
to the corner and meet the other fellow," meaning the man who took me
down, Hackett. I met him by the Princess Hotel doorway. He took me inside
the hallway and gave me half a dollar and two cigars--ten centers.
I voted again in about half an hour under the name of Henry C. Williams,
99 Van Buren street (same ward and precinct), under same conditions as
before and got seventy-five cents the second time, as he had no more
cigars. He took two other fellows down while we waited for him.
He later told me to go with another man, a big heavy set man in a gray
suit who told me that if I would hunt up two or three other fellows he
would give me an extra half dollar. He offered a dollar for votes. I got
one fellow for him and another lad got three or four. Six of us went over
to LaSalle and Adams, where we were halted in the alley and two at a time
taken to the polling place at 146 LaSalle street, in a basement bookstore
where I voted under the name of William Johnson, 172 Madison street (2nd
Precinct, 1st Ward). The big man gave us the names on an envelope and a
sample ballot marked as we should vote. It was a Democratic ticket. At the
door of the polling place we met another man who went in with us. I gave
the name assigned, asked for instructions and the judge told the man who
went down with us to go down and help me. He went in with me and marked
the ballot. I did not even open the sample ballot. When I came back to the
alley the man gave me a dollar and also gave the other man who went with
me to vote a dollar.
I then went back to Van Buren and Clark and met a man from the West side
who said he wanted twenty or twenty-five men to go over there. There were
seven or eight of us went over together and I voted at the corner of
Sangamon and Madison streets, under the name of Danford Stowe, 27 North
Sangamon street (Pct. 11, 18th Ward). We went in three at a time. We got
the names from an old man who had them written on a slip. We had to
remember them as he gave out no printed or written names. I was paid a
dollar after I voted by the man who gave me the names.
We then went up the street and were told to ask for "George"; we went west
three or four blocks and I voted under the name of Gordon Seymour, 19
Bishop Court; the polling place was on Madison street in rear of a barber
shop. We asked for "George" and were directed to a man who stood on the
corner with a poll list. He gave me the name of Gordon Seymour (Pct. 5,
18th Ward). The fellow with me was given the name of James A. Sharp, 22
Bishop Court. I don't remember whether or not it was Democrat or
Republican ticket but think it was Republican. George went in with us and
marked the ballot. He then took both of us and gave us a dollar a piece.
The saloon was full of men. A man there had another list.
George wanted us to go in and vote again but we refused to go back to the
same place again. He then sent us down to the "brick-layers hall" on
Monroe street where we asked for Barney who gave me the name of Sheldon.
The polling place was across the street from the brick-layer's hall.
Barney took us to the door. Another fellow went in with us and marked the
ticket. Barney took us into a saloon and bought a drink for us and paid us
each a dollar.
JAMES BARNES.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this twentieth day of September, A. D.
1910.
WM. F. MULVIHILL,
Notary Public.
Other affidavits show that three men voted thirteen times in the fourth
precinct of the First Ward. The Union League Club, one of the largest and
most influential clubs in the country, stands in the center of that
district.
While the members sat and discussed a renovated city, cleansed of graft,
crime and vice, these crimes against every upright citizen were being
committed.
ILLEGAL VOTING COSTS MAYORALTY.
Edward F. Dunne, former Mayor, declared that his recent defeat for
nomination as mayor for another term was due, in part, to illegal votes
cast at the primaries in the First Ward.
In speaking of the First Ward, Judge Dunne said:
"Over 2,600 affidavits for registration were filed for men in the First
Ward. These men all voted at the primary, February 28, 1911. On March 14,
registration day for the election, less than a month from the day the
affidavits were filed, about 800 out of the 2,600 who registered by
affidavit, appeared at the polling places to register for the election.
This was due to the vigilance of reform organizations which centered
their efforts on that ward.
"The inference is plain. Nearly 1,800 votes were registered for the
primary by men not eligible to vote and who dared not face the challengers
for the forces of good."
And that is the result of seventy-four years of effort to build a city for
the welfare, happiness and advancement of its inhabitants!
MR. FARWELL ON THE BALLOT CRIME.
"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!
IN CONCLUSION.
That is the source whence comes the power to create, foster and nourish
vice and crime.
It is the first and the only absolutely essential link in the vice chain.
THE POLICE FORCE, ASSISTING IN SUCKING THE STAGNANT BLOOD FROM THE CITY'S
LEVEES, MIGHT BE SWEPT AWAY BY A WAR OF PROTEST AND REFORM, BUT THE EVIL
WOULD GROW ANEW.
New agents could be speedily found. The foundry where the iron manacles
for the vice-slaves are forged, would still exist.
The ballot box would still remain to be tampered with.
Guard the ballot box night and day; wipe out the padded registry list;
arrest the thousands of "floaters" and "repeaters"; compel prostitutes to
register their full names to show their sex; and send to prison the
corrupt judges and clerks of election; send to the workpiles the buyers of
votes, and you will strike a fatal blow at the Vice Trust.
That is the only remedy.
A debauched ballot box means "redlight" districts.
A debauched ballot box means dens of infamy.
A debauched ballot box means putrefying saloons.
A debauched ballot box means 5,000 registered prostitutes.
A debauched ballot box means protected White Slavery.
A debauched ballot box means notorious gambling.
A debauched ballot box means police corruption.
A debauched ballot box means--
$15,000,000 annual graft to the corrupters!
Because the ballot box remains debauched, the Vice Trust exists. Because
it exists, Chicago is a cesspool of the world's mingled corruptions.
[Illustration: SPEAKING OF FIRE TRAPS.
By Courtesy of The Chicago Daily News.
THERE ARE OTHERS.]