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Show HI t J i ' THE BALLOT. i,f The fathers established a government intended i L i -j to be of the people, by the people and for the peo- I l ! ,! pie. They assumed that where every man would , g be free to do any legitimate thing, where the i if V friction of no unnecessary or unjust law would be J fi, felt, where the government would be directly con- P J trolled and carried on by the people through their , i ! will as expressed through the ballotH, there would j, i he such a pride of citizenship that all men would HK,iJh! 3 take a warm interest in every measure concerning HIUhh tuo PePle and when the fact should be fully IHLufin realized that a free people have no peaceful means HHnH' fith which to meet and turn back oppressions, no HHmK peacable moans through which to redress wrongs HHHHl and establish the right; no weapon with which to HfHH protect from day to day and from year to year BR their liberties except the ballot, they would hold it as their palladium, guarding it with an ever-jealous vigilance, and would treat all who dared to tamper with it as public enemies. But the Republic has run upon so even a keel; there has been such confidence that everything would come out right, that this safeguard has not been appreciated by all the people, and the dishonoring dis-honoring of the ballot has not been followed by the retribution which should pursue a capital offense. of-fense. But this carelessness does not in the least lessen the offense. The incendiary is justly punished pun-ished when he fires a house or a city. What of the man who would apply a torch to the Republic itself? To buy a vote is a double wrong, for it is a perversion of free institutions; it is a disgrace to buyer and seller alike. When a man through his capital causes an employee em-ployee to vote against his will, or when a false priest coerces through his superstitious fears one of his flock to vote a certain way, a crime is committed com-mitted compared with which the firing by an incendiary in-cendiary of a city is but a little thing. The American who will sell his vote should, on conviction con-viction of the offense, be disfranchised for the remainder re-mainder of his life; tho foreigner who comes here from any land, applies for and secures citizenship, if ever convicted of selling his vote should be banished ban-ished as one unworthy to stand upon American soil. A deporable feature of our country is that thousands thou-sands and ten of thousands of our voters do not appreciate the inestimable blessings which are ours, and are ready to play with the safeguards given us for self-preservation, even as the child sets fire to his toy house to see it burn. We wish that it might be impressed upon every voter in Utah that if he does not use his best judgment judg-ment in casting his ballot, he is unworthy of citizenship, citi-zenship, and if ho permits himself to be purchased pur-chased or coerced into voting contrary to his own best judgment, he is away from home every day that he keeps out of the penitentiary. When kings are assailed they call out their standing armies for defense. So long as our people peo-ple remain true to themselves they need no weapon of defense against tyranny and oppression save the ballot. When they become careless of the gift their liberties will not be secure for a moment, for it is a sacred thing. Fate watches over it, and when a people who call themselves free, deride and dishonor it, the furies will be called to avenge the wrong. The votes of some men in Utah have been bought, others have been coerced. Let us hope that work has been finished. All men are not wise, but when all the men of a State or Nation vote as their consciences approve, the result is sure to be right, for God is satisfied. We hope every voter will keep that fact in mind, and with it the other, that if he ever touches a pure ballot with a hand that is tainted by purchase, or by a cowardly fear of some one who assumes to be nearer God than he himself is, he commits a greater crime than he would to fire his -own house. |
