fi^ - o „ o ■^Q- ^^^^ .-ig?' / 'o ^ ' « x> <•<. V^^x]- _,-<4^ *^^/?^-'^ X 7J^ y '. u > q^ : ^^c^ /^%/ ^Ov;^^ ^.^.-.- . . - .= u- i ■civ ■' ' ^: . " = // ^ '^ ^' «' -■<. \ ^'-/• ,■%" c "JL" " '>: (V^ t' ,. /<^r^-r^ ' .*^^;^ ■<$> . (\^ . o I* o * -x o^, *' .vr^ ^,^ t- ^^. ..r ^. v>. '^^0^ Is Democracy Dishonesty ! Are four men to rule New Vork with a rod ot iron? Is the popular voice to be sliflert at the ballot-box? PEECH OF HON. ROBERT B. ROOSEVELT, DELIVERED A'l' THE MUNICIPAL REFORM MEETING, HELD AT COOPER UNION, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, SEPT. 4, 1871. ^^,..^<:o..- .-^^^5^'^ A DeiTioorat D^fe^d^ Denaoeraoy. NEW YORK: JOURNEYMEN PRINTERS' CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, No. 30 Beekmau Street. 1871. ■^ -^ -^ Political Corruption in New York. New Youk, Sept. 7, 1871. To my fellou/- Democrats, and especially taviy constituents of the Fourlfi Congressional District: I have bpcu uiali^ued by the followers of tbe iiiercemiry nud exclusive dynasty which at present rules the City of New York, /or the couise which I have thought wise to follow ia reference to the cliar;;es of miilleasauce made aoaiust our city officials. My actiou was not taken till alter serious consideration, n-jr without the approval of many of the best and most respected Democrats of the city and 8: ate. Tiiey I'elt as I felt; that our party could not bear the odium rcbf.uj* upon us, growing out of the allef^ntious of venality made in the public journals and wholly undenied, and tiiat unless somethiug were done to prove that Democracy and dishonesty were not convertible terms, we should be defeated in the next Presidential election. This opinion was originally formed on my part after consultation with the Dem- ocratic reprcsentativis of the nation at Washington, who complained that iu all sections of the country the arrogance and corruption of the "Rinp," were laid upon the party at large. I know that it is a VL'ry serious thing for a representative man to put himself in direct con- flict with any portion of his party, and that such a step could only be justified by grave neces- sity. To vindicate the wisdom and siucerity ol my conduct I merely ask you to read my speech, which I believe you will find places the ^larae of municipal misrule where it belongs, and shows that venality is not a matter of party, and that the crimes complained of are not attrib- utable to Democracy in any just sense, nor to one party more than to the other. Yours, very respectfully, KOBERT B. ROOSEViiLT. Ladies and Gentlemen : I do uot know whether it is exactly possible for a man to be born a Democrat, but I claim to come as near it as any one can. The earliest recollection that I have of public questions, when my arms had attained little more than seven years' pith, was my upholding staunchly and unswervingly the great doctrines of Democ- racy. Since that time I have been a Democrat ; ii" iJ luueracy is like vaccil^ation, when it once takes well, it lasts a lifetime. But as I did not believe disloyalty to mean Democracy • •nring tin wTr, I do not b<;Jieve dishonesty to mean Democracy yow. Tlie'vert};- corner-stone of our faith is a purje, ecoi;uaiic*il administra- tion of governnleut, and without that no code juf principles can receive the hearty support ot 'our party. Our party is a party of tbe people, •and the people are alv\:iys on tiic si'leof what is right and true. There may be, and iljeredoiibt- less are, among both pirties good, houorable men. Looking around me, I cannot doubt that both sides can lay equal credit in this par- ticular. But those who love Democracy, those who have put their abiciug faith in it and built up the hopes ot the glory ol theireountry on it, naturally look upon it as the ropresentdtiou ot whatever is noblest and best. To us Democrats, ther.iore, comes be charge of corruption against our rulers wiih a two- fold force, an especial horror. To hear that the chief officers of a De-.noeraUc lity, who have been elected by an overwhcilmiiig majority of Democratic votes,; some of wlioin have been chosen over and over again to various positions of trust, are venal and corrupt, is indeed al- most incredible. And yet what is the evi- dence ? The charges are direct, plain, and explicit ; misappropriation of vast sums are alleged; time, place and circumstance are all stated through the daily press with the utmost exactness. Pretended purchases, which are ia their very nature impossible, are proved to have been paid for. The buildinir and furnish- ing of our New Court-House are "made the pre- text for the payment of bills which are uot merely monstrous— they are maniiestly fabu- lous. It is pretended that acres of plastering have been done and miles of carpeting fur- nished. The entire City Hall Park could have been plastered and carpeted at less expense, and no sane man can put laith in the pretence—^ if it were made — that the work charged for was really done. However, I must do our rulers the credit of saying that they make no such pretence. They have never denied the pay- ments, they have uot even asserted that the mouey Was earned, while they have in every one of their lame defences impliedly admitted that the bills were extravagant, it not fraudu- lent. They have presumed to defy the public ; they have tried to lay half the blame on the shoulders of Republicans, as if a burglar were to excuse himself by asserting that he was as- sisted by a fellovv-burj:;lar, and they have stated that the charges were brought by political ene- mies and so not entitled to answer, but no- where h;is there been a straightforward, posi- s /9 o tive refutation — nowhere a denial even of any cJ sort. That they are puilty no man who has read . >.the statements doubts for a momemt, and no -J one believes that any such sums were actuallv ^expended on theCourt-House. Nevertheless I >liave been informed that this building?, instead "'ofcostinff $8,000,000 or $5,000,000, as alleijed, the latter beiuj;: supposed to be the extreme J'\uit, has actually cost over $12,000,000. To • rove this I have been shown the tigures pur- T)ortiug to have been taken from the Comp- troller's books, but I hope I was deceived and that they were exa2;gerations. But of the fac s distinctly alleged in the public press there can be no question ; it is admitted by default that millions on millions of the public money have been paid to a few obscure individuals for which they never did nor could have performed equivalent labor; while a little printing eoni- pany of $25,000 capital has received $1,500,000 from the county alone in two years. Nevertheless, shocking as ai'e these accusa- tions, they are but trivial in comparison with the real crime's of the accused, ^oney is, after all, a trivial affair; we are a wealthy nation, growing with immense rapidity, nilliug up capital and adding to' our resources daily; we can endure limitless peculations in our ofHcials, and slill survive ; but they have sto- len from us something dearer and more sacied than our wealth — they have stolen our rights, our liberties, our very national institutions. Such wrongs as I have enumerated would nev- er have been submitted to by the Democratic party had the individuals composing that party not first been deprived of the free expres- sion of their will. These, our masters, have stolen our ballots, have falsified the will of the people, and pulled away the very key-stone ot the arch ol liberty. What I am about to tell you I hardly expect you to believe; yet I will give you every point of time and circumstance. I will furnish you with every detail and all the minutiie of the mode of operations, and, large as is this meet- ing, were I to call my witnesses together I could fill tills building as full as it is now. I know whereof I speak, and in exposing these shameless inquities rather in defence of Democ- racy than in arraignment of it, I really extenu- ate and set down naught m nialiee. By a com- bination of certain Democratic ana Republican ofHce-holders in this city the voles of the people no longer express their will. They are lalsified in three ditferent ways, so that no mat- ter how honest the mass of voters miirht be, the corrupt Ring would apparently be retamed in power. To effect this three forces are brought into play. There is the use of repeaters at the polls, the manipulation of ballots as they are deposited, and the false counting of them in making up the canvass. Frecisely how these schemes are managed I will explain to you. Heretofore there has been a registry of all legal voters in this city. I can only speak ol the past. I cannot tell what Tammany will do hereafter, and no w that the registry law has been repealed we may be sure that matters will not be improved. There were three registers to su- pervise these lists, three inspectors to receive the votes, and three canvassers to count them Cue of each of these boards was a Republican' and could stop all frauds if he pleased, hut as the parties to be defeated were only those Dem- ocrats who were opposed to Tammany he shut his eyes with resolute determination. To begin with, gangs of repeaters were organized whose first dutv was to have their names re- corded in as many districts as possible, usually from a dozen to fifty; and it was curious with what childlike innocence the Republican regis- ter would receive the names of 100 men who assumed to reside at the private dwelling of some leading Tammany Ward politician, or who pretended to camp out on some vacant lot. So the repeaters were enrolled, and I have had lists of them offered to me for sale at so much a vote when Tammany did not need them. On election day these men wentf to the polls in gangs with their captains, and marched from disirict to district like companies of soldiers. If one of them were challenged, the result de- pended upon the locality; in a disreputable neighborhood, the challenger was knocked into the gutter, and probably locked up by the po- lice lor disturbing the polls. In a district where this would not answer, the accused was taken .before the police magistrate, who sat all day to hear just such cases, and who let him out on bail, the necessary bail being also on hand for the purpose, and the repeater was usually back at the polls, and hard at work, before the challenger, and no one ever heard of such a case being brought to trial afterward. In another way were these repeaters used. Many people, especially wealthy Republicans, do not vote. It is the duty of every man to vote ; this is one of the obligations he assumes in demanding liberty, and, rather than have the duty neglected, Tammany sees that it is performed. Toward the latter part of the day it will be found that certain persons who are re"-- istered have not voted, and it then belongs to the polling officers to copy such names on slips and pass them to the proper parties outside ; and it would horrify if uot amuse some of our wealthy miilioaaires to see what raggcd-clothed, bloated-faced, and disreputable individuals represented them at the polls, and performed for them a public duty which they had neo-lect- ed. This is repeating. I have given you Out a hurried sketch of it ; the votes polled by it count up tens of thousands. But, successful as it was, it had its defects. The repeaters began to im gine they were their own masiers ; they thought they held the power because they were the instruments of power. To use a po- litical term, they undertook to set up shop for themselves. Still repeating, when kept in its place, is not disapproved by our Ring rulers. The manipulation of the ballots— '*Rin;;ing" the ballots, as it is appropriately called— is a very beautiful operation, audit is said by those who have tried it to be perfect. It is now the favorite plan ; it is simple, inexpensive and ef- Icelive. When one of you good, innocent Re- publieaus, we will suppose, is going to the pulls to vote the wrong ticket or support tnc wrong man, at, you are so foud of doing, your unwise intentions are quietly frustrated. The in.-iiKctnr holds in his hand the ballot you oaj'.iL t.i deposit, and when he receives yours ji'ioLiy substitutes one for the other, and drops yours oirthe floor before he puts his in the box. This is a simple slight-of-haud trick, easily learned and readily applied. If, however, you are suspicious, and watch the official, or if the latter la awli ward and inexperienced, a man near by pushes against you or the policeman seizes you and accuses you of having voted before. Of course ample apologies are immediately ten- dered for the rudeness, the inspectors are in- dignant that so respectable a gentleman should be insulted, they abuse the rough or the police- man, you are shown out with great respect; but your ballot went down on the floor, and the substitute ;;ot into the box. Repeating is expensive, false counting is troublesome, our Tammany men are not experts at arithmetic, and figures are often troublesome, as our amia- ble Comptroller will admit at this moment; but "Kinging" ballots is a complete success. It is only necessary to buy a Republican inspec- tor, and a small place or a few hundred dollars will usually do that. The third plan is falbc couutiug. This is donegenerally by transferring the figures bodily. For instance, if Jones, the Tammany candidate, gets 100 votes, and Smith, the oppotiitiou can- didate, receives 200, the 200 of Smith are transferred to Jones, who gives his 100 to Smith. This is an exquisitely simple process, but in practice it is said to work badly, and great complaint is made of it by those who have tried it. In the first place, the candidates are often too nearly equal to give Tammany its just preponderance or to overcome some per- sistent opposition in a district where this plan cannot be worked, for it is found utterly inprac- ticable in some districts. Its defects can some- times be cured by a false count. That is to say, the votes are counted by tens, one canvasser taking them up and counting ten, when he calls " tally," and slips a piece of elastic around the bundle. Of course he has only to take five votes instead of ten, and call *' tally " to aug- ment greatly the chance of his favorite. In one instance this was done so enthusiastically that the Tammany candidate had received fifty " tallies," or 500 votes, and had a large quanti- ty yet uncounted, when the poll-clerk felt it advisable to inform the canvassers that there were only 450 names on the registry. Between these three schemes the voice of the people of New-York has been utterly stifled up until last Fall, when, by the cruel and tyrannical interference of tbe United States '.j^'V "rninent, nnder ttic vile baynurt cl'^ft'on law, we got a fair vote. The wrong was not so much done to Republicans, for the inspectors saw that comparative justice was secured to their party on general issues, but it was al- lowed full scope against opposition Democrats — Democrats who believed in a pure govern- ment, and were opposed to Tammany Hall. Thus it is that Democrats have to bear the en- tire odium of the misrule of our city, while we Democrats still believe our party to be the honest one. , • Tbis odium we cannot endure. I speak as a Democrat to Democrats. If we would see a chance of carrying the next Presidential elec- tion, of taking the nation from the hands of those who, In our opinion, are unfit to have con- trol of it, of restoring to general acceptation the principles we have at heart, we must vindi- cate our party ; we must remove the load ot disgrace brought on us by official corruption in this city. Here we are in control. We have undisturbed possession of all branches of the municipal government, and an immense major- ity of voters. For all frauds, peculation, venal- ity, and iniquity in the municipal government we are responsible, and no party with such a record will ever be given the possession of tbe National Administration. We must crush Tammany, or Tammany's dishonesty will crush us. Lartre portions of the money stolen fro" our treasury were used to bribe Republicanb notoriously the very charter under •>»'hich we live was carried by the purchase of a Republi can. Municipal officers and the spoil of our citizens have been divided between both parties. But none of this excuses us. We are in po wei' ; we can correct the abuses ; if we do not, we ought to sufl'er, and we will. If Republicans arp rot blameless, wo are nisinly o-nilty. Already we are threatened with tbe loss of the Germans. That economical people will not submit to have their houses mortgaged by the issue of municipal bonds in order to give to corrupt men wealth and luxury. From all sections of the country come complaints from Democrats that they have to defeudthe iniqui- ties of Tammany Hall, and that tbey are beaten by the bad record of our city rulers. If Dem- ocracy would survive, it must put down with a strong hand these abuses. We can still do so. The people are not so entirely helpless as our masteis would have us believe. The latter cannot defy an outraged and indignant com- munity with the impunity they hope. The power is still with us if we are willing and de- termined to exert if. In times of great excite- ment the usual barriers are sweptaway, and the people rush along in a mighly current which carries all before it. Those who w'ould resist it are overwhelmed and perish, but the corrupt always cower before it and are most earnest to conciliate it. So it will be here. Canvassers, inspectors, and registers, be they Democrats or Republicans, are as fond of their lives as though they were honest men; and no one ap- preciates the danger of irritating the people more than they. An aroused and outraged public is not patient, and Judge Ledwith laid down good law when he told his friends thai if they saw an inspector tamper with their bal- lots they could shoot him on the spot. The man vlio elicits a nation i>Mt of' 'to hiribrJo-iit has committed the highest of crimes, and de- serves no mercy. We are living under a wrong system. To allow a Mayor, elected for two years, to appoint all other municipal officials for five years may be Tammany Democracy, but it is not ours. That system must be changed ; a proper mode of selecting polling officers must be establisbed ; every protection must be given to the ballot, and, incidentally to these reforms, the Ring which has secured control of Tammany Hall must be put down, and then not only will our city's fame be re- deemed, our taxes ligbtened, our business aflairs Improved, our commerce increased, and our metropolis made what it should be, the srrandest city in the world, but Democracy and Republican institutions will be relieved from the discredit which has been brought upon them. 3477-61 Let -19 ' .''■''' -9 O . ■' V-- <> cV 'ii -^-^ <■>. "''"'^^*s*