Intimidation Bluff

Tliere is a groat deal of talk abont 1lic coerción of employés. It is common in every presidentdl canvass; but we do not remeinber an occasion when it was so common as it is at present; and the charges of coerción are invariably made asaiust the supporters of the Republican party. If any issue of this sort could be clearly made among us. it would be thp duty of all patriotic citizens to set aside every other consideration anl deal direetly with that particular evil, for it touches the freedom of the ballot on whieh our Kovernment rests; but we do not heliere Ihat any such issue can be sharply présenter]. Probably tliere is this foundation to the stories of coerción set afloat, to-wit, that men in the employment of great corporations are asked to join clubs, or wear_ badges, or take part in parades, and 111 some cases possibly suggestions are made as to they should vote. Now this is all well enough if theBe things be not done with a threat of some sort, expresa or implied. And how is the public to know that intimidation is used? It cannot know save through the aehon of the employés themselves. It they submit to dictatkm their case is beyond thp pale of public opinifin; if they resist it, and suffer as a ronseqiience, then their fellow-eitizens can 111:1 ke oommon cause with them. If a m:m weara a McKinley button or joins a McKinley club. then it is fair to assume that he does so because he believos that it is best for the country to restore the Kepubliean party to power, which is an emmently reasonable and proper belief at this crisis of public affairs. It is a tribute to li is common sense and his manhood to assume that he knows what he wants in politics and means fo assert his nght as a citizen to strive for it. Po assume that he is posing as an advocate of what he hates is to acense liim of knavery and cowardice. And it is very hard to pret up sympathy with knaves and cowards or to fight their battles. In a word, it is the simple dutv of any man wno is requested. uuder pressure of a tnreat, expressed or implied, to act ! or vote agalnat his eonvictiona, to tell , tlio mnn who interferes with him sliortly and sharply to mind his own business. U ís a dnty not merely to himself, but to _ his fellow workraan, to his fellow eitizens. and to the future of the Eepubjic. If he Bhlrks that duty the fault is his; and if he will not make the preliminary stajid for his rights who can help lnrn to maintain tbem? It is said that multitudes of men have yielded to pressure so far as to appear to support McKinlpy. and that it is their design to vote for Bryan when they go to the polls. We do not believe the first part of the story; and if it were trtie, wc would not believe the second part of it. The man who would be papable of false pretense and deeeption in appearing to support a candidate to deceive his einployer would be ca pable of doublé deoeit in tricking his fellow workmen. Such a one cares verv liltle how he votes; and he who surrenders his vote for fear or interest would hesitate but briefly before the added iüiquity of selling it for money. Henry George, who has been in Ohio for two weeks watching the car.vass in the interests of the New York Journal bases his prediction that the state will go for Bryan, largoly on the theory that inany of his real supporters are playing íalse for a share of the Republican campaign fur.d. He says: "Over all the states and from the lips of every speaker Democrat and Populist alike the word lias gone forth to spoil the Egvptians 'Take all they offer you and tlieu ask tor more, but when you get in the voting booth vote as your conscience dictates ' " It is a shame to use the word conscience in connection with such a transaction; and it a great number of the votere of any party be eapable of such rascality as llenry George attributea ?o calmly to his associates, then the prospeets of the Republic are indeed gloomy. In the South, for years, the negroes have been coerced or cheated in casting their votes. The evil is a fearful one; but the remedy is diffieult, not only because of the dominating charaeter o"f the fcouthern white man who will not brook opposition, but because of the moral timïdity and dependence of the Southern nero who will not stand up for his rights. Here and there a colored man is ready to assist himself; but the masses submit. We brush aside the flying rumors of intimidation among the Intelligent, self-asserting workmen of the Cortil, which impute to them so slavish a disposition. It is the obvious excuse of the Southern negro, that hë is lowly staggering upward on his way from abject slavery to absolute freedom; but what possible excuse would there be for the Northern laborer, who has bebind him the tradition, the educa tion and the possibilities of freedom? Why should he go staggering downward on the road to slavery