Bribery in Rhode Island Elections
To the many stories of the subserviency of public officials in this country to the corrupting spirit of bribery, is now added one from Rhode Island, upon the authority of Governor Garvin of that State, who sets it forth in a recent message to the State Senate. In his message he says:— I desire to invite your attention to a question of the first importance. I refer to bribery in elections. That bribery exists to a great extent in the elections of this State is a matter of common knowledge. No general election passes without, in some section of the State, the purchase of votes by one or both of the great political parties. . . . In a considerable number of our towns bribery is so common and has existed for so many years that the awful nature of the crime has ceased to impress. In some towns the bribery takes place openly, is not called bribery, nor considered a serious matter. Probably the most depressing feature of the situation is that the men who constantly accept bribes are often men of substance, owning their homes, and sometimes other property. They don't need the money, but long years of bribe taking have deadened their consciences. The governor aims at remedying the evil by an amendment to the State constitution, but admits that the Senate must be reformed before a constitutional convention can be called. This picture of national corruption which has of late been spread before us in the newspapers and magazines, is but a reproduction of scenes which characterized the last days of the Roman republic; and the like causes which were undermining the government then, will produce the like effect now. It is high time that all who prize honesty, justice, and liberty should connect themselves with the government of God's kingdom, in which alone righteousness will be preserved when “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” shall have perished from the earth.