Tammany Steals Vote Even When They Don't Need Them
Tammany Steals Vote Even When They Don't Need Them Wouldn't Know How to Count Honestly, Even if They Wanted to—Election Freud* a C-alrngr to Our Party. IT is probable that there has not been an...
...It is the prime element in spell-binding...
...This is accomplished by arranging the material so that the argument improvea and grows stronger and more impressive as the speech progresses from.point to point...
...Tammany canvassers limply set down whatever figures they care to, and that is all...
...Steal a good story if you want to, but please i "member that you offend only by spoiling It in th* telling...
...Abundant use of illustration brings live-linens to a talk...
...A clever debater makes use of this psychologies...
...In that year the great Single Taxer, Henry George, nus for Mayor as a labor candidate with whole-hearted Socialiat rapport...
...Tally sheet* were butchered...
...A study of fable* and parables is excellent instruction for th* fine use and effectiveness of Illustrations...
...And it is a further fact that regularly, as a routine thing, votes were stolen wholesale by crooked canvassers, and Socialist watchers and representatives of civic organizations seeking an honest count of the votes as cast were intimidated, terrorized, often driven away, beaten up and on occasion sent to the hospital...
...This skill can also be acquired...
...At last we were to have honest elections...
...One year a bill .was actually passed, and the New York City Board of Elections, under the presidency of the sainted John R. Voorhis, simply ignored the law and did nothing about it...
...Illustrations "So and so Is an interesting speaker...
...Of course, one must be able to tell a story well and describe a scene vividly...
...Wolf...
...In the first place, colonization, Intimidation and padding registration lists continued as in the past...
...tens of thousands, discouraged by the constant failure to have their votes counted had ceased voting Socialist But for the gain of the machines there were many thanks...
...To Beat the Game There is just one way to beat that game...
...factor in worsting his opponent...
...it was only the imposition of two 30-day jail terms for contempt that caused President S. Howard Cohen of the Board of Elections to permit such an examination—with results known to all...
...But about the counting o' the votes T Well, the machine does that But It b the Tammany car ass-Ing board that enters the figures on tally sheets, and it is the tally sheets that are the basis of the official returns and the certificates of election...
...And in that way, and that way alone, will Tammany—and kindred organizations in every part of the country—be checkmated...
...day after day the New York Call carried front page editorials headed, "HOW ABOUT IT, MR...
...It must throw light on the Important point In th* argument...
...A story, no matter how good, should not be used for its own sake...
...Don't bo so sure thst you esn not repeat a story or describe a touching scene...
...However, a necessary factor la holding the interest of an audience is the good use of illustrations...
...Illustrations should consist of simple narrations or descriptions of things seen, heard or read about They can also be serious, satirical or humorous stories...
...Try it often and even though you may not do it as perfectly as "so and so," you will eventually do It well enough to be effective...
...There have been two major changes in the election machinery tit the city u the last hfty years, but Tammany thieves have oner had difficulty in circumventing both...
...The much be-praised Al Smith did everything in his power to discourage and prevent and obstruct legislation looking toward the installation of BuVh machines...
...Whyl He may be eloquent, pleasing, amusing, or Instructive...
...The Individual Sa well as the group or crowd mind is far from receptive to new ideas and propaganda generally...
...In 1920 the late Marion H. Laing was reported elected to the Aewsahty Swtfl eloctJess afadahi "uWisjear sjeeut 1,500 "mitJaid" veto* a day or two after the election, aad Holy Joe McKee west back to the Amrssary...
...Moreover, this method lifts the state of interest from a lqwer to a higher level and arouses response...
...and the illustrations in a speech add vividness and elaboration to the argument...
...But the feeling was so widespread that George had actually bee- elected, and—what was more important— the temper of the bum*** cheated oat of their great victory was a* 0(1 y that the secret "A-ftrajaa-* ballot was established aaerdy thereafter...
...But even machines did not discourage conscientious Tammany thieves...
...We personally, for years, carried on a campaign to get action...
...A Re-examlnatien And you will recall that Tammany with the aid of the city's Corporation Counsel fought to the last dirty ditch to prevent a reexamination of the 1932 recorded totals on the backs of the machines...
...It should also be used in proper proportion snd In relation to the argument It elaborates...
...Election* in Harlem, the East Side, the Bronx and other sections were a howling farce...
...BANTON 7 "** giving details of the proved thieveries and quoting chapter and section of the election laws under which the thieves could be prosecuted...
...the fact that three times London actually did receive certificates of election indicates hew complete was the leatkiag of the people for TaanssMuty...
...London ased to say that it was necessary to give Taasussaay a beking by 10*00 vote* hi order to get e certificate of election...
...Old timers recall the East Side election* to 1906, 1$**, 1910 and 1912, when Morn* Hilkput aad then Meyer London were defeated for Ceskgresa by typical Tammany tactic...
...We called on Benton and argued with him...
...In recent years three elected Socialists were given their seat* after recounts had shown the Tammany hack* declared elected were beneficiaries of the most ghastly frauds, but the thieves responsible for stealing the election* of Aldermen Algernon Lee and Edward F. Cas-eidy, and of A**emblyman Claes-aens, were never punished...
...MsrtOattmg Ballot...
...IT is probable that there has not been an honest election in all the history of the largest city in the Republic...
...It is a fact that regularly, as a strictly routine matter voters were intimidated, floaters colonized and voted en masse, registration lists padded and an honest election made impossible in divers ways familiar to the ingenious minds at the Wigwam...
...The Machines There came a time when public sentiment called for voting machines...
...Re-tarns bore not the slightest relation to the votes actually cast...
...When carefully used, illustrations heighten the effectiveness of a speech and bring relief against the monotony of argument piled on to argument They are much easier to listen to and furnish light npon the subject A "dry speaker" is usually one who ignores the necessary .'human interest" element and fails to "dramatize" his subject...
...On the face of the return* the "respectable" Tammany candidate, Abram S. Hewitt, was elected aad George came second, with Theodore Roosevelt a very bad third...
...If we are not ready to meet the challenge we might just as well disband our party, surrender our emblem, give up our legal standing and become s debating and discussion club...
...and was undoubtedly elected, although the returns gave Tammany a lead of 3,500...
...or were woT Possibly machines had come too late...
...It must shed light and color upon the them...
...and the ease against Tammany election officials who stole on behalf of Tammany candidates was prosecuted by the Tammany prosecutor with such vigor...
...Each and all of these qualities may Interest listeners...
...The average mind remembers the last points most vividly and usually judges the whole speech by its concluding section...
...Tamm..ny has nothing to offer except cheap and vulgar loot But it gets that loot by organiz: '-'on...
...Th* thing you want to prove is the primary objective and hence th* illustration is a secondary means...
...These incidents are the highlights of a long, a shocking* and an outrageous story...
...He does it by reversing the order of his adversary's argument, briefly answering his best points first and then having a grand time with his victim's comparatively poorer points at the end of the rebuttal...
...Tammany's strength is an* power, a hold on tens of thousands of individuals who will go through hell-fire for the organisation...
...Ballot boxes were found floating in the East River and batches of ballots were found in sewers, "correctly" marked ballots undoubtedly having been prepared to take their places...
...There was a bar to the movement...
...For the battle to secure that reexamination* no one deserves mors credit than Julius Gerber, who knows more about the election machinery of New York, than any other man, and who is one man who cannot be fooled, bluffed or intimidated...
...When the election of August Claeasens to the Assembly was stolen in 1921, when Tammany canvasser* were caught red-handed in the most outrageous butchering of tally-sheets on record, and whole boards were arrested on the insistence of S. John Block, acting for the party, it took months to secure a recount and Claeasens was not seated until a week before the end of the Assembly session...
...Another is a mechanical device by which the registered figures are photographed, and the reproductions recorded as the official vote...
...Now here are the results of a fifty-year battle for honest elections...
...We pounded away and, finally, after many postponements, indictments were secured agains men caught flagranto delietu...
...Votes cast for Socialist* were transferred by score* and even hundreds in single election district* to the Tammany candidates...
...One is to fight for either non-partisan or tri-partisan Boards of Canvassers giving all parties representation...
...But a little thing Kke that ceoM toot thwart a diligent aad eoa-attention* Tammany thief, aad it was not long before the paper ballot—first with party col-ran* aad after 1913 the "Massachusetts" ballot with candidates grouped by office*—was subjected to the butchery ae familiar to Socialists of the past decades...
...Prior to 1886 there was no secret ballot and the elections were an outrage to decency...
...Later Tammany got its allies in the labor movement on the job and an attack was made upon the installation of voting machines on the ground that they were not union made...
...And what can be done about itt Well, there are several technical suggestions that will help...
...It has no place in a serious argument unless It is apropos...
...Bearing in mind that one has a cold or indifferent attitude to contend with in the average audience, it is necessary to raise its temperature...
...But excellent as those suggestions are on* can always count on th* ingenuity of Tsmmsny Hall— and its Republican allies—to find some way of getting around them...
...By this time protests sgainst election thievery and thuggery had become so commonplace that people were inclined to pay little attention to it In districts where the Socialists hsd I een polling 60 to 75 per cent of the total the reported vote fell in a year or two to from 400 to 600 In a total of 5,000 to 7,000...
...As usual, voters were driven from the polls, voters were "assisted" to vote by Tammany henchmen, fake names were voted by the tens of thousands...
...The best of msterisl, if poorly arranged, may fail to get the response that it should obtain...
...No action was ever taken, of course, to punish the crooks responsible for the stealing of the election or to rebuke the Corporation Counsel for the use he made of his office...
...The progressive arrangement and development of material in a speech also leads to the form of a climax or a series of climaxes and when this is successfully achieved you get "a rise out of the audience," in other words, applause and the demonstration of approval...
...Constantly shouting, "Wolf...
...Then the Socialist press undertook a campaign to sting District Attorney Joab H. Benton into action...
...An illustration must not distract attention or overthrow the lesson it wishes to drive home...
...Then came the machines...
...Mutilation of ballot* was a commonplace...
...But the idealism of out aim* should not blind us to the reality of our tasks in achieving the aime...
...Tammany's strength is a complete check-up on every man and woman in the city, and a means of getting to them...
...And then after many more postponements sn Assistant District Attorney—the same James G. Wallace, now in charge of prosecuting the 1932 frauds—brought the crooks to trial...
...it is to find the source of Tammany's strength, and beat them at it...
...A Steins Mayoralty TnieiWj the worst single elec-sjsssa esjtrage of the period of the Aostraliaa ballot was the theft of the election of William Randolph Hearst, who "got religion" and ran for Mayor on an anti-Tammany ticket in 1905 (while anting as a Tammany Congressman...
...the Braves wouldn't know how to conduct an honest election even if they (miraculously) tried...
...That is Tammany's forte...
...had dulled pop-ular Indignation, and it was sanctimoniously asserted that Socialist strength had dwindled and that complaints of fraud was mere bellyaching by a licked party...
...And it it a further fact that Tammany ha* always been able to enlist the official aid of the city authorities in preventing honest elections or the punishment of proved election thievee...
...that the men were acquitted...
...The CHy Gives Aid When the election of Aldermen Lea and Cassidy was stolen in 1919 it was the Corporation Counsel—a city official on the city payroll— who took every ingenious legal step to prevent, or at least delay, a recount, who obstructed and delayed every legal step looking toward a correct determination of the actual wUl of the voters, to the effect that Lee and Cassidy were not seated until October, 1921, two years lacking a month after their election...
...a good Tammany man was in the executive mansion...
...A Manual for Socialist Speakers ----by Augutt Claessens B===a====____^====_sm Progress in Argumentation and Climaxes A well constructed speech must also be planned for effectiveness...
...In brief, if there are, for example, a number of arguments or illustrations In the speech or in any sub-division of it, they should be so arranged so that the relatively weakest come first, the better ones following, and the best one last...
...Always keep In mind the Important advice that an illustration must illustrate...
...We must match Tammany's organization for loot with our organization for a better day...
...By listening to effective speakers and studying their methods and by imitating (there is no crime involved in doing thst) much can bo learned...
...We have nothing to offer except an ideal, a hope, and a way to S better day...
...Election clerks deliberately tore, smudged or marked with pencils concealed in finger rings Socialist ballot*, and then threw them out as "mutilated," often fifty to one hundred in a single election district, all "mutilated'' in precisely the same way...
...They serve like pictures in books snd newspapers and help one to see more clearly...
Vol. 15 • January 1933 • No. 3
