Holding Up a State: The True Story of Addicks and Delaware

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HOLDING UP A STATETHE TRUE STORY OFADDICKS AND DELAWARE

BY GEORGE KENNANLAST fall, just before the biennialelection of members of the Delaware Legislature, the wife of alocally well-known farmer in the southernpart of S"Jssex County said to her husbandat the l ~ r e a k f a s t - t a b l e , "Jim, how muchare you going to get for your vote ?".. I don't know that I'm going to sellmy vote," replied the husband."I can't see," she said, " why you talklike that; why shouldn't you sell it? Weneed the money bad enough. Otherpeople sell theirs, and I don't see thatthey're thought any the worse of. You'renot the first man that's done it. Look atthe men who have taken Addicks's money,and see where some of them are now I"About a week iater, on election day, aGerman citizen of Camden, Kent County,went into the cashier's office of the Addicks Republican party in that vilIage,presented to the cashier a small buttonof a peculiar form, and shortly afterward came out, bringing in his handseventy-five dollars in crisp, new bills ofthe Merchants' National Bank of Boston,which he had just received for his own voteand the votes of his two sons. Holdingup the money as he passed an acquaintance on the street, he said, significantly,"It would take a good many drops ofsweat to make that seventy-five dollars I"On the same day, in Milford, KentCounty, a young man who had always before voted the straight Democratic ticketwent into the voter's assistant booth of theAddicks Republicans. When one of hisfriends, William T. Morris, who happenedto be the Democratic voter's assistant,looked at him reproachfully, as if to say,.. I didn't think you'd go back on yourparty in this way," the young man replied,with a shamefaced smile, .. I know youdon't like to see me going in here, Will,but they've got the most money."Six weeks later, while engaged in an

I.investigation of the political situation inDelaware, I happent:d to be driving oneafternoon along the sandy country roadthat leads from Millsboro, Sussex County,to Dagsboro. My driver, an uneducatedbut fairly intelligent young fellow ofeighteen or twenty, seemed to be quiteready to talk to a man whom he supposedto be a commercial traveler, and I had nodifficulty in getting at his views with regardto the political situation and the election."How did it go in your town?" I in"quired; "the Union Republicans won,didn't they?"

" Oh, yes I" he replied; "the Addicksmen bought up pretty much everythingthere was in sight. I've heard that theypaid some fellows as high as thirty dollars_"" Is the selling of votes a regular thingdown here?" I asked." Pretty regular," he said, nonchalantly;" they 'most all do it; and it ain't such abad thing for the county, neither. There'sa lot of money come in here since Addickstook a hand, and it's been a great help tothe farmers.""What do the people generally thinkof Addicks?"" Well, I dunno; I guess they thinkhe's all right-anyhow the Unions do;but from the talk I hear 'round the hotelI judge they don't really want to havehim elected Senator. They'd rather keephim along on the ragged edge, because,they say, 'When he's elected, where's ourmoney comin' from? He won't give downany more.' I think, though, he ought tohave it. I'm a Democrat myself, butwhen a man spends his money like hedoes, I'm damned if I don't think he'sentitled to it."Such are the views and the practice ofthe people of southern Delaware withreference to one of the most importantduties of American citizenship. Theca.ses that I have cited are few in num-277

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278 The Outlookbe;:r. and May seem inadequate as a basisfor a sweeping charge of political c o r r u ~ tion; but they are typical as well ascharacteristic, and fairly illustrate thestate of demoralization to which thousands of the Delaware people have come.Women urge their husbands to sell theirvotes because they need the money andbecause the act is 110 longer regarded asdisgracef.ul; eight-year-old boys wish thatthey were grown up, so that they mightget twenty dollars from ,Addicks; fatherssell not only their o ~ n votes but the votes. of their sons who have just come of age;Democrats go into the camp of theAddicks Republicans simply because thelatter have "got the most money;" andintelligent young men frankly express theopinion that the bringing in and distribution of a huge corruption fund is a goot!thing for the poor farmers, and that ;tman who buys votes enough to elect himto the SeDlte of the United States is fullyentitled to go there, and is unjustly treated,if not r.ctually defrauded, when kept out ofthe position for which he has liberally paid.What influences ha\'e brought aboutthe moral deterioration shown in suchopinions and practices as these, and whatparty or person is chiefly responsible forthe corruption of a population that wasonce honest and of good repute? I t ismy purpose, in this and the followingarticles, to answer these questions bygiving the results of a study that I haverecently made of Delaware politics andthe working methods of certain Delawarepoliticians. I have no prepossession foror against any political party as such, andit is a matter of perfect indifference tome whether the Senators from Delawarebe Republicans or Democrats. I havelooked at the situation, therefore, in itspolitical aspect, with absolute impartiality, and I shall try' to present accuratelyand fairly the facts that have come to myknowledge. The only personal bias ofwhich I am conscious is a strong inheritedprejudice in favor of common honesty.The history of political corruption inDelaware is, for the most part, the historyof a single man and a single party.Other men have bought votes now andthen upon a small scale, and other partieshave resorted, occasionally, to tricky ordishonorable methods; but no systematicattempt was ever made to corrupt the

whole population and buy up the wholeState until J. Edward Addicks and theUnion Republican party took the field.With a lone star for their device, and"Addicks or nobody" for their war-cry,they began a campaign of corruptionwhich hali had no parallel, I think, in thepolitical history of the United States.. When, after the most lavish use ofmoney, they failed to attain their ends,they proceeded to hold up the State, as ahighwayman would hold up a stage; anddeclared that it should go unrepresented inthe United States Senate until it wouldagree to elect Mr. Addicks. to one of thevacant seats. This hold-up still continues,and seems likely to continue until thewinter of 1904-5, when Mr. Addicks'slieutenants promise to end the long struggle by "wiping up the earth" with all thehonest Regulars and incorruptible Democrats who may then be left. In view ofthe wide and general attention that thelegislative deadlock in Delaware is nowattracting, I shall postpone, for the present, a review of Mr. Addicks's earliercareer, and devote this article (1) to. acharacteristic illustration of his latestworking methods, and (2) to a descriptionof the means by which he brought about,last November, the election of the UnionRepublican legislators who are now supporting him at Dover.First, the attempt to make a " deal."In the early part of last September, Dr.L. H. Ball, the present Congressman fromDelaware, who happened then to be inWilmington, was called to the telephoneby an acquaintance named Lawton, whoasked him if he would not go to New Yorkthat night and meet a few gentlemen whowere desirous of settling the factionalfight in Delaware by means of an amicablearrangement. Dr. Ball got the impression, from Lawton's telephone talk, thatthe New York gentlemen referred to weremembers of the National RepublicanCommittee. He consented to go, metMr. Lawton at the station, and theystarted. On the train Lawton virtuallyadmitted that he had secured Dr. Ball'sconsent to go to New York by means ofan innocent stratagem; and that the per-son whom they were really to meet wasJ. Edward Addicks. When they reachedtheir destination, they drove to the NewYork Yacht Club, where Addicks had his

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PMOTOGRAPH ., J . PAUL 8ROWfrill , *llMI"GTOPtJ. EDWARD AIJ/lIC KSheadquarters, and were there received byAddicks himself, Caleb R. Layton, hisSecretary of State, and J. Frank Allee, President of the Bay State Gas Company.After the exchange of conventional greetings , Mr. Layton opened the conferenceby making a speech, in which he referredto the great ,service that Mr. Addickshad rendered to the Republican party inDelaware; denounced the injustice withwhich he had been treated by the Regulars; and declared that even if, for thesake of harmony, Addicks should withdrawfrom the contest, the people of Kent andSussex Counties would continue to supporthim, alld would vote for him indefinitely,as a matter of honor and principle.

Dr. B.lll, who was irritated by Layton'sspeech, as well as by the means adopted

to secure his own presence at the meeting,rose to his feet and said that he had come toNew York upon the representation that aconference was to be held for the purposeof putting an end to the Delaware contest. As it was perfectly evident, fromMr. Layton's remarks, that nothing couldbe accomplished in that direction , he didnot care to waste time in further talk, andwould therefore bid them good-day. As hewas about to leave the room, Addicks threwone arm around him, in a halffamiliar,half-affectionate way, and said, "Oh, Ball,sit down, and let's talk this thing over."Mr . Addicks then proceeded to discuss,in the most amicable manner, the politicalsituation in Delaware, and finally said:"The fact is, Ball, you ought to go to theSenate. We haven't got a thing against you

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280 The Outlook [7 Februaryexcept that you have persisted in fightingus, and if you would only join us, anduse your infiuence with the Regulars whoare opposing us, it would make your political future secure. I think you ought togo to the United States. Senate with me."Dr. Ball replied that he did not care, atthat time, to discuss the question of hispolitical future, and that so far as theRegular Republican legislators were con. cerned, he could not influence them infavor of Mr. Addicks, even if he felt disposed to do so; because they were votingagainst him on principle.Mr. Addicks then said: "I'll tell youwhat I'll do, Ball; there are three men inyour party that I want to g e t ~ I f you'lluse your influence with Chandler, Pilling,and F1inn,1. and get them, I'll have theGovernor call a special session of theLegislature, and I pledge you my wordthat you shall go to the United StatesSenate with me. I f you use your influence with those men in good faith, and,for any reason, fail to get them, I will stillpromise that you shall be renominated forCongress, as Representative, on both Republican tickets, and sent back to Washington for another term."Dr. Ball replied that he could not control the three men named; that he wouldnot if he could; and that he must declineto enter into any deal or agreemellt withMr. Addicks that would involve the politoical future of either.

Addicks then became irritated in tum,and said, with emphasis: "You won't?All right 1 I'm going to reiterate nowwhat I said years ago: I'm either going t:>be Senator, or I' ll sink the Republican partyin Delaware ten thousand fathoms deep I""A man who talks in that way," rej\.linedBall, hotly, "is no Republican 1 Suchspeeches, and action in accordance withsuch speeches, have kept you out of theUnited States Senate thus far, and willkeep you out always." ,He then took hihat, left the room, and returned that nightto Wilmington.By the terms of the compromise agreement between the Union Republicans andthe Regulars, made in 1900, Dr. Ball wasequitably entitled to re-election as the Con-~ p r e ! ! E o n t a t i v e s William C h a n d \ e r ~ of White ClayCreek hundred, Richard T. PillinKI of I>fm Creek hundred. and William R. Flinn, of Chr stiana hundred. Mr. AddleD first made tnis declaration In a telegra,mto Senator Washburn. of Minnesota, shortJ.Y.. after theadjournment of the Delaware l . e R i ~ l a \ l \ r e in May. Ib")S,

gressional representative from the Delaware district; but when he refused tomake the deal suggested by Addicks, thelatter determined to punish him for hisobstinacy, and therefore put up UnitedStates District Attorney Byrne to defeathim. The result of Byrne's nominationon the Union Republican ticket was theelection of a Democratic Congressman ;but, as one of Mr. Addicks's lieutenantsafterward said to me, "We intended to beatBall, whatever happened; we preferred aDemocrat to him." Byrne resigned theoOice of United States District Attorneyand thus beca11'e the instrument ofAddicks's vengeance, and when he hadbeen defeated by the Democratic candidate, he' was reappointed to his old place.I t is not improbable that Byrne reallyexpected to be elected; but whether hedid or not, Addicks seems to have usedhim as a means of punishing a man againstwhom, as he admitted, he had nothingpersonally, but with whom he had failedto make a corrupt deal.

I have cited this case as a characteristic illustration of one of the many andvaried methods by which Mr. Addicksendeavors to secure the help or support ofmen to whom he dares not offer cash. Heknew that he could not buy Dr. Ball, buthe thought he might tempt him with theUnited States Senatorship. He held thetemptation in one hand and a club in theother, ,nd when he failed to entrap hesmote.Among all the varied inducements heldout by Addicks and his lieutenants to menwhom they wish to "get," spot cash takesthe first place; and in the election, lastfall, of the l e g i s l ~ t o r s who are now votingfor Mr. Addicks in Dover, it played amore important part, perhaps, than aUother inducements combined. Before attempting to describe, however, the waysin which money was made to take theplace of argument and persuasion in thatcampaign, I must give the Addicks workers the benefit of the explanations thatthey make for publication with regard tothis charge of vote-buying and corruption.Such explanations may be summed up,briefly ,but fairly, in the reply to a question that I asked the President of anAddicks Republican club in SussexCoUDty.He had just called my attention to theoverwhelming majorities rolled up by the

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1903] H aIding Up a State 281Union Republican candidates in the southern part of the State, and had referredto this apparent unanimity of pubhc sentiment as a proof of Mr. Addicks's greatand growing popularity. "Yes," I replied,"it does seem to show that Mr. Addicksgets hold of the people ill some way;but the general understanding is .that heobtains these big majorities by meansof wholesale vote.buying. What aboutthat?"The Addicks man laid his hand on myknee; bent forward a little; looked at mefor a moment with a grieved and shockedexpression, and then said, with slow enunciation and impressive gravity, "Now,Mr. Kennan, this is confidential-that'swhat it is-confidential-between me andyou and God I-It ain't so 1"The reply made by Mr. Layton, thepresent Secretary of State, to a similarinquiry was not so brief, and was not.. confidential between me and you andGod;" but it was to the same effect-" itain't so 1"

"The rural population of Kent andSussex Counties," said Dr. Layton to me," comes from the sturdy, self-reliant AngloSaxon stock. They are not ignorant, low-born foreigners-in fact, the foreign element is very small-and I doubt whetheranywhere in the United States there is apopulation of better ancestry. They aregenerally industrious farmers, who dotheir own thinking and live by their ownefforts, and the idea that such a population, with such an ancestry, is purchasable- that it can be bought up wholesale byanybody-is incredible-it is inconceivable 1 I f the Republicans of Kent andSussex Counties are corrupt and purchasable, there is no Republican party inthe State, and no material out of which aRepublican party can be made. It's truewe don't play Sundayschool politics inDelaware, because we have to fight thecombined corruption fund of the Democrats and the so-called Regular Republicans; and we're in the position of aman who is up against a Texan desperadoarmed with a six-shooter. We did put upByrne to beat Dr. Ball, because Ban refusedto recognize us and didn't secure a singleappointment of any consequence from theranks of the Union Republican party.There are less than two hundred Regulars in this county, and yet they hold all

the Federal offices. The R ~ g u l a r Republicans have been trying to browbeat usand tyrannize over us ever since 1896;but they can't beat us. As for the Legislature, not a single member of it fromthese lower counties has ever been pledgedto Addicks. We don't have to get pledgesfrom our legislators-they vote for Addicks without any pledge, simply becausesuch is the wish of ninetynine out ofevery hundred of their constituents."It is not necessary at present to comment upon Dr. Layton's assertions furtherthan to say, first, that more than fifty percenL of the Republican voters in Kent andSussex Counties are" Anglo-Saxons" fromthe coast of Africa, whose incorruptibilityisnot wholly beyond question; and, second,that the statements with regard to votebuying which he furnishes to newspapermen seem to differ widely from theadmissions made by him to personalfriends'and associates in private conversation. In 1894 the Sussex County Republican Committee was authorized to expend.2,000 of Mr. Addicks's money in anelection precinct that contained only 280v o t e ~ ; and two years ago Dr. Layton tolda prominentlawyerin Georgetown that upto that time Mr. Addicks, to his certainknowledge, had spent .400,000 in Delaware in campaign years alone.Second, setting aside, for the present,the questions raised by Dr. Layton's conflicting statements, I shan try to describewhat happened in the legislative campaign of 1902-that is, last fan; and Iwill begin with the notes of the Merchants' National Bank of Boston.Two or three days before the November election, Mr. Addicks, or somebodyacting in his interest, brought into theState of Delaware two whole series (fivesand tens) of crisp, new, consecutivelynumbered notes of the Merchants' National Bank of Boston, and distributedthem among the Union Republican workers in all the election districts of Kentand Sussex Counties. Prior to the firstof November there was not a single new,unworn bill of that bank in all southernDelaware; but five days later the twolower counties were flooded with them.On the day after election, Mr. C. W. Lord,a well-known hardware merchant of Dover,took in over tht; c o ~ n t e r , in the ordinarycourse of business, twenty eight of these

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281 The Outlook [7 Februarybills, all of the denomination of fivedollars, and before the end of the weekthe First National Bank of Dover washolding nearly five thousand dollars inthis particular kind of currency, all crisp,new five or ten dollar notes that hadnever been creased, or that had beenfolded only once. Although the numbersof these notes were scattering, they wereso distributed as to show that two wholeseries had been used, and that the noteswhose numbers were missing in one shopor one bank had merely been spent ordeposited in another. More than a monthafter the election, I myself obtained inDover a lot of ten-dollar notes of thisbank, whose numbers ran from 33,414 to34,691, showing the use of $12,770; andthrough the hands of a single businessman in Milford there passed notes whosehighest and lowest numbers indicated thedistribution, on election day, of more than'20,000. A gentleman in whose .sourcesof information I have perfect confidenceinformed me that not less than $30,000in crisp, new bills of the Merchants'National Bank of Boston went into thebanks of Kent County alone, immediatelyafter the November election. A n ~ q u a l if not a greater amount was undoubtedlydistributed in Sussex County, and thousands of dollars passed from hand tohand without getting into banks of depositat all. I f the cashier of the Merchants'National could be compelled to disclosethe name signed to the check or checksupon which these new, consecutively numbered notes were issued, the AttorneyGeneral of Delaware would be fully justified, I think, in filing an information underSection 8, Article V., of the Delaware Constitution, and bringing somebody beforethe Superior Court of Newcastle Countyfor trial on the charge of vote-buying andbribery. Such a course of procedurewould purify the political atmosphere ofthe State, and it might result in the enforced retirement of Mr. Addicks fromthe field of Delaware politics. I will notundertake to say where he would go, buthe certainly would not go to the UnitedStates Senate.That these notes of the Merchants'National Bank of Boston were paid intothe stores and banks of Kent County byUnion Republican voters there is not thesha .low of a doubt. In Dover, in Camden,

in Georgetown, in Dagsboro, in Bridgeville, and in many other towns and villagesof southern Delaware, the pay offices ofthe Addicks cashiers were perfectly wellknown, and scores of men were seen goingto them from the polls and coming out ofthem with the new, crisp bills in theirhands. In' Camden, Kent County, forexample, the cashier's office was a smallempty building familiar to everybody inthe community. One hundred and thirtynegroes, who had voted the Union Repub-lican ticket, went from the polls to thatbuilding on election day, and some ofthem as they returned dropped into stores,with the money in their hands, and, holding it out for inspection, said to the clerks," Say, boss, is dis yere counterfeit?" Thecrispness and newness of the unworn anduncreased notes excited their suspicion,and led them to fear that the bills had beenmanufactured for election purposes only.In Georgetown, Sussex County, theoffice of the Addicks cashier was in awell-known general store on the mainstreet of the town. The business ofpaying for Union Republican votes wascarried 011 there so openly as to becomea public scandal. Justice Boyce, of theDelaware Supreme Court, happened topass the place on election day; saw negroescoming out with money in their hands;and was so filled with indignation that hewent to the office of ex-Attorney-GeneralRichards and asked whether the thingcould not be stopped. Mr. Richards saidthat he thought Judge Boyce would befully justified in raiding the place personally. The Judge thereupon went backto this store, burst in on the Addicksmen, and said indignantly, " Gentlemen,this is disgraceful I It's scandalous IYou'd better stop itl" The cashier'soffice was then moved to the house of anegro in a comparatively remote part ofthe town.

The buyingof votes throughout southernDela\Vare, in last fall's election, was soopen and so notorious that the localAddicks men did not think it worth whileto make a secret of it, and the figuresthat I am about to quote were, in mostcases, given by them to personal friendsor intimate associates among the Democrats and Regulars. In the Camden precinc[ of the Seventh Representative District of Kent County, the chief Addicks

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1903] Holding Up a State 283,,-orker. whose name I have, oought morethan 200 voters, including 130 negroesout of the 134 who were registered. Themarket price of votes in the morning was$15, but it advanced to $25 later in theday. Five thousand dollars were sentthere hurriedly in the afternoon, as aspecial emergency fund with which tobuy votes for J. Frank Allee, the Addickscandidate for State Senator in the ThirdSenatorial District, when it was foundthat he was running behind in Dover.The emergency fund saved him, but hehad only 98 plurality. In the first precinct of the Ninth Representative Districtof Kent County 175 Union RepUblicanvotes were paid for out of 225, and in theFifth Representative District of the samecounty the Addicks workers bought 89votes at $30 apiece, and about 100 votes(of negroes) at $10 apiece.In the second precinct of the SecondRepresentative District of Sussex County(Sorthwest Fork hundred) the Addicksmen spent between $9,000 and $10,000,and bought 307 of their 401 votes. Inthe northern part of Nanticoke hundred,Sussex County, they p'llled 158 votes, ofwhich 140 votes were purchased. In theFirst Representative District of SussexCounty (Cedar Creek hundred) theybought more than half tht-ir voters, including258 negroes out of 260. In ti_e Dagsboro hundred, Sussex County, all of theUnion Republican votes were bought except 16. There are said to be J.ess than 50unpurchasable voters in the whole Dagsboro hundred. In the Fifth Representative District of Sussex County (Little Creekhundred) the Addicks workers spent$5,700 and bought 407 votes. In theFourth Representative District of thesame county they spent $4,500 and bought240 votes, as shown by their list.I might continue thL; enumeration ofvotes bought in southern Delaware ifthere were any necessity for so doing;but statistics make monotonous reading,and I have given specific cases enough, Ithink, to sustain and justify my generalcharge. A prominent Union Republicanleader told a citizen of Wilmington, whois well known in Washington as well asthroughout Delaware, that Mr. Addicksspent in Kent and Sussex Counties in thecampaign of 1902 no less than $130,000.This included, I presume, the co!>t of

maintaining and running his -political"machine." Scores of Addicks workershave to be paid every year for their services; the" influence" of locally prominentmen has to be bought-frequently at ahigh price-and large sums of moneygiven to local managers for the purchase ofvotes are misappropriated or embezzled.In 1894, for example, Mr. Addicks, oran agent acting in his behalf, put intothe hands of two workers in Gumboro,Sussex County, the sum of $2,000 to beused in buying votes. The workers stolemost of the money, and the election district went Democratic by 56 majority,although the corruption fund of the Democrats was only $275. It is a commonpractice, furthermore, among Addicksworkers to buy negro votes at the rate of$5 or ,,10 apiece, turn them in to Addicksat the rate of "15 or $20 apiece, andthen pocket the difference between thereal price paid and the listed prIce.Against fraud of this kind Mr. Addicks,of course, has no protection. There maybe "honor among thieves;" but honordoes not seem to be a characteristic ofmen who are hired to buy votes in Delaware; and although the employer mayknow that he is being robbed, he cannotprosecute the robber without admittingthat he himself is parliceps criminis. Dr.Layton told a friend in Dover, two yearsago, that among the Addicks workers.ir.Sussex County there was nobody whomhe could trust with money. They allstole.Making due -allowance for cash misappropriated or embezzled, and for theexpense of running the Delaware "machine," Mt. Addicks probably spent notless than $80,000 in Kent and SussexCounties last fall in the corruption of theelectorate, and bought seven or eightthousand of the thirteen thousand votespolled for his legislative candidates. Henow has twenty-one supporters in theDelaware Assembly, and is holding upthe State as usual. Senator Hanna,Chairman of the National RepublicanCommittee, telegraphs State Representative Flinn at Dover that the anti-Addicksmen ought not to combine with the Democrats to defeat the Union Republicans,because "certainly the party is entitledto the fruits of its" (purchased) "victory."

[TO BE CONTINUEDl

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HOLDING UP A STATETHE TRUE STORY OFADDICKS AND DELAWAREJ

BY GEORGE KENNANII.T HE best and most trustworthyevidence that I have been ableto get, from various sources and

from representatives of all parties in Delaware, seems to show, beyond all reason"able doubt, that political corruption inthat State did not originate with Mr.Addicks. As long ago as 1850 it wasthe custom of both parties to give voters-or at least a certain class of voters-something in the nature of payment fortheir votes. Such payments were not definitely agreed upon in advance, nor, as arule, were they made in money. Theyconsisted, generally, of some commodity,or article of merchan"dise, such as a barrelof flour or a 'pair of boots, which, afterthe election, was given to the voter as asort of present or reward for having supported the party at the polls. This, ofcourse, was a demoralizing practice, andit gradually familiarized a certain class ofthe people with the idea that loyalty to partywas a thing that entitled the loyal partisanto a reward; and that votes, consequently,had a certain market value dependentupon the exigency of the political situation. From rewarding the faithful partisan a/ler the election to buying up theuncertain voter before the election wasonly a step, and that step was soon taken.Even before the Civil War both politicalparties were buying votes, when it seemedexpedient to do so in closely contestedelections, and each party attempted toexcuse itself by alleging that the otherbegan the practice, and that the resort tofire, as a means of fighting fire, was ajustifiable exercise of the right of selfprotection. The buying of votes at thattime, however, was on a comparativelysmall scale, and the voters purchasedwere generally poor men, of weak ordubious character, to whom money was

I!>ee editorial comment elsewhere ill thi" issue.886

of more practical importance than principle.After the Civil War, when the negroeswere enfranchised, the Democrats foundthemselves confronted by a new andthreatening situation, due to the acquirement of political rights by a class that hadbefore been ignored. The colored population in the two lower counties alreadyhad considerable numerical strength, andthere was no doubt that it would "otesolidly for the party that had given it theballot. Fearing this accession to theRepublican ranks, and believing that thenegroes were unfit, in point of character,education, and training, to exercise theright of franchise, the Democrats tried invarious ways to eliminate them from thepolitical situation; and, as a means tothat end, they finally enacted what wasknown as the "Delinquent Tax Law."This law provided, in substance, thatevery man who failed to pay his taxeswithin a certain specified time should losethe right to vote, and should not againbe qualified as a voter until his arrearsof taxes had been fully paid. Althoughthis law, ostensibly, was not aimed particularly at the negro, and made no color-linedistinction, its practical effect was to disfranchise a considerable part of thecolored population. The negroes constituted the poorest and most improvidentclass; they were sometimes unable to paytheir taxes; and many of them were soshiftless, careless, or indifferent that theyneglected to pay them within the specifiedtime, even when able to do so. It ischarged, furthermore, by the Republicans,that the Democrats, who had control ofthe levy courts and all the taxing machinery, carried their own delinquents on theroll of voters while excluding all others;and that by spiriting away the tax-collectors they often made it impossible for

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Holding Up a State 387Republicans to pay their taxes, even whenthe latter were ready and anxious to doso. It was not an unusual thing, justbefore an election, to see large numbersof Republican voters hunting vainly for aDemocratic tax-collector who had mysteriously disappeared; and it is said that, inone case, a party of determined Republicans, who wished to pay their taxes sothat they might have the p ~ i v i 1 e g e ofvoting, chased a fugitive taxcolIector allthe way to Philadelphia, and there draggedhim out of bed, where he had soughtrefuge with all his clothes on, and insistedthat he should take their money and givethem receipts.Coincident with this abuse of the delinquent tax law, there was moreor less buyingof votes by the Democrats-and probablyby their opponents-in all parts of theState; and the poorer adherents of bothparties were getting more and more intothe habit of "charging something" fortheir votes.1The" corruption fund," at that time,was not large in either party; but itseems to have been included regularly inthe campaign budget, and party nomineesof al1 grades were expected to contributeto it. " Twenty years ago," said a prominent Democratic leader to me, " I wentto Thomas F. Bayard and asked him fora contribution to this fund. It was wrong,of course; but we did that sort of thingin those days. Hesaid to me,' Mr. X--,I'll give you money for any legitimatecampaign expense-for halI rent, forspeakers, for printing, for flags, or forbands of music; but I won't give you acent for the purchase of votes. Thispractice of buying votes is corrupting anddemoralizing the people, and preparingthe way for some rich man to step in andbuy up the State.'''The words of Senator Bayard wereprophetic, and the shadow of the "richman" who would attempt to" buy up theState" was already falling across thenorthern boundary line of NewcastleCounty.

In 1877 John Edward Addicks, whowas then a yO:.Jng married man and aI Tbis "pression I found sbll in use in Kent andSouo;ex C o u n t J ~ . A man wbo sells bts vote is said to.. cllatge for" It i whtle a man wbo goes to the pollsunbougbt. or wttnout promise of reward . . votes his sentiments!' S p e a k i n ~ of a certain exceptional cItizen inDagsboro. a SUSIIeX County man said to me. .. li e dOPsn'tch:UJIe anything lor hts vote i be votes hts sentiments."

welltodo flour merchant of Philadelphia,became financially embarrassed, and foundit necessary to reduce his expendituresand live, for a time, as economically aspossible. He determined, therefore, togo out of the city and seek a residencein some smaIl suburban village, where hishousekeeping expenses would not be sogreat. He happened to have, in Philadelphia, a friend named Joseph BarnardWilson, who lived in the Delaware villageof Claymont, just across the Pennsylvanialine, in the county of Newcastle. Thewives of the two men were close friends,and it was probably through the infim:nceof the Wilsons that Mr. Addicks boeght,in Claymont, a country place of abouteight acres known as "Riverview" (ilftlrward called" Miraflores''), and, in 1877,went there with his wife and his daughterto live. In this manner he acquireda residence in the State of Delaware.He continued to do business in Philadelphia; but his home was in Claymont,and he went back and forth, nightand morning, by train. In the Claymonthouse the Addicks family lived for a period of about eight years, maintaining closefriendly relations all the time with theirneighbors the Wilsons.In 1885 Mr. Addicks, who in themeantime had acquired wealth as a speculator, promoter, and organizer of gascompanies, closed his" Riverview" houseat Claymont and moved with his familyto Boston, where ':is business intercststhen centered. He had at that timemanifested no Senatorial aspirations, andit is quite possible that he might have sold the Claymont house and given up hisresidence in Delaware if he had not felta strong friendly interest in the Wilsons,and if Mr. Wilson had not died early inthe folJowing l'car. When that eventoccurred, Mrs. Wilson was left in ratherstraitened circumstances, and Mr. Addicks helped her out of her financial difficulties by paying her two hundred dolJarsa month for board, and going there tostay, for a day or two, whenever businesscalled him to Philadelphia.

At the time of Mrs. Addicks's marriage,in 1869, her father, Washington Butcher,of Philadelphia. gave to her, as a weddingpresent, the furnished house No. 2115Spruce Street, where she lived with herhusband for a period of two or three

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388 The Outlook [14 Februaryyears. In 1872 Mr. A d d i c k ~ persuadedher to sell this house for $36,000 and lethim have the money to put into his business, promising that in the near future hewould give her other real estate I)f equalvalue. When they moved to Claymont,in 1877, he deeded to her the "River-view" house, in partial fulfillment of thispromise. On the 14th of April, 1888,however, about two years after the deathof Mr. Wilson, Mr. Addicks induced hiswife to deed the "Riverview" house inClaymont to Mrs. Wilson, in exchangefor certain bonds left to the latter by herhusband at his death. This deed will befound recorded in the office of theRecorder of Deeds for Newcastle County,Deed Record I., Vol. 14, p. 509. I t thusappears that in January, 1889, when Mr.Addicks came into Delaware politics as acandidate for the Senatorship, he did notown the "Riverview" place, which wassupposed to be his residence; did not livein the State, except when he came to Claymont and boarded for a day or two at Mrs.Wilson's; and was actually a citizen andresident of Boston. When he was askedone day in Claymont, by a lady fromPennsylvania who happened to be visiting Mrs. Wilson, how he could run for theSenatorship in Delaware when he actuallyresided in Massachusetts, he replied, " Oh,I live here; I've got a bureauful of clothesupstairs."In the fall of 1888, about six monthsafter the transfer of the Claymont houseto Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Addicks went toEurope, leaving his wife and daughter inBoston. . Upon his return. in January,1889, he called up Mrs. Addicks by longdistance telephone from the pier in NewYork, exchanged greetings with her, andsaid that hecould not come to Boston atthattime, for the reason that important business required his p r e s e n ~ in Philadelphia.He thereupon went directly to Claymont,boarded for a few days at Mrs. Wilson's,then proceeded to Dover. where the StateLegislature was in session, and there, uponthe basis of "a bureauful of clothes" inthe house of Mrs. Wilson at Claymont, heannounced himself as a candidate fromDelaware for the United States Senate.When he made his appearance in theHotel Richardson at Dover. he wore asilk hat and a fur-lined overcoat; he wasaccompanied by two or three showily

d r e s ~ t : d men whom nobody knew, and theparty, as a whole, created in the quietlittle capital something like a sensation.At first no one took Mr. Addicks or hispretensions seriously, and no one, apparently, discerned in him the skill, ability,and tenacity of purpose that he afterwardmanifested. He was regarded, by thepeople generalIy, with amusement andcuriosity, as a new, exotic, and unfamiliartype of politician; but it was not thoughtfor a moment that he could be dangerous or even formidable; and if it hadbeen suggested, as a possibility, that hemight eventually dominate the Republican party and hold up the State, the legislators who were voting for United StatesSenator that year would doubtless havelaughed at the idea.Mr. Addicks, however, had full confidence in his own methods and resources;and, without paying any attention to theattitude taken toward him by the people.he went promptly to work. The firstthing he did was to secure what has sincebeen called an "inventory" of t h ~ Legislature. Picking out a bright young lawstudent, who had taken rather an activepart in State politics, he said to him: " Ihave a matter that I want to put throughthe Legislature at this session, and Ishould like to get some information withregard to the character, circumstances,andantecedents of the legislators who willpass upon it. I am willing to pay liberally for this information, and I have sentfor you in order to ask whether you canget it for me."The young law student had never heardof Mr. Addicks, and knew nothing whateverof his character or purposes, but he wasquite willing to do any honest work forliberal pay, and he therefore replied thathe thought he could. Mr. Addicks thengave him a series of questions which hedesired to have answered with referenceto every Senator and Representative inthe House of. Assembly of that year.These questions were, in substance, asfollows: Who is he? Where is he from?What is his age? Is he married or single?I f married, how many children has he?Does he own any real estate? I f so, arethere any mortgages on it? What is hethought to be worth? (in money) and Whatare his habits and general reputation?

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1903] Holding Up a State 389or more in getting the desired information, and when the answers to the questions were ready, he called upon his employer and submitted them. Mr. Addickslooked them over, said they were perfectlysatisfactory, and asked the young manthe amount of his bill for the service.The student replied that the work was ofan unusual nature, and that he hardlyknew what charge should be made for it.He had spent, however, about -two weeksin getting and compiling the data, and ifMr. Addicks thought that seventy-fivedollars was not an excessive charge, hehimself would be quite satisfied with thatamount. Mr. - Adrlicks promptly drewand gave to the young man a check fortwo hundred and fifty dollars.The nature of the above questionsindicates with sufficient clearness the usethat Mr. Addicks intended to make ofthe information. He wanted, in the firstplace, to get from that Legislature a charter for the Bay State Gas Company ofBoston; and, in the second p1tce, he haddecided to begin at once his campaignfor the United States Senatorship. Inorder to attain the objects he had in view,by the methods with which he was mostfamiliar, he needed information that wouldguide him to the legislators who could bemost easily and safely "approached."A poor legislator, with a large family anda mortgage on his farm, would be moreaccessible, and would yield more readilyto influences of a certain kind, than woulda weallhy Senator or Representativewhose property was not encumbered andwhose checks at the bank were alwaysgood. That Mr. Addicks, as a matter offact, did use this information in this way,and for the purposes indicated, I shalltry hereafter to show. It is said that hehas had an "inventory" of this sortcompiled for every Legislature since1889.

His next step was to get legal counselto advise and help him in the matter ofthe Bay State Gas charter. Selecting oneof the most eminent lawyers in the State,he called at the latter's office, introducedbimself as J. Edward Addicks, and said:.. Mr.D-, I am interested in a numberof matters in Delaware with regard towhich I may need legal advice, and Ihave called upon you for the purpose 0.retaigin, 10'"' illJ m1 Jeadins W " P . ~ ~ !

this State. I wish to say to you, at theoutset, that the fees you'll get from mewill amount to more than all the rest ofyour business put together."Mr. D--, who had never before heardof Mr. Addicks, but who was unfavorablyimpressed by this method of " approach,"drew himself up with dignity and said:"You may stop right there, Mr. Addicks.I don't want any proposition or talk fromyou about compensation until after youhave explained what services you expectme to render. If, when I shall havelearned the nature of your business, Ithink best to act as your counsel, it willbe time enough to discuss the subject ofcompensation." Mr. Addicks thereuponexplained that his particular business atthat time was to get through the Legislature a charter for the Bay State GasCompany of Boston. The lawyer askedto see the draft of the charter, and Mr.Addicks produced it. Mr. D-- lookedthrough it hastily and then said: "Thething doesn't impress me favorably at firstsight, Mr. Addicks, and I should like tohave time to examine it and think aboutit."" How much time do you want ? ."Three or four days; I'm going toWilmington next Wednesday, and I'll tryto give you an answer before that time."A careful perusal of the proposed charter convinced Mr.D-- that it was thoroughly bad in form and in purpose, andwhen Mr. Addicks called upon him again,a few days later, he said to the latter: " Idon't want to have anything to do withthis charter, Mr. Addicks, for the reasonthat it seems to me improper, inconsistentwith the public welfare, and opposed towhat I regard as sound public policy. Imust therefore decline to advise you withregard to it, and must also decline to actas your counsel in this or in any othermatter." Mr. Addicks shortly afterwardendeavored to secure the professionalservices of another eminent lawyer inDover, who is well known both in and outof the State. This attempt also failed,and, so far as I have been able to ascertain, it was not until 1893 or 1894 thathe succeeded in retaining as counsel aman in the first rank of the legal profession. Mr. Herbert H. Ward, the presentAttorney-General of Delaware, acted forhim in ~ h e divorce S U ! ~ inl'tituted by :r.frli, .

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390 The Outlook [14 FebruaryAddicks, on statutory grounds, in 1894,and has since been his cbunsel in the BayState Gas cases.1What first suggested to Mr. Addicksthe idea of seeking election to the 'UnitedStates Senate from Delaware, and whathis underlying Illotives were, I do notknow; but the opportunity presenteditself when, for the first time in manyyears, the Republicans, in 1888, carriedthe State and got a majority in the Legislature. He was much more likely to succeed as a Republican candidate than asa nominee of the D


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1903] H o l d i ~ g Up a State 391the Delaware trio left the room, Mr.Addicks turned to Mr.L- and said,loudly enough for all to hear,"L-,you'd better send me your check for thatthousand dollars of mine." This was togive Mr. Bristow and others who werepresent the impression that Mr.L- hadtaken a thousand-dollar bribe from Mr.Addicks, and had then refused to " deliverthe goods" or return the money.How much Mr. Addicks spent inbribery and vote-buying in 1892 cannotwith certainty be stated; but such information as I have been able to get, takenin connection with a semi-public statementmade by him personally in 1894, indicatesthat the sum was not less than seventyfive thousand dollars. This amount,moreover, does not include twenty-fivethousand dollars used in getting throughthe Legislature his Bay State Gas charter.In 1894 he told a prominent Republicanpolitician of Sussex County, in whom he'bad confidence, that it had cost himtwenty-five thousand dollars to get thatcharter, but that he had cleaned up two million dollars in the Boston gas" deal." Precisely in what way the twenty-five thousanddollars had been used he did not explain.It is said by the Addicks men generally, and by Dr. Layton and Dr. Marshallin particular, that in the years 1892, '93,and '94, when none of the old Republicanleaders would put up the money that wasneeded for campaign expenses, Mr. Addicks threw himsc:lf into the breach,a


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392 The Outlook surprise, and could only say that Mr.Addicks knew very little about him, andwould hardly be justified in intrusting toa comparative stranger so large a sum asa hundred thousand dollars.

"That's all right 1" replied Mr. Addicks; "I- know what I'm about. I wantsomebody that will slay with me, and I'mtold you're one of that kind."Mr. N--, who had just borrowed fivehunared dollars to pay the school expensesof his oldest son, was probably temptedby the o(fer; but he told the tempter,nevertheless, that he was not prepared, atthat moment, to accept the proposition."Well," said Mr. Addicks, "if onehundred dollars isn't enough, I'll giveyou two hundred dollars a month andput ,a hundred thousand dollars to yourcredit."Mr. N-- still held back, and repliedthat he could not act in such a matterwithout consideration." I f you won't take two hundred dollars," persisted Mr. Addicks," what will

you take? Name your price."Mr. N--finally declined to do anythingmore than consider the matter, and theinterview closed.In the spring of that same year(whether before or.after the interview withMr. N-- I do not know) Mr. Addicksis said to have come personally before theSussex County Republican Committee, inthe office of D. J. Layton, at Georgetown,with an offer to give them one hundredthousand dollars for campaign purposes,

if they would nominate a ticket of legislators in that county who would vote forhim as United States Senator. The gentlemen of the Committee, who were in favorof the re-election of Senator Higgins,declined to accept the proposition. Mr.Addicks, nevertheless, put thirty-threethousand dollars into the hands of theCommittee that summer, thirty thousanddollars of which were spent in paying for" work," "influence," and votes. On theother hand, it is asserted by the Addicksmen th:1:t the Democrats had a "corruptionfund" of ty, ..::ty-six thousand dollars thatsame year.

The State election in 1894 resulted in asweeping Republican victory, the Republicans electing their Governor and Congressman, as well as nineteen out of the thirtymembers of the Legislature. Mr. Addicksregarded this victory as the result of hisown efforts and expenditures, and had nodoubt, apparently, that it would be followedby his election to the United States Senate.On the Thursday after the State electionthat is, on the evening of November 8,1894-a dinner was given at the houseof Charles L. Moore, in Georgetown, Sussex County, to fourteen prominent Republicans from the southern part of the State.At that dinner Mr. Addicks made aspeech in which, among other things, hesaid: "Well, boys, we've won I ... I'vebought it; I've paid for it; and I'm goingto have it 1 I t has cost me one hundredand forty thousand dollars 1"[TO BE CONTINUED]

A Little MinisterBy Florence Earle Coates

Far up the crag, 'twixt sea and sky,Where winds tempestuous, blowing by,Leave giant boulders swept and bare;Where forkM lightnings fitful flare,And petrels sound their stormy cry-A dainty bluebell, sweet and shy,Lifted its head complacently,As guarded by the tenderest care,Far up the cmg.luld a " whenever, fear draws nigh,J ~ I thought I stand 'twixt sea and sky,And, as of old in my despair,I bless the Power that set it there-That tiny thing with courage hisb,

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HOLDING UP A STATETHE TRUE STORY OFADDICKS AND DELAWARE

BY GEORGE KENNANIII.W HEN, on the 8th of November,1894, Mr. Addicks told thefourteen gentlemen who sataround the dinner-table of Charles L.Moore, in Georgetown, "I 've bought it;

I've paid for it; and I'm going to haveit 1 I t has cost me $140,000 I" heentertained no doubt, apparently, that thelegislators whom he had just elected, ata cost of $140,000, would make him UnitedStates Senator. When the Legislatureassembled, however, and the voting began,it became apparent that, although theRepublicans had a majority of eleven onjoint ballot, Mr. Addicks could controlonly six of them, and needed five morevotes. He therefore turned his attentionfrom buying votes in the Representativeand Senatorial districts to buying votesin the House and Senate. Selecting, fromhis " i n v e n t o r y ~ ' of that year, the namesof half a dozen legislators who, he thought,might be purchased, he set his agents atwork, with instructions to "get" them.Some of his workers seem to have beenwilling to pay as much as $10,000 perman. At any rate, one of them asked awell-known member of the Sussex County Republican Committee whether thatamount would tempt State Senator GeorgeFisher Pierce. I t evidently did not tempthim, as he voted against Addicks throughout the legislative contest of that year.In another case, the sum of $10,000was offered to the brother of a certainlegislator, upon condition that he should"use his influence" in Mr. Addicks'sbehalf-such influence, presumably, to beused with the brother. .In a third case, the tempter, after vainly endeavoring to buy the vote of a SussexCounty legislator, went away, leaving$1,000 on the table of the man whom hestill hoped to "get." The legislator returned the money, and subsequently tolda friend of hie and an acql.lilint\1nce of

mine, in Dover, that if he (the legislator)would vote for Mr. Addicks, he "mightown a block of buildings" in that city.Mr. Addicks's efforts to "influence"Senators and Representatives in the Legislature of 1895 seem to have been whollyunsuccessful. He could not obtain asingle vote in addition to the six that hecontrolled on the first day of the session,and one of his political "heelers" fromMassachusetts was so disappointed anddisgusted that he said to a member of theSussex County Republican Committee," It's a damned queer state of things clownhere in Delaware 1 In Boston Mr. Addicks can get all the men he wants for$5,000 apiece, but if there's a man in thisdamned Legislature that can be bought,I haven't found him 1"Mr. Addicks himself said to a prominentState Senator, on a railway train betweenDover and Harrington, that he had boughtthe Senatorship, and that he was going tohave it, ~ 1 ' m if had /0 IJIIY it again.The fight in the Legislature that year(1895) lasted more than four months, andtoward the end of it two of Mr. Addicks'sadherents forsook him, leaving him withonly four. These four men he succeededin holding to the very end of the session,although one of them made a desperateeffort to break away. With fifteen antiAddicks Republicans on one side and acombination of eleven Democrats withfour Addicks Republicans on the other,there was a tie, and consequently a legisl a t i v ~ deadlock. Then the Governor ofthe State died, and, in accordance withlaw, Mr. William T. Watson, the Democratic Speaker of the Senate, took his place.The withdrawal of the latter from theLegislature left the anti-Addicks Republicans with a majority, in joint session, ofone (15 to 14). They were a bout to electtheir candidate, ColQnel Du Pont, asUniteq State!) S ; n ~ t C ) r , when Mr. Addicks.

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430 The Outlook [21 Februaryit is alleged, induced Speaker Watson toreturn and vote in the Legislature whileoccupying the chair of Governor, thusbringing 'about a tie and another deadlock.l When the Legislature adjournedand the long struggle ended, in May, 1895,the antiAddicks Republicans declaredthat inasmuch as Mr. Watson had no legalright to vote in the Legislature while acting as Governor, their majority of onehad elected their candidate, and ColonelDu Pont was dl1 jllre, if not de /aclo,United States Senator. The UnitedStates Senate, however, did not take this'view of it, and, by a party vote, refusedto allow Colonel Du Pont to take his seat.

At the end of his long but unsuccessfulfight for the Senatorship in this campaign,Mr. Addicks sent to Senator Washburn,of Minnesota, the telegram to which heevidently referred in his interview withRepresentative Ball, described in my firstarticle. I t was as follows:I I The Republican party will carry Delaware next year pledged to Addicks forSenator. I made Delaware Republican.

If the Republican party is the party oftreachery, I will help bury it ten thousandfathoms deep."The substance of Mr. Addicks's complaint was that he had spent $140.000 inelecting the Republican members of thatLegislature, and had then failed to get the.. goods" for which he had paid. Thefailure to deliver, on the part of the Republicans, was equivalent to .. treachery,"and he therefore proposed, when he shouldelect' a majority in another Legislature, tohave the members of i t" pledged," andthen hold them to their pledges, or burythem" ten thousand fathoms deep."In December, 1895, the leading Republicans of Newcastle County held ameeting to denounce the methods of Mr.Addicks, and to ask the County Committee to expel its member, Robert J. Hanby,on account of his co-operation with Mr.Addicks and the Democrats in the -fightfor the Senatorship that year. At thismeeting Mr. William Michael Byrne, whosenomination as United States District Attorney for Delaware is now pending in theUnited States Senate, attacked and de--'-;;-Replv of the Republican State Committp.

nounced Mr. Addicks in the most emphaticlanguage, and declared that no decentRepublican ought to have anything to dowith him. He signed the resolutions ofprotest and denunciation drawn up atthat me-eting, as did also the principalmembers of the Byrne family, includingAlexander P. Byrne, James E. Byrne,P. J. Byrne, Michael Byrne, and John L.Byrne. Five years later, however, Mr.William Michael Byrne seemed to getsome new light on Mr. Addicks's character,and soon afterward became one of thelatter's supporters, and eventually hiscandidate for Congressman.In 1896, by the lavish use of money,Mr. Addicks succeeded in getting amajority of the delegates to the StateConvention to elect delegates to theNational Republican Convention heldthat year in St. Louis. This led to asplit in the party, the anti-Addicks Republicans bolting and sending to St. Louisa contesting delegation of their own.Upon full consideration of the evidencepresented, the Committee on Credentialsat the St. Louis Convention recommendedthe seating of the anti-Addicks delegation,and declared that Mr. Addicks and hisdelegates" did not represent the Republicar. party it. Delaware, or anywhere else;"that they were merely "highwaymen onthe road to political fortune, no matterwhat might be the result to the Republican party." Mr. Addicks thereuponformed in Delaware an organization ofhis own, under the name" Union Republican," and nominated his own Stateticket. This divided the strength of theRepublican party and enabled the Democrats to elect their Governor, as well as amajority in the Legislature that gavethem both Congressman and United StatesSenator. In 1897 Mr. Addicks threw intothe hands of the Democrats, in the sameway, a majority of the delegates to the convention called for the purpose of framingand adopting a new State Constitution.In 1897 and 1898 Mr. Addicks perfected his organization and strengthenedhis lines, using money, as before, to payworkers, get hold of locally influentialmen. and buy votes. How much he spentin these years it is impossible to state;but he admitted, in the Creelman interview, that he had used in Delaware thesum of $250,000; and his lieutenant, Dr.

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1903] Holding LTp a State 431Layton, told a friend in 1900 that, lip tothat date, he had expended $400,000 incampaign years alone. Mr. ManloveHayes, of Dover, one of the oldest, mostexperienced, and most respected politiciani in the State, has said that it is practically impossible to spend more than110,808 in Delaware, honestly and legitimately,in a single campaign. Mr. Addicks,by his own confession, spent three timesthat amount, and by admission of Dr. Layton eight times that amount, in e\'ery campaign. I t is not surprising, therefore, thatin the Legislature of 1899 the numberof his supporters had grown from four toeighteen. As the new State Constitutioll,however, had increased the total membership of the Ge:1eral Assembly to fifty-two,he stm needed fourteen votes. Hisworkers thereupon undertook, as usual,to buy legislators; and if it was foundimpossible to purchase a man outright, anattempt was made to bribe him to feignsickness and stay at home when the critical and decisive vote should be taken. Inone case, for example, reference to theI I inventory" showed that a certain Representative had indorsed notes that werenot likely to be paid, and had thus incurreda liability of $4,000 or $5,000. One ofthe Addicks workers told this man that ifhe would simply stay at home, on someplausible pretext, when notified to do so,the indorsed paper would be taken careof and he would be protected from loss.

In another case the Addicks workerwas taken into court on a charge of attempted bribery, and was there prosecutedby Mr. Charles F. Richards, of Georgetown, who was then Attorney-General ofthe State. Mr. Latamus, a Representativein the Legislature, swore that one Davis,an adherent of Mr. Addicks, offered him$5,000 for his vote. Counsel for the Stateregarded the evidence against Davis asconclusive, but the jury failed to convict.It has since been said that the jury was"fixed;" but, so far as I know, evidenceto support that charge has never beenfurnished. In most cases of this kindthere were no witnesses to the transaction,and the sworn statement of the legislatorthat John Doe had attempted to bribe himWas offset by the sworn statement of thebriber that he had done nothing of thesort Somebody lied under oath; but nobody could be legally convicted of perjury.

The penple of Delaware generalIy, andthe State legislators in p.uticular, areentitled to great credit, it seems to me,for the steadiness with which, for a longseries of years, they resisted temptation.Mr. Addicks, by means of his "inventories," kept himself and his workers fulIyinformed with regard to the financial circumstances of all influential men in bothopposing parties, and whenever a legislator, or a local politician of note, becameembarrassed, as the result of indorsingbad paper or going on the bond of a dishonest tax-collector, whenen'rsllch a manfOllnd himself" in a hole," and did notknow what to do, or which way to turn,there was an A d d i c k ~ worker at his elbowwith an offer to extricate him from hisdifficulties and lift from his shoulders theburden of anxiety. And yet, in spite ofall this, and in spite of the fact that Mr.Addicks was willing to spend from $80,000to $140,000 in every campaign, hi., experienced Boston worker declared in 1895that if there was a single man in thatLegislature who could be bought, he hadnot found him.Toward the close of the legislativesession of 1899 three Democrats wereinduced, in some way, to vote with theUnion Republicans for Mr. Addicks, thusincreasing his strength to twenty-one; buttheir desertion of their party created sucha storm of excitement and indignation inthe crowded Assembly chamber as todeter others-if there were any othersfrom joining in the movement, and theLegislature adjourned without electinganyone to take the seat of Senator GeorgeGray, whose term was then expiring.In the year 1900 each of the Republican factions in Delaware sent a delegationto the National Republican Conventionin Philadelphia. The Addicks men, aftercapturing the Committee on Credentials,were finally seated; and'as a result, doubtless, of the recognition and support thusgiven them, they succeeded in electingthat year 22 legislators out of 52, and inreducing the numerical strength of theRegular Republicans to 7. 1After another long and obstinate struggle the Legislature adjourned, withoutfilling either of the vacant seats, and

'Thirteen Republican, voted against Mr, Addicks at 'the opening of the se"ion, but only seVen held out to theend II I opposition to him. These seven men were al lfrom the county of :-;ewcastle.

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432 The Outlook [21 FebruaryDelaware was left wholly without representation in the Senate of the UnitedStates. This brings the record of Mr.Addicks's operations down to the campaign of 1902, with which I dealt in thefirst article of this series. At the beginning of his political career, in 1889, Mr.Addicks seems to have had in the Legislature only a single adherent. In 1895he had six, four of whom he. controlled tothe end of the session. In 1899 he hadsecured eighteen; in 1901 he had twentytwo, fifteen of whom he held to the end;and he now declares that even if he benot elected by the present Legislature,.. we will wipe them" (the opposition).. off the face of the ear th next year, andbe able to elect anybody we want." 1There is no doubt that Mr. Addicks hasthe courage of his convictions, and of hisfinancial resources; but it is possible that"newspaper criticism," to which, as heinformed the New York "World" correspondent. he is " utterly indifferent," mayyet get inside his guard. The newspaperp' ess of the United States-as Alan Brecksaid to David Balfour of himself, after alively skirmish-is" a bonny fechter."I shall now describe, as fully as I canin the space that is left me, the workingof Mr. Addicks's polit ical" machine," andthe methods by which he buys votes, packsprimaries, and gets hold of legislators.The most valuable and useful cog inMr. Addicks's machine is, unquestionably,the voter's assistant. When the State ofDelaware adopted the Australian ballotsystem, it was thought necessary to provide the illiterate voter-and especiallythe negro-with expert assistance in themarking of his ballot. The Governor wastherefore empowered and directed toappoint. for every polling-place, two voter'sassistants-one from each of the twodominant parties-whose duty it shouldbe to read or explain the ballot to thevoter and assist him in marking it. I twas not long before these voter's assistants became-as Mr. Willard Raulsburysaid in his letter to Governor Hunn 2_mere" tally clerks to see that purchased

I !'tatement made bv him to the Dover correspondentof the l\;ew \ 'ork" World." Febrnar)' 6, 1903. Letter written to r;"vernor H linII by Willard Saulsbury. Chairman 01 the Democratic State Committee. onthe '4th "I !'cptember, 1'(J1. askinll that the question ofthe constitlltionlJity 01 the voter's assistant law bereferrt!d to thl' Chancellor and JudJ{e" of the ~ u p r e , n e Court 01 the !'tate, in accordance with Section 4, Chapter7:1, of the Revised Code of 1l\'J3.

voters delivered the goods." As theUnion Republican party. in recent elections, has been one of the two principalparties, it has had its own voter's assistants, and has used them to keep watchand tally of its purchased vote. I f Mr.Addicks had not been able, by means ofthese officers, to check up his expenditures and make sure that he received thevotes for which he had paid, he would notnow have twenty-one Senators and Representatives voting for him in the Legislature of the State. Voters might havetaken his money just as freely, but manyof them would not have" delivered thegoods."In practice, the voter's assistant part ofMr. Addicks's machine consists of asecret booth, a corrupt voter's assistant,a cashier's office. and a cashier. Theworkers make" deals" with p u r c h a ~ a b l e voters before election day, and thenfurnish the cashiers with lists of menbought and amounts of money promised.When the purchased voter goes to thepolls, the corrupt voter's assistant seesthat his ballot is properly marked anddeposited, and then gives him somethingin the nature of a token, as a proof thatthe goods have been delivered. The"oter thereupon goes to the cashier'soffice, surrenders the token, and receivesthe amount of money '!et opposite hisname on the worker's list, which has previously been turned over to the cashierfor the latter's guidance.At one polling-place in the Baltimorehundred, in the early days, the tokengiven to the purchased voter was a chestnut, which the assistant put into thevoter's pocket. It soon became noisedabout among the colored men of the village that ordinary chestnuts at the cashier'soffice were bringing $10 apiece. Two orthree negroes provided themselves withchestnuts from private sources of supply,and went boldly into the cashier's office toget money for which they had renderedno service. To their great surprise and disappointment, they were promptly hustledout, minus chestnuts and without anymoney. All chestnuts looked alike tothem, and they could not understand whatwas wrong with their chestnuts, until theylearned a few days later that all thechestnuts of the voter's assistant had beencarefully and thoroughly boiled, for easy

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1903] Holding Up a State 433identification and as a precaution againstthis very trick.The Addicks managers now providetheir voter's assistants with tokens thathave been bought outside of the State andthat cannot be easily duplicated or counterfeited. In Dagsboro, in last fall'selection, they used a red celluloid buttonof a peculiar form which could not beobtained in Delaware. In the Baltimorehundred they had tin tags stamped"0_ K." Tin tags were also used inMilford, Kent County. In other representative districts purchased voters weregiven a certain number of links of a small,fine chain, or peculiar large-headed blackpins, which they stuck in their coats whenthey went to the cashier's office for settlement.The system was ingenious and workedwell; but in some parts of the State,where the voter's assistants could be fullyrelied upon, money was given directly tothem, and they paid for votes in theirbooths. This was safer than making settlements outside and involved less trouble.A member of the present Legislaturetold a well-known citizen of Wilmingtonthat he had bought his own voter's assistant and two others; and yet, when Qetook his seat in the General Assembly, hewas required to swear that he "had notdirectly or indirectly paid, offered, orpromised to pay any money or othervaluable thing as a consideration or rewardfor giving or withholding a vote at theelection at which he was elected."Purchased voters, in many cases, allowed the voter's assistant to mark andfix up their ballots to suit himself. Anegro, who is well known to guests of theHotel Richardson in Dover, upon beingasked by a white man in whom he hadconfidence whether he got his pay for hisvote in last fall's election, replied, with agrin of pride and satisfaction, " 'Deed Idid, Mr. X--. I got twenty dollahs 1I sot right down onto Y - - 's steps, an'I tole him I wasn' goin' to vote till I gotmy money. I waited till pretty nigh sixO'clock, and then I got it-twenty dollahs 1""You were a sensible nigger 1 Youwouldn't 'a' got more'n ten in the forenoon. Who'd -ye vote for?""Vote for? How sh'd I know 1 BillyBlank" (the voter's assistant) "did theVOlin'."

In one village in Sussex County theAddicks cashier was a general storekeeper.Between elections he sold goods on creditto poor Union Republican voters, andthen, on election day, deducted theamounts that they owed him from themoney put into his hands to buy theirvotes with.Vote-buying in Sussex County was socommon and general that evidence of itappeared in all kinds of unlooked-forplaces and in all sorts of transactions. Justbefore I visited Georgetown an assaultand battery case came up before Justiceof the Peace Purnell. In the course oftne proceedings the complainant, who wasa woman, testified that her husband, withwhom -she had had the trouble, did notproperly support her. "Last election,"she said, turning indignantly to her husband, " you sold your vote, and you showedme the money; and you wouldn't evengive me any of that 1"I n another place a Union Republicantax-collector went to the Addicks cashieron election day and asked the cashier togive him the names of voters purchasedso that he might collect taxes from themwhile they had the money. He got a listof twenty-seven delinquents, and p r ~ ceeded at once to look them up.In the same county the levy court commissioner, whose duty it was to make upthe panel of jurors, told a friend that itwas becoming more and more difficult tokeep off that panel men who, to his certainknowledge, had sold their votes. He wasa Union Republican official, but he admitted the probability that a man who hadtaken money for his vote as an electorwould also take money for his decision asa juror, and he did not think it rightto include in the panel men of that character.When Mr. Addicks's agents first beganto buy votes in southern Delaware, theycould" get" only a part of the negroes,and a few men from the poorest class ofwhites; but the corrupting influence ofmoney, used boldly and with impunitythroughout a long series of years, finallyhad its effect upon men of a higher typemen who could not plead poverty as anexcuse for their acts. Well-ta-do farmersin Sussex County, who own their farmsand have money in bank, now sell theirvotes regularly every other year; and aa

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434 The Outlook [21 Februaryfor the colored population, wlaich polls inthe two lower counties a vote of aboutfive thousand, it has been corrupteden masse. Many informants in Kent andSussex told me that in the circle of theirpersonal acquaintance they did not knowa single negro who "voted his sentiments." Every man of them sold hisvote for what it would bring.Temptations for white men of the betterclass, country lawyers, doctors, merchants,and local politicians, are thrown broadcast, on the chance that they will "get"the men. I f Mr. Addicks asks a countrylawyer for an opinion with regard to someunimportant matter, and the lawyer sendsa bill for fifty dollars, he receives a checkfor five hundred. I f an influential country merchant finds himself in need of atemporary loan, he is informed by one ofMr. Addicks's agents that he can get it,without security or indorsement, of a certain person or at a certain bank. I f anunfortunate harness maker or blacksmith,who would make a good worker, has justbeen sold out by the sheriff, he is IC approached "by an Addicks agent, and ina few months he resumes business andbegins to build himself a house. I f aman happens to be on the bond of adefaulting tax-collector, and is forced tosell personal property and give a note inorder to meet the sudden and unexpectedliability, he is informed that by using hisinfluence in favor of Mr. Addicks he cans t r a i g h ~ e n the matter out at once, withouttrouble or loss. I f an Addicks agent ofthe higher class sticks faithfully to hisemployer, and renders efficient service, heis made an officer or director in the BayState Gas Company. One of Mr. Ad-dicks's principal supporters in Delawareis Secretary of State; another is Insurance Commissioner; a third is Presidentof the Bay State Gas Company; and afourth is State Superintendent of Schools.

I f an Addicks agent wishes to get holdof a man of honor and principle-a manwhom he knows he cannot buy-he goesto him and says, " I know very well, Mr.G--. that you can't be improperly influenced in any way; but I want to lay ourcase before you and ask a favor. We arehaving a hard struggle in this district, andare fighting against the combined corruption funds of two parties. The odds aretwo to one against us, and we haven't a

fair show. Now I'm authorized to offeryou a thousand dollars, upon the sole con-dition that you'll see, as far as you can,that we get a square deal in this district.We don't ask for your vott', and we den'twant your influence unless you feel dis-posed, voluntarily, to give it to us. Youmay vote and talk as you like-against usif you choose-but just look out for us alittle, and if we don't get a square dealhere, let us know." I f the man is poor,and if he needs the money, he is verylikely to yield to this temptation. Hewill probably say to himself, "There'snothing wrong a bout that; every man isentitled to a square deal; I'm not sellingmy vote, my influence, or my independence." But if he takes that thousanddollars, he is lost. Two years later hewill take more, and if, finally, he becomesalarmed or repentant, and endeavors toescape from the net, the agent says to himcoolly that his best course is to join theirranks, inasmuch as he will probably findit very difficult to explain to his neighborsand the public why he took Mr. Addicks'smoney, when the fact that he did take itshall become known.Of the evidence obtainable in Delawarewith regard to the use of depraved womenas a means of disgracing legislators andenabling workers to hold or control doubtful men by threats of exposure, it is notnecessary, at present, to speak. I mustsave some space for a consideration of thedifficulties in the way of criminal prosecution, and for a few brief comments onMr. Addicks's character.Upon a review of all the facts set forthin this and preceding articles, the readerwho is not familiar with the Delaware situation wiII naturally ask, "Why do notthe honest men of the State prosecutethese bribers and vote-buyers in thecourts? I f the facts are so notorious andthe evidence so accessible, why are noneof the Addicks workers in the penitentiary?" There are several reasons. Inthe first place, three attempts to convictof election offenses in Delaware havefailed. Davis was found not guilty by ajury said to have been "fixed," whileMoore and Reiman, who were tried by abench of judges under the provisions ofthe new State Constitution, were acquittedby a divided court.1 The law now de-

I l.ore and Pennewill for acquittal, Grubb dissentinc.

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19031 Holding Up a State 435elares that " no person shall be adjudgedguilty of any offense mentioned in Section7 of this Article" (an election offense)" without the concurrence ofall the judgestrying the case." I am not competent toexpress an opinion with regard to therightfulness or wrongfulness of the court'sdecision in the cases above referred to;but the effect of it was, apparently, to discourage prosecutions.In the second place, there is no doubtwhatever that votes have been bought inDelaware by Democrats and RegularRepublicans, as well as by the agents ofMr. Addicks. Dr. Layton says that theDemocrats, in 1894, had a corruptionfund of $26,000. I t s quite possible, butI do not think that in recent years theyhave been able to raise anything like thatamount of money for election purposes.The cases of vote-buying by Democratsand Regular Republicans that came to myknowledge in Delaware were of this sort:When, in some village or small town ofKent or Sussex, the Democrats or Regulars found, late in the day, that theirown voters were being captured by theAddicks workers, they put their hands intheir pockets, raised a few hundred dollars, and tried, by offering cash inducements, to hold their own negro voters totheir party allegiance. Sometimes th.!yhad a small fund ready for such anemergency-as, for instance, at Camdenin the recent election-but they seldo mused it, for the reason that the Addicksworkers could bid five dollars to their one.Inasmuch, however, as vote-buying on asmall scale is just as much a crime, underthe law, as vote-buying Oll a large scale,they could not prosecute without beingprosecuted. By a foolish attempt to fightMr. Addicks with his own weapons, theylost the advantage they might otherwisehave had.In the third place, the new State Constitution allows no one except the AttorneyGeneral to begin a suit against a personguilty of an election offense. 1 Mr. Herbert H. Ward, the present Attorney-General, is believed to have been Mr. Addicks'scounsel for many years; and there seemsto be a general feeling in the State thathe will not take the initiative in legalI" Eer}' ~ t i o n for any of the offenses mentionedin Section V. of thi s Article stiall be on information tiledby the Attomey-General." (State Constitution, Art. V.,

sec.. 8.)

proceedings against his client, unless theevidence laid before him is very strong.This may be a wholly mistaken impres-. sion, but taken in connection with thefailures to convict in the Davis, Moore,and Reiman cases, and the risk of counterprosecution by Mr. Addicks, with hiscounsel as Attorney-General and his millions for legal expenses, it has made bothof the opposition parties cautious. Myown opinion is that if there were in Delaware a man like Mr. Folk, of St. Louis, hewould soon put an end to this daring law-breaker's Senatorial campaign. Throughout his political career in Delaware Mr.Addicks has acted in accordance with adeclaration that he made to his secondwife with regard to another and morepersonal matter: .. I am a law unto my-self; or lawless, i f not the law I"I have left myself room only for a veryfew remarks concerning Mr. Addicks's personal character as it appears in his political record. The first thing that strikesone, in reviewing the history of his longstruggle for the Senatorship, is his weakness as a politician and manager. He isa bold and persistent fighter, an unscrupulous adversary, and a most adroit corrupter of men; but he is extremely im-prudent, he is an extraordinarily recklessand foolish talker. and he seems to bewholly lacking in the ability to forecastthe results of actions, or courses of procedure. As illustrations of his imprudence, take, for example, his attempts toget financial assistance from corporationsand organizations outside of the State.At the beginning of one of his campaignshe went personally to a well-known manufacturer who is the President of a manufacturers' club in a large Northern cityand said to him, in substance, " I wantyour club to put up $75,000 to help mein Delaware. I f you'll put up $75,000I'll put up another $75.000, and with the$150,000 I can buy up the whole Democratic party in the southern part of theState. Then, when I'm elected Senator, Ican do a lot to help you manufacturers."In another case, he made to the representative of a Pennsylvania steel companya somewhat similar proposition, andoffered the remarkable suggestion thatthe United States Senatorship might be" syndicated." I have refrained fromgiving names in these cases, but I can

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436 The Outlookfurnish them should they be called for by ently and pugnaciously forcing himselfcompetent authority. upon the Republican party in Delaware,Nobody but a man of extraordinary when he saw clearly that he was not itsaudacity and recklessness would have ven- choice for Senator. I t is the judgmenttured to make such propositions and take of the ablest of his opponents that if hethe chance of being" given away." Dr. had given way in 1894-if he had simplyLayton, who is also a reckless talker, but said," Gentlemen, I see you don't wantwho is shrewder, in many ways, than his me, and it's all right. Put up your bestcandidate for the Senatorship, once said man and I'll help elect him "-nothingto a friend, in a moment of irritation, could have prevented him from going to"Addicks is the worst fool outside of a the Senate the next time there was a vacantlunatic asylum; but I'd support a Feejee seat. Instead of doing this, however, hefrom the Cannibal Islands if he had became, as the Committee on Credentialsmoney enough to beat the Democrats 1" said to the St. Louis Convention, "a high-As an illustration of Mr. Addicks's lack wayman on the road to political fortune,"of judgment and of political foresight, I and proceeded forthwith to hold up theneed only refer to his action in ' persist- State.

[THE END]

The New PoliticianBy Richard Watson Gilder

While others hedged, or silent lay,He to the people spoke all day;Aye, and he said precisely whatHe thought; each time he touched the spot... In heaven's name, what does he mean IWas ever such blind folly seen I"The wag-beard politicians cried:"Can no one stop the man?" they sighed."This talking frankly' may be fun,But when have such mad tactics won?He may be happy, but the costIs ours 1 The whole election's lost I"

And still the people at his feetFollowed and cheered from street to street.Truly this ne'er was known before:No soldier, sailor, orator,No hero home from battle heWhom welcoming thousands rush to see;But just a man who dared to takeHis stand on Justice, make or break;'Twas all because the people foundA man by no conventions bound;Who sought to heal their black disgraceBy treating rich and poor the same,Giving to crime its ugly name,Damning the guilty to their face.And when the votes, at last, were read,One candidate ran clear ahead 1This be his glory and renown:He told the truth-and took the town

This ~ m , as the reader sees, is a tribute to DistrIct Attorney Jerome and his campaign. It Is reprinted by~ i o n from Mr. Gilder's" Poems aQ

Documents

Holding Up a State: The True Story of Addicks and Delaware