, worse than burglary, as bad as murder, is the crime that
has been perpetrated here in your city openly, in the face of day,
trying to break down the elective franchise and rob the people of
their right to govern themselves. I might forgive a man who would
steal because he was in need of bread; he might commit other crimes
because of some reason, but a man who seeks to rob his neighbors
of their right to govern themselves, and practices the tricks of
the wily electioneer to deprive the people of this right, commits
a meaner crime than any that can be named in the list of crime.

"I am told that dozens--aye, hundreds--of men have gone to the
polls and there voted over and over again; that they have given
false names, and sometimes, in the presence of the very guardians
of the public peace, they have openly violated the law. I say that
worse men cannot be found than those who do this, or those viler
creatures who protect them in doing it or justify them in their
acts. Every power of the nation should be utilized to punish them
with the penitentiary; they ought to be made to wear the stripes
of the convict."

Foraker followed with an eloquent speech, which greatly pleased
the audience, and after much hand-shaking the crowd gradually
dispersed.

My remarks about frauds at elections did not please the "Enquirer."
While strongly censuring me for violence in language it did not
try to controvert what I said. I have always entertained the
opinion that frauds in elections are more dangerous crimes than
cheating, theft and robbery, because they are committed against
the whole people and sap and undermine republican institutions.
I have always denounced them, or anything approaching them, when
committed by friend or foe.

From Cincinnati I went to Columbus to pay my respects to the Ohio
legislature, about to adjourn. A majority of both houses was
Democratic. They convened in the hall of the house of representatives,
where I addressed them. I thanked them for their courtesy, which
was the more gracious because it came from gentlemen who did not
agree with me in political opinion. I told them I was pleased to
see that in Ohio and elsewhere the interests of our country and
our state were regarded of vastly more importance than the factious
quarrels of bitter partisans, which feeling I was glad to say I
had always encouraged. I alluded to my having served in the Senate
of the United States with colleagues representing