Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Wednesday, March 8, 2000

Free whisky boosted turnout

I've wondered how campaigns were conducted in the past when they managed to turn out such a high percentage of voters, which sometimes approached 100 percent. Now I know.
   I found an article that described getting out the vote a century ago. It seems that Corpus Christi could have taught Boss Tweed lessons.
   To put this in context, in 1895 only males 21 years of age or older could vote. It would be another 25 years before women won the right to vote. Until after the Civil War, only white males could vote. To dilute black voting strength, Texas allowed non-citizens to vote. This came in handy in Brownsville, where Mexican citizens were brought across the river on election day to be bribed to cast pre-marked ballots. This was a time when ballot-stuffing was flagrant, when the phrase "vote early and vote often'' was no joke.
   The article below comes from an interview printed in the Caller on Aug. 21, 1936. Neither reporter nor interviewee were identified. Keep in mind that this refers to a time when Hispanics were treated as second-class citizens, when their votes were bought and manipulated. There are things about our history we should know:
   ?
  ???"It ain't what it used to be. No sir!''
   The oldtimer sat on the veranda of his home and wagged his gray head sadly. He was speaking of local politics.
   "Back in '95 our political machinery started grinding two months before the election and there wasn't any messing around, once it got started. Every precinct had its chairman and committee and they didn't lag around when it came to getting out and digging up the votes. By the night before the election both sides knew how many votes they would get the next day, and when I say 'knew' I don't mean they guessed. They really knew.
   "It worked like this. At one of his meetings of the committee the chairman would ask: 'How is old Jeff Black going to vote?' One of the committee would say, 'I tried feeling him out the other day and he wouldn't say.' 'Well, this won't do,' the chairman would say; 'we've got to know. Now, tomorrow I want at least four of you to go around to him and get him talking politics. Don't ask him his opinions, just get him talking. And tomorrow night I want to know how Jeff Black is voting.'
   "Just to give you an example of how close the machines could estimate their votes in days gone by, take Judge Walter Timon's forecast of the H.G. Sherman-Roy Miller fight for mayor back in 1912. Miller got exactly three more votes than Timon said he'd get, but even that didn't satisfy Timon. He scratched his head for days, wondering where those extra three votes came from.
   "The night before election Corpus Christi was a glad place to see. There was plenty of free liquor and cigars and everybody got drunk and happy. The Mexican population of this town got plenty happy on that night, let me tell you. The candidates would get them as drunk as possible and then pen them up in houses and not let them out until it was time to vote the next day. Then they would hand them a marked ballot (in those days it was legal for all candidates to have their ballots marked), and lead them to the polling places, with stops on the way for more free liquor. . . .
   [This article doesn't say so, but others I've read said Hispanic voters were kept under control after they voted. They would be taken back to some saloon and given liquor until after the polls closed so they could not vote for the opposition.]
   "There was a difference in the way campaigns were handled in those days, too. There wasn't any mud-slinging, for one thing, and very little public speaking. Instead of trying to rabble-rouse, the candidates gave a lot of free barbecues at which plenty of liquor and beer were to be found. . .
   "On election day every candidate would have a free whisky and cigars booth set up near each polling place. In those days the candidates thought too much of their supporters, let me tell you, to see one of them go around unrefreshed. The candidate or one of his helpers would be at every booth to hand out marked ballots.
   "I never will forget the fix one candidate found himself in. He was standing at one of his booths with his pockets full of marked ballots when a pickpocket from the other side stole all the ballots out of his pockets and substituted opposition tickets. About five hours later the candidate discovered he was handing out his opponent's tickets, and there wasn't any quieting him. He never was the same afterwards.
   "People don't take their voting seriously nowadays. Back in '95, every man had a vote, voted, and didn't let anything interfere with it. Why, in those days, the words 'Don't die until after the election, grandpa,' would be enough to keep a man alive for an extra week. You don't find enthusiasm like that any more; I don't know where it went to, maybe it followed the horse out. Maybe people are just built different nowadays. But, anyhow, politics ain't what it used to be.''
  

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