Another sample of manhood suffrage in operation was exhibited at the primary elections at St. Louis in 1904 when Folk was nominated for governor of Missouri. A magazine writer describing what took place says that the ring opposed to the nomination of Folk “stationed thugs outside the polling places with orders to slug, kick, beat, and if necessary kill,--anything to defeat Folk,” and that scores of men, some of them prominent, were knocked down in broad daylight, kicked and beaten, etc., while the police stood idly by. Also that “there have been instances where for weeks before an election members of the police department have gone about locating vacant houses and assisting in registering fictitious names from such houses” and he gives instances of houses where many more names were registered than it was possible there could be residents at the house. The result was that of the population of 600,000 people, not one delegate favorable to Folk was elected. “Former Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, Norman J. Coleman, and Secretary of Agriculture under President Cleveland, stood long in line to vote, without making any progress. He stepped out to make an investigation and found that men were being admitted into the polling place by a rear door and that there was no chance for him. Finally a politician whom he knew came up to him and said: ‘I will get one of the men out of the line up here and give you his place.’ As he was about to give Mr. Coleman the place he asked him for whom he was going to vote. ‘For Folk, of course,’ was the answer. ‘Then I can’t do anything for you.’” The intelligent reader needs no argument to convince him that under a rule of substantial property qualification none of the above described ruffianism would find a place in politics. Under such a rule none of these precious gangs would appear at the polls or primaries; their leaders would be without political influence; a mayor or governor supported by such blackguards would never be chosen and would not even be a candidate.