The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-02-17
nore mute inglorious Millions" from their
ne Electoral Votes Were
Counted I'm 1879.

Counted I'm 1873.
Are the authors of the twenty-second joint
rule to be permitted to consign it to oblivion
and evade their responsibility The follow
ing is the clause no longer of value to the
dominant party =
And no vote objected to shall be counted except by
lne concurrent vote of the two houses, which being
obtained, the two houses shall Immediately reassem-
pie and the presiding officer shall then announce the
decision of the question: and upon any such question
there shall be no debate in either house
republican Senate and republican
House of Representatives agreed upon this
rule in order to count the electoral votes in
1865, and it has remained in force until the
assembling of the present Congress. few
extracts from the Congressional Globe of Feb
ruary II, 1873 will demonstrate the ease
with which a Presidential candidate could,
under the rule have been deprived of his
majority had he been unacceptable to Con-
gress controlled by his political opponents
Mr TRUMBULL objects to the counting OF the votes
cast LOT President and Vice President by the electors
10 tho State OF Mississippi for the that 1t does
not appear from the certificate OF said electors that they
voted by ballot
Mr.. HoAR objects to the counting the votes OF the
state OF Georgia because the votes reported by the
ellers having been by the electors OF the State
OF georgia LOT Horace Greeley, OF New York, cannot
be lawfully counted because SAID Horace Greeley, for
whom they appear TO have been cast dead at the
time said electors assembled and cast their votes, ana
so not person within the meaning OF the constitution,
this being historic fact OF which the houses may
properly take notice
Mr.. BASKs-I rise to point of order, and it is that
we have power TO decide the eligibility Of any
man voted Tor for President
Mr.. BISGHAM-ls debate in order9
The SPgAKER--It is not
Mr.. hoar's resolution that the electoral votes of
Georgia for Horace Greeley should not be counted was
passed by of 10l TO 90
Mr.. TRUMBULL objects to the vote OF Texas because
there is no certificate by the executive authority of
the State that the who voted for President and
vice President were appointed electors OF that State
as required by the act of Congress-
Mr.. DAwEs-l think the statute OF the State of Texas
should be read as it all depends on that
The SPEAKER (Mr. Misunderstanding the statute of
the State of Texas would be in the nature Of debate.
The Senate having resolved as follows Resolved,
That the electoral vote of Arkansas should not be
counted (22 for counting, 2S against counting;
And the House having resolved as follows:-Resolved,
That the electoral vote OF the State OF Arkansas as re-
ported by the teers be counted o3 for counting, rs
against counting,
this question: the vote of Arkansas accordance with
the provisions of the joint rule will be counted
Both houses concurred in not counting the vote Of
Louisiana
Who could have foreseen that the elections
in 1864, 1868 and 1872 were not to be closely
contested? Certainly not those gentlemen
who have for eleven years been apparently
unaware of the dangerous nature of their
own method of counting votes. Senator
Sherman, of Ohio, was one of the tellers in
1878, yet it is but few weeks ago that he
was heard in the Senate to say that civil war
was contained in this rule The proposal of
the Senate to rescind the joint rule at this
particular time is confession Of indefensi-
BILE partisanship in its original adoption, and
the objections of republican Senators to con-
sulting with the democratic House of Repre-
sentatives may have the effect of withdraw
ing the whole disgraceful matter from public
scrutiny and also leave us without any pre-
scribed method whatever Of counting electo-
raj votes. There is not man in the United
States to-day who knows how the votes in
the approaching Presidential election are to
be counted. 1t is true there remains the
constitutional provision that 'the President
of the Senate shall, in the presence of the
Senate and House of Representatives, open
all the certificates, and the votes shall then
be counted" 1t seems that this was INSULT
cient, as it does not say by whom or how
they are to be counted. It's trainers, however,
evidently believed that the composition of
our highest deliberative assembly would
always be such that simple grant of power
to count votes would be unattended with
danger and on the other hand that the peo-
pie were to remain watchful and appreciative
of their rights.