Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-10-05

tnelr congressman; Onlo, inulaha ant
several other States will elect theirs il
October. New Hampshire chose her
in March and Connecticut hers il
April. Does Attorney General Tai
really think that the federal government
has a right to interfere with the No
vem5er election in those States wheI
they are to choose Presidential electors
The choice OF electors stands on thu
same footing as the choice ofEtate off
GERS and is subject to federal jnterfer.
!, ence in no other way. Why, then
does Mr.. Taft, include them within the
scope of the statuteI Such looseness ant
inaccuracy show with how little care oil
discrimination his circular was prepared
and justifes us in inquiring whether
othei parts of it are not equally at vari'
ancewith law.
The Attorney General asserts that the
decisions of the Supreme Court last
March declaring the Enforcement Law
unconstitutional referred only to State
elections and not to federal elections
Now, it is true that the offence charged
in both of those cases was committee
in connection with State election, bu
the reasoning Of the Court was equally
applicable to elections Of every kind
Mr.. Taft instructs the rharshals in re.
lation to "the peace of the United
States, which you are to preserve, anc
whose violations you are to suppress.
But the Supreme Court said Ger.
tainly it will not be claimed that the
United States have the power or are re-
CURED to do mere police duty in the
States. II State cannot project itself
from domestic violence the United States
may, upon the call of its Legislature Oh
Executive, lend their assistance for that
purpose" MIR. Tait's instruction tc
the marshals to preserve the peace and
prevent itsviolation without any call
from the State Executive orLegislature
is in open defiance of the. decision o.
the Supreme Court, which said, in an.
other part of its opinion, that "the pow
ers OF internal police are not surrender
ed or restrained by the constitution Of
the United States" The Court recog-
nized no exception to this principle in
the case of federal elections, bat applied
it alike TO all cases in which noiapplica.
ton has been made by the State author
tiles after their own power to preserve
or restore internal order had been exer-
' e. On IN the subiecgzrg,. ,ss,,..sn.
have decided that the coastffvtsoDnts!s.ss
United States has not conferred the
right OF suffrage upon any one and thai
| the United States have np voters Of
their own creation in Stats" "The
right Of suffrage is not nee tsary attri-
butte of national citizenship bat ex-
emption from discrimination b the exer-
else of that right, on the gro$id of race,
&C., is" From these principle the
Court deduced the conclusion that fed
eral interference for any othf purposc
than the single one OF prey9ting dis
ordinations on account of RTE or col
or is plain violation of the Constitution,
But in the Attorney GENERALLY circular
the instructions are not confIed to pro-
lection on that single point On the
contrary they cover everything relating
to elections in which memb4s of Con-
gress and ,Yresidential electoA are to be
chosen. He instructs the 4hrsbals to
"secure voters against whatke in gen.
eral prevents or binders thdn from a
free exercise of the elective 'anchise.'
The circular thus strikes al the very
foundation of the Supreme 9urt decis.
ion. 1t is the very gist of I t decision
that the United States cann4 interfere
, sin general" but only for tie one spe-
ci6c object of preventing liscrimina-
lion on the ground ofrace. hthe face Of
the emphatic declaration d the Court
that the United States hayeIn not confer.
red and cannot confer the tight of suf
; frage on anybody Mr.. Tail insists or
their authority ITO enforce fine right t.
vote which they have givel"
, But the most surprising ihing Of al
is the list of references TO he Revised
Statutes which Mr.. TAFT ave to ouI
: correspondent to be COMMUNICATED t
: US. In that list he refersldr authority
to sections which the Subdme Cour
, have explicitly declared to Se void II
whole and in every part Pie posi-.
] ton maintained BY the Sup90e Cong
is that the Enforcement law uney''
stitutional because it mixesHp Prosis
ions giving protection toytfInn ~ yen sen,
- ,:.l; ssss gis Jas - = ~
q = :, :. f
: rate the constitutional from the uncon
I stitutional features of the law and tina
: a5the whole'is made band void by til
D unconstitutional parts. And yet Mi
: Taft cites these nulIities in defence G
s his circular II law il void in tot
t it is, OF course, void in its application t
1 federal as well as to State elections -
E After deciding that Congress has n
: power to interiefe at all except for tn
Y one purpose of preventing discrimina
t tons founded on race or coIor the CouI
5 concludes by saying: Eve must, there
: fore, decide that Congress has not, a
: yet provided by appropriate legislatio
: for the punishment Of the ofenc
$ charged in the Indictment" As ID
n only thing itfhas right to punish
f connection with the suffrage is its de
t NAL on the ground of color it is cles
: that there is at present no constitution
: aBlaw on the subject. The principl
5 applies equally to all elections, whetf
: er members Of Congress are to be CHI
n sen or not.
y In conclusion We will subj6in som
e pertinent excerpts from the Suprem
Q Court decision :--tIt remains now
:, consider whether a statute 20 gener