The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-03-14
FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS.
A NEW METHOD or COUNTING THE
yOTES ron PRESIDENT.

WIS fOH 4 u fNf DAsNhs
Providing against the Di-frn nch isement OF
any state Buncombe Resolutions In the
House, and Others that not BuBcoHbr.
WASHINGTON. March 13.-In the Senate
to-day Mr.. sherman diep., Ohio) introduced a
bill to limit the jurisdiction Of heads OF depart
menis In regard to allowance of claims. Re
ferred TO the judiciary Committee.
provide that no claim ogsai t1G I ensy sisss n
erea and rejected ~ the head Of that department.
Whole Or BE in sT psrt ~ nS head Ga, but
%sn9 3 he n W HS and SoW
snce by the departments OF any claim that accrued
ins that such claims he referred the Court ~
Claims 70 within inc limits preserioed by section ooi
The sccourtine occfs Of me treasury to examine and
msSd or psSmen as faiiy and eonpieeiy as il no
such recommendation had been made
On motion of Mr.. Morton (Rep., Ind the Sem
ate took IN the bill TO provide for and regulate
The counting Of votes for President and Vice
President
Mr.. Bayard Dem, De) briefly addressed the
Benate in opposition to the bill.
Mr. Morton said the bill presented three i'm
portant changes from the old method, which he
proposed to point out. The bill provides for
debate or explanation while the vote was being
counted. It provides against the dsfranchse-
ment Of any Of the States, and II provides that
the vote Of every state shall be counted.
Mr.. Eaton Dem, Comm said that the second
ection Of ;he bin provided that the return from
Iuch state shall be counted which the two
Houses acting separately shall decide to be the
true and valid return, and asked what would be
the effect If the House decided that one set Of
returns were correct and the Senate decided
that another set was correct, In q case where
there were two seta OF returns from one state
Mr.. Morton replied that In such case as that
I..Ia a. % fAF fNN4fa NIln
outside tribunal constitutionally qualified to de-
Mr. WoHtweiI ,Rcp.. Mnssl said he had not the
faith I'm the wisdom OF the TN that tine Chair
man (Mr. Morton) had. although he should
he Wee President had any other duty to per.
form than simply TO open the returns. Fol
nearly a century me old method bad been In use
under the Constitution, aud IL was not possible
for Congress to delegate 1t to acourt or anybody
else.
TO GUARD AGAINST ANARCHY.
Mr.. Thurman Dem. ohio) said It was time
that some such measure rs that should be
adopted, for he could easily foresee that tbs
90 such an exteut as TO plunge the country into
anarchy and rebellion. II could not happen once
would not know just what package Of return.
contains the votes OF his particular party, and
,sron S1la his SS mr. .o fsuTRan Solicitation f that
the Senator from Indiana introduced the second
section Of the bill and he considered II neces
sarv. II any Senator could devise any better
plan. he would be glad to hear II.
MIR. WAITE DEM Mi0 said he would have II
left just where cur fathers and the Consiiiuton
left it. lie held that the Nice-President had
the RICH; to decide which was the correct set OF
Mr. Cooper Dem. Tenn) moved to amend bS
adding after the words, The two Houses act,
Ing separately shall decide to be the true and
valid RETURN the following words And II the
two Houses cannot agree, then the House Of
Repre- entatives, voting 10y states In the mannel
provided by the Constitution when the election
deyolves lpon the House, shall decide to be The
true and valid return
Mr.. Herman Dem. n. " did not think III,
President pro tenn had the right to decide whici
were the true and valid returns, and he did no
think the Constitution warranted such conclu
sion. IL said he should open all the retdrns an'
they should be counted. II any question sho "a K
ever arise as has been spoken Of, then he woul'
prefer to have the House decide the matter, a
they more clearly represented the people.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF-
MIR. Morton said, then II the House voted OF
the question 10y states the state which had ou
voice In the mater as the state Of New York
which had thirty-hve rerresenta'ives. He SAT-
he had once made a compu'atlon, sna had as
voting by States, and representing sVNUO q
people. could out-vote the other "a members
thlns Ie conceived oftha would come turtle
from the VII Of the peopleI me principle In
vulved IN This hill Is precisely tine same a. tia
upon which all legisl alton Of the country de
ponds. IL the two Houses cannot agree UpO
till before Congress II fails u cours,
and there is no power to refer it t
third party as arolter or referee. II powe
can lie delegated 10 tue House 10 declue upu
valid returns, n can be delegated To the Senate
It can be delegated to the Nice-President Or "a
PRECEDENT, and the entire will Of the people b
set asi lie and the idea of selecting referee &
umpire TO decide a question u this chaTaett
was an absurd one.
Mr. Frelnghuysen rep, n. j. said that az at
surd as this idea was, there were several tr'
cedents for II aud he instanced the case
iowa, wherein Governor had been declare
elected, aud question arising, the Court {
Claims was delegated as umpire.
The Senate then went into Executive sessio
and afteTwtTd adjourned.