The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1876-11-25
GAN HONEST COUNT"
A Demoeratic Cry which Means Count.
ing Tffden In by the Aid OF Violence
and Fraud.

honest count. The sense In winch they
use the phrase is, however, peculiar; II
and satisfy the requirements Of their case.
Thus, the Democratic ''honest count, 10
only another term for count that elects TIL
three disputed States, is ssfrsudulent, -
"despotic, Revolutionary" and ssnot
Democratic politicians and lawyers, great
and small, have gone to Columbia. ITALIA
hassee, and New Orleans, to watch the pro-
ceedings Of the Returning Boards. Their
guiding purpose is to prevent any scrutiny
by the State Board Of the returns received
from the County Cayassers. This has been
made plain enough at Columbia, where the
lawyers retained in behalf Of Tilden and
Hampton contest the right Of the State
Board to act In any other than . clerical ca
pacity. Its authority to investigate facts
underlying the returns is denied, and
rule has been obtained from the
Supreme Court Of ths State requir.
should not be restrained from the exercise
of Judicial functions. 1t is to be compelled
to count votes returned to It, whether they
be honest or fraudulent. We have, there
fore, the spectacle of the Democratic party,
shouting itself hoarse at the North in favor
Of ian honest count, +" threatening to rise
in rebellion on the ground that can honest
COUNT is endangered, and sendingits ennis.
saries to the South to Illustrate the essential
conditions of honesty and to secure the sue.
cess of frauds that would render the cleo
ton worthless as an expression OF popular
opinion.
What was at first partially disguised is
now openly avowed. The principal Demo-
cratic journal in this city, defining 1.-THE
meaning Of an honest count, - SO interprets
the duties of the Returning Boards as to
render them agencies for registering re-
turns transmitted from the counties, ire
spective Of the character Of the returns
determination is the verify of
the returns to be tried" asks
the Sun. ISIS there any rule that can be
applied, excepting that which assumes the
actual verify Of the certificates sent up in
the form of law by the local oficersY' Our
can honest count, 1T says t'means simply
an enumeration of the votes that are certi-
fed in the manner in which the law requires
them to be certified; and il our Democratic
friends who have gone to New Orleans con-
sent to any other meaning, or lend their
countenance to any investigations going be.
hind the local certificates, they might better
bany mouthpiece, the Argus, propounds
the same doctrine, though in more frantic
fashion. popular government perishes
from the earth,' it exclaims, ''if the Re.
turning Boards or State Canvassers under
take to set aside the verdict of the ballot.
plicit, the Argus further declares that If
State Boards disregard ''the certificates of
the local canvassers, free institutions perish
from the earth.'
Amore preposterous assumption, or one
more fatal to ''an honest COUNT in South
Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, we can
not imagine. The law enacted in each of
o1o inn he
by the Returning Board of more than ordi.
nary ministerial functions. The South Car.
olina law provides that the members of the
State Board ''shsll have power, and it is
made their duty, to decide all cases under
protest or contest, that may arise, when the
power to do SO does not, by the Constitu-
ton, reside in some other body.' The
Jurisdiction Of the Board over the election Of
Governor is certainly doubtful. Article Ill
of the Constitution, section 4, vests control
over returns relating to the Governor in the
House OF Representatives,. Beyond this,
there seems to be no exception to the juris.
dicti0n of the Roard whose power and duty,
as defined in the passage we have cited from
the Revised Statutes Of the State, would be |
meaningless on any other hypothesis than
that which imputes to them judicial func- |
tions. The Florida law leaves no room for
doubt as to its intent upon this point. 1t
provides, among other things, that If any
'shall be shown, or shall appear, to be so |
irregular, false, or fraudulent that the |
Board shall be unable to determine the true |
vote, ~ they shall so certify, and shall not |
include such return in their determination |
and declaration.'' What does this mean |
If not the discharge Of duties which the Sun |
and Argus unite in saying do not and can |
not pertain to State Board of Canyassers?
The members Of the Board are required to |
entertain any protest or complaint affecting |
tho validity Of return, and to subject such |
return to all possible scrutiny. They may,
and must, ego behind it'' in any manner
that may be necessary to determine whether
whether any irregularity impaired their le-
gslity, and generally, whether the return
is vitiated by fraud or irregularity in any
essential particular. The Louisiana law, |
again, invests the Returning Board of that
State with authority which full
y TSs Board is Sonnd to receive
the statements of competent parties re-
specting "any riot, tumult, acts of vio- |
lence, intimidation, armed disturbance,
bribery, or corrupt influences, which pre-.
vented or tended to prevent, a fair, free,
and peaceable vote Of all qualified electors
entitled to yote.'' The Board must then
investigate these statements, and if salts
fed that they are true, it is bound to ex
clude from the canvass the specific returns
which have been thus invalidated. Clearly,
then, in each of these States, the law gov.
erning the action Of the Returning Board
exacts frem its members much or more than
the mere enumeration Of the votes that
are certified,' as prescribed by the Sun.
The whole question comes up before the
Board, which may inquire into all the facts
purportfng to be covered by the county Ger.
tihcates. and may set those certificates
aside, II on inquiry, the returns shall not set
hnn0of vnfo |
need not enumerate, the vote in the county
be nullifed by fraud, intimidation, or vio-
lence in connection with the election.
In no other way can justice be done. We
OF the North give to the proceedings Of Re.
turning Boards narrower scope. Suppose,
mate votes Of certain counties in this State
were overcome. Suppose that certain of
our counties, with registered Republicans
many thousands, were returned ;
by local officers without single Republican ,
vote. Or suppose that the ballot. boxes in ,
certain counties were seized by Democratic
humans, and the ballots destroyed. How
long would it be before some means were !
round OF frustrating these tactics? And ,
would the Sun insist that the returns must )
be counted, though the whole country knew !
mat they were false and fraudulent? Yet i
his condition of things is precisely what the !
Democrats are now upholding in Louisiana.
The difference in the two cases is this: 4
The people of Louisiana, familiarized by !
experience with partisan methods which !
IRE, happily, unknown in rural New York,
gave their Returning Board authority sui. :
1cient TO check the wrong. The Board can a
not, indeed, give to the DISTINGUISHED Re. =
publican majority in the five disputed Par :
shes the influence in the result which they =
ought TO have exercised, but it can SO far y
'ounteract fraud and violence as to reject !,
'eturns obtained BY these means. The n
Democratic cutlery that injustice will thereby =
~ done to the four or five thousand Demo. :,
rats who are returned as having voted in :,