Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-07-25
CLEARFIELD, Pa, WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1877.


by the people. 1t is undoubtedly tru
{ that the State has right to speak o
this subject through her own organi
and when she docs 80 speak, her voic
} should be regarded MS true. But wha
, officer is her proper organ 2 The Gov
crnor being her political chief, and hi
! certificate beng required by act Q
Congress, II would not have been un
reasonable to hold that IL was conclu
sive unless tainted with fraud. TIL
, Hayes electors had the Executive Ger
! tificates in Louisiana and Florida, an,
this in regard TO those States gave th
eight a legal advantage. But the,
threw it away, abandoned the attesta
ton Of the Governor as worthless
claimed no faith or credit Tor it, ant
pronounced it open to contradiction
no matter how honestly II may hav,
been given. What was the meaning
OF this phenominal ruling which appar
ently opened the door Of investigation
even wider than the Democrats asked
IL was understood by everybody. Th,
commission was hedging for Oregon
The eight were reaching across to th,
Pacific for the one vote there, which
was just as important as the twelve OF
the gulf of Mexico.
But having gone behind the Govern
or's certificate for the sake of correct
ing errors, could there be any possible
justification for stopping before the
truth was reached ? If the head Of
the Commonwealth, whose attestatior
is required by federal law, went fol
nothing whenever il was contradlcted
how could the conclusiveness be as
serted of paper made by subordinate
officers unknown outside Of the State
and powerless even by the local law
to make a certificate of more thar
prima tdcie validity2 Yet the Electoral
Commission eight TO seven) decided
that the Governors certificate might
be set aside for a mere mistake OF law
or fact, while that Of the Returning
Board would stand, though known ia
be founded on falsehood and saturated
all through with corruption.
The unvarying preference Of the
eight commissioners for the false over
the true becomes very striking at this
point. When they got behind the Gov
ernors papers, they found lying alum
de two other sets OF documents, one Of
which was a record OF the actual ap.
pointment made by the people, the
other was q mere fabrication of the re-
turning board without any semblance
Of truth they embraced the lattor
with all the ardor of sincere affection,
and rejected the former with all pos.
sible marks of their dislike. [rhe
point contended TOR by Mr.. Hayes's
counsel, and decided in their favor by
the commission, was that no evidence
could be received except the report Of
the returning board as TO the actual
result of the election. The commission
positively refused the offer of Mr.. Til
den's counsel to prove the facts, and
would not receive orlook at the evidence
showing that by the precinct and coun-
ty certificates on which the board &C.
ted the majority was for tho Tilden
electors. Yet the Congressional Record
of February 6, 1877, p. 20, represents
that Mr.. Hayes's counsel on the tria
read TO the tribunal several alleged
computations of the vote cast at the
election, to show that the Hayes cleo
tors had in fact the majority. These
computations, so read, were taken
from report made to the House ol
Representatives, by the Republican
majority of its committee. If this be
true, then the commission received
evidence dtiunde to bolster up the GER
tificate of the returning board, while
II refused TO look at that which would
have overthrown il by proving its en-.
tire falsehood. Mr.. O'Conor thinks
that this misrepresents the facts OF
the trial, and that it is an Interpolation
upon the record intended TO prevent
the truth of history.]
To give the DEGREES OF the returning
board the conclusive effect claimed for
them, twas necessary TO hold that they
were legally invested with judicial pow
ers, and that their jurisdiction, whoth-
er rightly or enormously exercised,
was absolute over the whole subject
matter In Florida the statute which
creates the board gave it nothing ex-
cept ministerial powers, and the Su-
preme Court OF thatState solemnly pro
nounced its claim Of Judicial authority
to be altogether untonnded. But the
electoral commission would not be in-
iluenced by either the written or the
unwritten law. The commission con.
coded to the Louisiana board all the
judicial power it needed to sanctiiy its
disiranchlsement OF the people in the
face of the constitution, which express
ly forbadcit' Thisgeneral jurisdiction
was not all they bestowed on those
boards they declared IN substance
that II might be well exercised in par.
ticuar cases where 1t was not invoked
according to the law which gave them
being, as, for instance, where Lonisi
ana parish sent up its return without
a protest, statement or affidavit.
Tho eight commissioners did not
stop there. They went much farther.
They practically justified and sustain
cd all the infinite rascality of the re-
turning boards. They not only reius-
ed TO take voluntary notice of the
atrocious frauds perpetrated BY them
but they excluded tho proofs of their
corruption which the Democratic coun-
sci held in their hands and offered to
exhibit. These commissioners choked
oil the evidence, and smotbcred IT as
rcmorselcssly as Wells and his asso-