The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-01-30
IGNORING THE CONSTITUTION.

Reflective men in their examination
of the electoral bin are forced to the
conclusion that the instrument dcsig.
mated the federal constitution is made
quate to the present circumstances and
There can be no question but that the
ablcst statesmen in the Union, prospect
i've Of party have given their adherence
to this bill, and, when the reasons that
actuated them in that support Of the
measure arc analysed tho unspoken
indirect confession il wruns from their
acts that the Constitution of 1887 is not
suited to tho emergencies of 1876. That
fitted our young limbs cightyseven
years ago, and that that garment must
be relaxed or be burst asundcr The
compromise bill is confession that the
organic law is inadequate to the emcg-
gency that is upon us or, il is an open
acknowledgement that tho American
people are incapable of self government
under amy compact thai the wisdom
apa. Ingenuity of men can frame,
Sophistlcal arguments may be- and
have been uttered, claiming that the
compromise bill is not extra constitu-
tional, and that warrant can be found
for it in twelfth amendment to the con.
stitulion
1t must be found in that amendment
if authority for it can be found any
where. That amendment declares that
the president of the Senate in the
presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, shall open the ccrtiii-
Gates OF votes made out 10y the electors
of the various States and the votes
shall then be counted, the person hay
ing the greatest number of votes TO he
president If such number be II ma.
j0rity of the whole number Of electors
appointed; and if no person have such
majority, then, from the persons having
the highest numbers, not exceeding
three, he House of Representatives
shall choose Immediately by ballot
president. This il the exact substance
OF the article Of the constitution under
which the commission having five
Judges, entirely disassociatcd from the
House and belonging to coordinate
department of the government, finds
authority for its action The rule of
Interpretation of the federal constitution
(not State constitution) is mhexible
and rs firmly established by concurrent
and repeated decisions as any principle
ever known in law or polity, and that
rule is, that aUthoriy must Be tocmd in The
constitution itself for Cocry act Of Congress-
If the twelfth amendment authorizes
Congress to delegate its authority to
control and count the votes, an author.
ity, rs Jerre Black says it has continu.
ously and without questioning exercised
Tor over eighty years then it may have
been competent to establish commits.
sion; but ought constituent part of
that commission be the Supreme Court
OF the United States, or five members
thereof who should not and cannot de.
termine political or legislative questions
under our system of government, as I'M
derstood and expounded for nearly A
century, la looking at these startling
Observation-Disclosures concurred in
and eloquently advocated by the ablest
statesmen and jursts of the age, we are
driven irrisistably to the conclusion that
all parties tacitly confess that this ven.
Grated instrument, framed by our fore
fathers, cannot embrace and properly
provide for the possibilities of the pres.
ent age, and that we are forced in DIES.
perate emergencies to quietly ignore it.