The Portland daily press., 1877-01-31
The Electoral Commission,
Facts and Surn,ises-The Programme for
Thursday-Powe of the Tribunal The
Message

| Facts and Surnaises-The Programme far
| Thursday-Power of the Tribunal The
| Message.
Inc council on both sides have been selected
anu 'ne preparation of cases has begun in
| earnest Ihe first great question to be settled
| oy the tribunal will be the extent sof its own
| powers. Upon that much depends The law
gives the same powers as are possessed by the
| two houses acting separately or together. But
the powers of the houses have never been we'll
defined. If, as believed, the tribunal refuses
| to push its inquiries back: of the returning
boards, wide field of investigation, in which
| volumes OF evidence have been collected, will
| DC closed; but whether the returning boards
acted within their jurisdi ,tion or not, whether
they made their return as the laws of their
States required, whether the governors certifi.
cate is to be taken as conclusive evidence of
valldlty-these are very different questions,
and certain to be discussed, and it will be
readily seen that the whole great controversy
| hangs upon the answer that will be given to
them.
While the merits of the electoral law are no
longer in question, its friends and advocates
feel greatly strengthened in their position by
the wise and excellent message of the Presi-
dent His concise statement of the reasons for
his approval, and his frank expression OF SYM
pathy with its generous and benefcent policy,
Is morally of great advantage to them, and will
help to overcome the difficulties yet remaining
| 10 the way of its execution Many persons to
| day speak kindly of the President who seldom
| do so, and give him the credit that is due for
commenting great measure, about which bis
friends were divided in opinion, to the good
sense and patriotism Of the country.
The following will be the order of proceed
ings tomorrow: At o'clock, the two Houses
will assemble in the Hall of Representatives;
the Vice-President will preside over the joint
meeting, and he will then proceed to open the
| certificates in his possession, beginning with
that OF Alabama and proceeding alphabetically,
aad, as he opens each, he will hand it to the
four tellers-two from each housewife will be
previously appointed. When the first certifi-
cate is read the Vice President will call for OBJ
Jectlons. If none are made he will then PASS
to the next State. If objection is made it must
bs immediate, in writing, concise and without
argument, and must be signed by at least one
member OF each House. Such objections being
thus presented the Senate will then at once
Withdraw to It's Chamber and each houss will
vote upon the objections, two hours debate
only being allowed upon each State.
Ii the houses concur in rejecting
vote OF a State it will be excluded. If they do
| not concur the vote will be received. Whenever
however, the Vice President shall open two
conflicting certificates from the same State
these returns shall be at once submitted to the
Grand Committee, and the opening and count
ing OF votes will cease until the Commission
renders its decision. The decision will then be
voted on by the two houses acting separately
and, unless they concur in rejecting it, it will
stand. The vote which is thus declared legal
and proper will be counted, and the opening
and counting will proceed until other objections
arelraised until another set of duplicate GER
tifcates is reached. 1t is not probable that OBJ
jections will be made to the reception of the
first six States. Florida stands seventh on the
list and appears with two sets OF returns. Here
the first days count will stop and the returns
will be sent to the Committee for its examine
ton.
The peculiar condition of the Florida vote, as
well the fact that it is the first State to come
up with double returns, makes the verdict in
that case of uncommon interest. The Florida
Committees have not yet reported, and no
facts are officially before Congress about the
vote or the conduct of the Returning Board,
except the statement of Senator Jones' made
on Friday. The Grand Committee will come
to some definite conclusion as to its powers and
plan of action for the first time when it gets
the Florida returns Hence there is likely to
be more delay about this case than any or per-
haps all the others, because when they have
once laid down their course of action, they can
rapidly decide all the other cases on the prnci-
Piles they have laid down for their own guild
auce; hence, while Florida will be reached on
Thursday, the decision may not be reported to
the joint meeting until the following week.
There seems to be no reason to doubt, however,
that the whole count will be completed by the
14th of February at furthest, and by that time
the country may hope to have rest from the ex-
citement which has so greatly injured all busi-
ness interests since the 10th of November.
1t is supposed that three different views may
be brought forward in the Committee as to the
scope and nature OF its powers and duties.
Some members will probably maintain that
they cannot go further than to examine criti-
cally the form and certifcation of returns and
that the one which is strictly in conformity
with the law must be accepted. Others will
prabably hold that the Committee may and
must be satisfied whether the action of the Re-
turning Board-even if it has received the
proper certifcation-was legal, and whether
the Returning Board was legally constituted.
Yet others may think that the Committee shall
overhaul all the election returns of State. Is
is not probable that the last-named view will
receive much favor in the Commission. While
the Committee is engaged upon the vote of
Florida the two houses will separate, and may,
until they receive report upon the State, pro-
ceed with other business. II Florida should be
decided for Mr.. Tilden that would. of course
decide his election. If it should be given to
Mr.. Hayes the count would then proceed until,
after six more States had been counted Louisi-
ana was reached. Here another set of double
returns would be submitted to the Committee.
Louisiana being decided, Oregon would be the
next State turned over to the Committee, and
South Carolina the last.
The House Democrats were in caucus for
several hours Monday in the selection of the
three members to represent them on the elect
sral commission. 1t was resolved that no nom
inations should be made for the position. 1t
required IS votes to elect. Twenty or more
gentlemen were balloted for. On the second
ballot Representative Payne received 102 votes
therefore declared elected. On the fifth ballot
Representative Abbott of Massachusetts, re-
ceived majority, and was declared the third
member elected. Fernando Wood received on
the various ballots large vote, and would
probably have been selected but for an objec.
tion which was made that be was not a lawyer.
1t had been supposed that Knott of Kentucky
wonld hare been elected but his strenuous
opposition to the bill had such an effect that he
did not receive on any ballot as many as q
dozen votes. Mr.. Abbott, the third member
selected is prominent lawyer of Massachu-
sets, and was the Democratic nominee in the
la1o o%;ar IN, fhato ota%n