The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-03-07
SPEECH OF
HON. CHARLES E. HOOKER.
on
Joint High Commission Bill.

Joint High Commission Bill
The House having under consideration tn
hlII -. No 1859 10 provide for and regu
late the counting of votes for President an
ice Presi lent and the decision OF que
tons arising thereon. for the term com
mehciHg March T. A. ID. ISL
MIR. HOOKER said:
Mr.. SPEAKER: | am aware that i
will be very difficult after the discussion
: which has transpired in this Capitol il
both Houses of SO exhaustive Il natur,
upon the subject matter of the bill now
before the Congress of the United State.
for any one, much less myself, to expec
to add anything to the information or in
structlon of the House in what he may
say. And to the few remarks that | shat
offer L shall simply state the reason fol
the vote L shall subsequently give rather
than attempt to enter into an argument
covering the ground already so complete
ly occupied.
The objections TO this bill have pro.
ceeded, Mr.. Speaker, on two grounds
| First, it is contended by certain of the
opponents of this measure that it is in
expedienL to pass it, for the reason that
the Constitution provides that the Presi-
dent of the Senate, the Vice Presiden;
of the United States, should he occupy
that position, or the President elect of
the Senate, would have the right, under
| the Constitution, to open and count the
| votes. And as reason for this it has
| been urged that under all precedents
from the beginning of the Government
Gown to the present time such has been
the case and especially was it referred
to by the gentleman from Name Mr..
Hale and the gentleman from Ohio, Mr..
Garfield. They referred to what occurred
in the first election and the second election
of the President of the United States as
a reason and precedent why the trainers
of the Constitution and those who lived
contemporaneously with its adoption had
yielded to this idea. But, on the con
trary, so far from that being correct, in
1871 and 1915 and 1849 and 1858 and
1857 and 1861 and 1865 and 1869 and
1878, as in every presidential election
since 1891, and including that, the Off
cial record states and | now quote from
that recOrd-that-
The two Houses OF Congress having as
sembIed the certificates of election of the
several States for President and Yice-Presi-
dent were in their presence, opened by the
Vice President and delivered to the telers.
who, haying re III and ascertained the num-
Der of woes, presented to the Vice-PreSi-
dent list thereof.
And here ends the quotation. In 1893,
when General Washington was unani-
mously reelected, the proceedings diff
fered somewhat from all that followed.
The record states with reference to the
count:
The two Houses having accordingly as
sembled, the certificates of the electors of
the fifteen States in the Union. which came
by express, were, by the Vice President,
opened, read, and delivered to the telers D.
pointed for the purpose, who, having eX-
amined and ascertained the votes, presented
list of them to the Vice President, which
list was read to the two Houses, and is as
follows:
1t will be observed that even on this
occasion in 1898, on the reelection of
General Washington, while the President
OF the Senate opened and read the re-
turns from the respective electoral col
leges, they were yet delivered to the tell
ers appointed by the two Houses to ex-
anime and ascertain what the votes were,
and they were then returned to the Vice
President, who simply performed the
function of announcing the result. So
much, then, for the precedent which was
so much relied upon by the gentleman
from Maine Mr.. Hale] in the argument
which he made enforcing the idea that
the Vice President of the Senate had the
power to count.
In 1857, when the vote of Wisconsin
was not cast upon the proper day, owing
to the fact that the electors could not
reach the capital of the State, but cast
upon subsequent day, the inquiry arose
as to whether the vote of Wisconsin
should be counted and after debate in
each House, and the report of the tellers
requiring it, it was counted But in the
course of the debate, the Vice President
was bitterly accused by men of both par
ties Of having usurped Il power with re-
ference to counting the electoral vote with
which he was not invested by the Consti-
tuition.
In reply to that, the then Vice Pres-
dent said that he 81 did not undertake to
decide whether the vote of Wisconsin
was good vote or a bad vote"
He disclaimed-I now quote his own
language
Having assumed on himself any authority
to determine whether that vote or any other
vote was good or a bad vote.
In the joint convention which assem-
bled, Mr., Jones, one Of the tellers, re-
marked;
suppo e, Mr.. President the proper way
would be for the teliers to report the facts to |
The convention of the two Houses, and let |
I hem decide.
To which the Vice President replied
The presiding officer so considers.
In the debate which ensued after the /
two Houses had separated, Mr.. Seward |
said, speaking Of the power which the |
Vice President was accused of assuming
A misunderstanding exists in both Houses
OF Congress whether the President OF the |
Senate, acting. as l hold, as the organ of the
Senate. has not pissed upon the question |
and counted the votes from the State of
Wisconsin, and whether that may not be
drawn inc a precedent hereafter. lam one
or that number who think the President
has not counted THIN.
Mr., Douglas, then a distinguished
Senator from the State of Illinois, COM
menting upon the same subiect-matter of
the assumed power of the Vice-Presi-
dent, said:
L rise to state that in my opionion the
NANOi ? nave nO El2lL 10 authenticate the
certificate until the two Houses have passed |
upon IL as being a true count.
Mr.. Crittenden said
That any memb of either House has the
privilege and right to object to the count
ing of vote.
And this is sufficient to answer the ar
gument of the gentleman from Ohio,
Mr.. Garfield, that the first section of
this bill gives to any member of either
House the right to object. 1t existed
under the Constitution. The bill does