Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1877-01-20
Who Shall Count the VOtes2

Who Shall Count the VOtesl
Judge Emmett, of Minnesota
publishes lettes in the St. Pau
Pioneer-Press on the subject of tn,
count of the electoral vote, in which
he takes strong ground against th,
right of the President Of the Senat,
to determine what votes shall b.
counted. After saying there is M
precedent for the Presipent of thu
Senate to exercise this authority-ar
assertion, by the way, which indi.
Gates that he was noe saught very
carefully for precedents~he pro.
ceeds to discuss the question as res
( integra, as follows:
There could have been no object
in having the representatives OF the
sovereign States, and of the whole
people assembled on such occasions,
except to enable them to enforce q
proper count of the votes from the
several States in the Union, and to
prevent the counting of votes from
States not in the Union.
Had the constitution been entirely
silent as to who was to count the
votes, both acts would have been un-
der the control OF the houses thus
assembled. There they necessarily
and properly belong, unless taken
away by express words, or reasonably
be claimed that the comforting of one
OF these duties, merely clerical in it's
character, upon an officer for mere
convenience, and who else would
have any power as to either, neces-
sarily carries with it the other and only
important duty to be performed :?
Had such been intended the language
of the constitution would have been
that tho certificates should not he
opened and counted by this officer in
the presence of the two houses of
congress. On the contrary, by rule
of construction universally recos-
nized, enumeration of one only of
these powers, rs conferred upon the
president of the Senate, necessarily
excludes the other-in fact all other
power, except such as pertainsd to
him merely as presiding officers.
But the constitution confers in terms
no power upon tbe President of the
Senate, except to open the certificates,
and there his power ends; unless we
are to suppose that the trainers Of the
constitution enacted the solemn farce
of calling the representatives of the
States and people together to see
subordinate officer elect President
by fraud or injustice, and they power
less to prevent it. The single power
expressly conferred is, as before re-
marked, of no great importance-one
which any clerk of either House could
perform equally well-but inasmuch
as, if this power were conferred in
general terms, the officer might claim
some right to discriminate between
rival certificates, or to open such only
rs came up to his peculiar ideas Of
folm or regularity, and thus thwart
the fairly expressed will ofthe people,
the trainers of the constitution took
away from him all discretion, by de-
claring that he should open all the |
certificates. Now why all, butto pre-
vent his Withholding any, and to en-
able the two Houses to determine after |
all were opened, which should be |
counted and which rejected? Is it
conceivable that it was intended to |
confer such dangerous power upon q |
single officer who might even be in. |
terested as a candidate himself, and |
the representatives Of the States |
and people should be called together
to be mere mute spectators Of his |
acts. without the power to interfere,
however outrageous and fraudulent |
they might beP Why the power
claimed for the president Of the Senate
would enable him, despite both |
Houses, to refuse to open the certif-
cate of any State; and to receive and
count, at his discretion, the certificate |
from any State claiming to be in the |
Union, although not yet admitted!
He either has no discretion, and must |
open all the certificates he receives,
leaving the two Houses to determine
upon their validity, and whether cast
by q State in the Union, or else he
can open and count what he pleases,
against the unanimous opposition of
both Houses There Is no middle
ground. He has all power or next
to none.
Cun1os1rlEs OF LIFE. Lay your fin
ger on your pulse, and know that at
every stroke some immortal passes to
his Maker; some fellow being crosses
tho river Of death; and If We think Of
it, We may well wonder that it should
bs go long before our turn comes.
Half Of all die before seventeen.
Only one person in ten thousand
lives 70 be q hundred years old, and
but one in a hundred reaches sixty.
The married live longer than the