The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-02-15

pray who is the neceSSltdSy What becomes
of that, | should like to know, when by
the lawful and constitutional exercise OF
the power expressly conferred upon US
we nut all necessity out of the case and
furnish fair and honest tribuna2
But again, sir, this rule commends IT.
self for another reason. In considering
this question of whether the concurrence
of the two Houses may be required to ad'
nit vote or TO reject 1t, we must never
lose sight of the great principle which lies
at the foundation of the inquiry. That
great principle is this, that no State shall
be uniustly deprived ofits vote, and that
anv mode that opens a wide door for the
perpetration of such injustice is inadmis-
sible and could not have been centem-
plated by the farmers of the Constitution
That is the guiding star for us, and tried
by that standard this bill, which requires
the concurrence ofthe two Houses, is in
fnitely more defensible, infinitely better
in principle. and in time If itshould grow
into precedent, will be infinitely more
beneficial in its effect than the twenty
second Joint rule could ever be.
To say nothing of the absurdity Ola
State losing its vote because a single
House of Congress saw fit to vote to re-
iect It. to say nothing of the apparent in
iustice ofsuch thing as that as the TWEEN
tv second rule allowed, even where there
was single return, to say nothing about
that. does not every man see what
temptation is held out to one OF the two
Houses to reject the vote OF a State and
thereby take to itself the election OF Ere
sident ofthe United States2 Why, sir,
suppose the Forty fifth Congress were
now in existence, were sitting In the
other end of the Capitol with Democra-
tic majority of 6 or members when
counted per capita and with Republican
majority when counted by States ofnear-
ly 3 to /, how would the proposition look
to take the vote away from the people
and put it into the hands of that body
alOne2 -,
Mr.. President, do not wish to illus
trate by the present state OF affairs par
ticularly; but hope the Senate will look
beyond the present state of affairs, and
see that are making precedent, one that
is TO endure and the principles of which
must endure and ought to endure, or the
bill ought not to pass; and do say there
fore that every man who believes as do,
that the counting of this vote belongs to
the two Houses of Congress as separate
organized bodies, standing on perfect
plane of equality, one having no superb
l. ority whatever over the other, must say
that any construction which gives to one
House the right to decide, and the propo-
sition that it belongs to the President OF
the Senate, which would practically give
to the other House alone the power to-
decide, is an inadmissible Interpretation
of the Constitution and fraught with evil
| and destruction to our institutions. No,
sir, this trust OF counting the electoral
votes is a great, mighty trust. 1t is
trust of the most high and delicate nature
1t requires all the intelligence and patrl-
otism of Congress to perform it, and to
perform it well. 1t is not given to one
half of Congress or to the other half of
Congress, much less is it given to one
man.
Sir, this leads me to say, in respect to
the details of this bill, that bribery, init.
midation, &C., may be inquired Of; and
that proposition is denied on the other
| side.
Then the tenth case is: that the deci-
sion of the State court as to the first sec
ton of the bill provides for cases in which
there is but one return. But before
proceed to that l ought to refer to the
| bill of 1900 and that of 1924. The bill of
1900, as it passed the Senate. made the
decision of the grand committee provided
by that bill final, and the Houses had
nothing to do with it. The House of
Representatives amended that by pro-
viding that the vote of no State should
be rejected unless both Houses ConCurred
| in rejecting it; and | say to my Democra-
| tic friends here that for that proposition
that no vote should be rejected without
the concurrent vote of both Houses OF
Congress, every single republican of that
day, of whom we are the political success
sors, every single democrat in Congress
at that day, headed by the most illustri-
GUS names in democratic history almost,
voted; and not only they, but a large
number of the most distinguished fedora
lists of the day. - go,
Then we come to the bill of 1924 which
passed the Senate, and beg leave to re-
fer to that. l will refer to the section of
that bill upon point that l have already
mentioned as showing how it was under
stood:
"This bill was read third time and
passed as follows"
will only read few sentences.
"Be it enacted &c. That"
Tbo fourtb oantiOn rnpda.
"That, before the Senate and House of
Representatives shall assemble for the
purpose of counting the votes, as herein
after directed.
1t assumes directly that the counting
ofthe votes belongs to the two Houses
and prescribes mode in the fifth section
it says:
$50 soon as the question shall be taken
in either House."
That is, where objection has been made
and the two Houses have separated to
vote upon it.
"a message shall be sent to the other,
informing them of the decision Of the
question and that the House sending the
message is prepared to resume the count;
and when such message shall have been
received by both Houses, they shall again
meet in the same room as before, and the
count shall be resumed. And if the two
Houses have concurred in rejecting the
vote or votes objected to such vote
or votes shall not be counted; but
unless both Houses concur, such vote or
votes shall not be counted"
This was the bill introduced by that
democrat, Martin Van Buren, and that
passed the Senate and was reported with
out a single change of a letter iu the other
House by no less distinguished man
than Daniel Webster, and its passage by
the House recommended. / think, then,
there is some authority in these great
names for saying that it is competent for
us to provide that both Houses must con-
cur in the decision rejecting vote. l
need not 90 to the illustrations that were
SO well put by the Senator from Michi-