Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-05-25
THE ELECTORAL INvESTIGA-
TION.

AIAAAACG dALOA - D1N1AN
and the electoral swindle in Florida
and Louisiana is to be Investigated.
That course having been adopted
as a Democratic measure it is as
well that the party was not defeat
ed, at the same time we adhere to
the opinion we have all along main
tanned that the movement was a
false step on the part of the Demo-
Gratis, and one which they will re-
pent having taken. Our reasons
shall be stated briefly, but first we
must guard against having errone-
Gus ones attributed to us; and, in
the first place, we reject as childish
the position of the Republican
members and press that such an
action is revolutionary. 1t would
not be so even if the resolutions
aimed at dispossessing the present
incumbent of the Presidential chair;
an investigation of any title by
Congress is strictly constitutional,
but Mr.. Potter distinctly disclaim-
ed such purpose.
Neither do we yield any regard
to the allegation that his action is a
breach of compact or understand
ing, or even an act of ingratitude as
regards the President. We pass
over without conjectures affirma-
tive or negative the question wheth-
er there was or was not compact
made between the President and
his friends on the one hand and any
Southern Democrats on the other,
STIMULATING on the one hand the
abandonment of military rule in
the South and on the other absti-
hence from opposition to the Presl-
dents title. Certainly the Presi-
dent had no right to make his
policy i'm the South conditional up
on any action of Democrats in
Congress. If it was right, it was
his duty to act upon it, if wrong, he
was traitor for doing so and, in
either case, that policy was not a
commodity in his hands to traffic
with. Again the disputed Presi-
Dental title presented questions to
be decided on their own merits and
whatever was the right solution OF
them was right whatever the Pres
ident's southern policy might be,
If there was such a compact the
men who made it had NO right to
make it and no power to cOmprom-
Use any one but themselves. Their
party was not theirs to give or trade
away, they belonged to the party
not the party to them.
Not for either of these reasons
then do we condemn the step which
has been taken, but for the follow
ing:
l. 1t occupies Congress with un-
productive wrangling to the eXclu-
sion of its true business, and
,. 1t places the two parties before
the people on a false issue.
l. Throughout the present session
we with the best journals of both
sides have reiterated the demand
that the old squabbles between
North and South shall be abandon
ed in favor of those pressing bust
ness interests which so imperatively
demand the attention of Congress.
The tariff question might well Oc-
cupy the undivided attention of
Congress for months. The resump-
ton question urgently demands set
Element one way or another before
the end of the session. The navi-
CATION laws, always a barbarism,
have never demanded repeal so
loudly as they do now, when they
threaten to become an obstacle to
our deriving the one advantage from
European war which should COM
pensate the myriad evils which il
will inflict upon us in common with
the whole civilized world. None
of these questions we fear will now
be settled in the present Congress
The Republicans are clearly resolv.
ed to stave them off by all availa-
BILE means, fair or foul, and the
Democrats are very irresOlute in
urging them on. The nation de,
mands a settlement of them, pOliti.
clans dread to deal with them, and
now that the old wrangles are al:
lowed to come to the surface again
and occupy the time of members
and what is more, divest their yea
from practical business to unproduc'
tive strife, there is no chance fol
them, they must be allowed to pass
away like yesterdays showers.
,. But this movement is dOubly
unfortunate because its effects must
be to place a false issue before the
people. The old worn out issue oi
the Returning boards and the Elec-
tOral Commission can only be a de
sirable one in the eyes of those who
aim Mt staving off newer and more
practical issues for which they are
not prepared. Webelieve that most
of those Democrats who have gone
willingly into this movement have
done so with some obscure feeling
of this sort. The great business is
sue daunts them. They don't know
how the people stand in regard to it
they are themselves mentally un
prepared for its discussion and they
fear il will divide the party. We
would tell them, at least those Ot
the South and West, that there is
no doubt how the people stand
they are for expansion in commerce
finance and currency and opposed
to all restriction, and above all will
refuse to be restricted to dried NJ
and obsolete issues when those which
are practical and of present interest
are pressing upon them. If they
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