The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-08-07
lew York, was successful in accomplishing the
windie BY the indirect method Of the Eighf-fo-

disregard the constitution and all precedents IN
ascertaining the result of Presidential election
In 1876 would resort to any measure, however
unjust or violent, to win q second victory in
1889. The army had been used to terrorize
voters at the South and TO pack and disperse
Legislatures. Whywould it not be used again
if the law permitting this remained on the
statute books? Supervisors and Marshals have
been appointed by the thousands at each Con-
gressional election in the large cities, made up
chiefly of bummers, and raid out of tht public
treasury s. a day, many Of them ten d lays at
stretch, to force the election of Republican
members of Congress against the will of the
people. Hundreds of men in the South had
been indicted for alleged interference with
Supervisors and Marshals, and were being tried
under law for impaneling juries which packed
them with partisans predetermined to convict
making the jury trial en- odious and shameful
rnockefy Of Justice. Was it right TO leave this
party with the lawful authority to spend mill
ions of the peoples money in hiring bullies to
threaten, arrest and imprison State electors
determined to make the issue on these laws
now, in the year preceding the great contest in
which we feared they would be employed to
thwart the will of the people
The result Of the struggle so far is the total
repeal Of the odious system of packing juries,
the prohibition Of the payment of money to
send or maintain troops at the polls and the
shall until Congress can see what tho fees are
to be paid for. We have appealed from the
President tc the peoplc. You have to decide
the controversy. If you want to pay hundreds
of thousands of dollars each Congressional
election to have bayonets around the polls and
Marshals and spies to inspect and control State
election officers, vote the Republican ticket,
for the Democracy will never spend dollar, or
that service.
You all know, fellow citizens, that we have in
the United States form of Government hitherto
unknown among men. 1t is partly the result
of the fact that the thirteen colonies were each
separate organizations of government under
distinct charters. and that they confederated
as States, and declared their Independence,
calling themselves the United States of Amer
lea. Several years after their independence
was achieved, q constitution was adopted
which created central government, with GER
tain powers therein set forth, which constitu-
ton provides as follows:
1.-THE powers not delegated to the United
States by the constitution, nor prohibited by 1t
to the States, are reserved to the States re-
spectively or to The people"
These reserved powers are the great mass OF
the powers of government You are protected
in almost all of your rights of person and prop
erty by the State sovereignty alone. Our whole
code Of laws defining the rights of persons and
property, and providing remedies and punish
ments for wrongs, which make up the very
body of our civilization, is adopted or created
and enforced by the States. and not by the
General Government Outside OF the scope Of
this State sovereignty lie the powers specially
delegated to the other sovereign-the whole
people of the United States operating through
the General Government These two sover-
eigns the republic and the State, have distribut-
ed between them by the decree of partition, the
constitution of the United States, all of the
1ad hut tbk. a0T,la 90 aaf To hn
intrusted to any government
Now, by the constitution of the United States,
the whole power to provide for and regulate
election of members of Congress was left with
the respective States; but for fear any of them
might fail altogether to provide for such cleo
hons, Congress was given power to itself, by
law, to provide for them. If Ohio should re-
fuse to pass law to elect members OF Con-
gress, the United States might pass such law,
and provide for the times, places and manner
of boiding such elections and the appointment
of all the election officers. But none of the
States ever did refuse or fail to pass such laws;
and, from the foundation of our Government
| down until 1871, the elections were )nducted
without any interference whatever by Federal
officers. In 1871 the Republicans enacted this
Federal Election law It did not pretend to re-
peal alter or amend any Of the State laws pro-
viding for the Appointment Of State officers to
conduct those elections or prescribing their du-
ties, but it gave the Federal courts and Mar
shais the power to appoint Supervisors and
Deputies to inspect and direct the action of State
officers in the performance of their duties un-
der State election laws From the very nature
of our Government-fIom the separate char
acter and powers of the General and State
Governments is just as unconstitutional to
| subject State officers while performing duties
under valid State laws to the supervision OF
control of Federal officers as it is to subject
Federal officers to the supervision or control OF
State officers. That sort of interference is or
| ganized anarchy If submitted to in respect OF
this subject by the States there are no duties
which State officers are called on to perform
which the Federal Government may not snper-
wise or control Mr.. Foster says that the
| great question is whether the State or the ma
| ton is supreme" say the great question is
whether the republic and the State are co-or-
| dinate agencies of government, each supreme
| in sphere as defined by the Federal consti
tuition; or whether the State can exercise nc
powers of Government net subject to Fedora
supervision and control.
This assumption of sole supreme power O.
| the Federal Government illustrates the fac
that the pendulum is swinging from the extreme
of secession on the one side to an equally dan
gerous extreme of consolidation on the other
Secession held that the Union might be divided
whenever any State believed that the coustitu
| ton had been violated. On that theory the re
public was but rope of sand. Consolidation
demands that the Federal Government shal
| exercise all powers which the dominant part.
think expedient. On that theory all the bound
aries of Federal power so carefully marked b,
our forefathers will be obliterated, and we shal
have one great Imperial Government, to whicl
the States will have the same relations that tn
counties and townships now have to the States
Secession would have broken up the Uniol
into petty, but free, republics; consolidation
would swallow up the States and sink ioert.
in an empire.
Fellow-citizens, was not brought up in tn
school of strictest construction Of the constitu
ton, and far less in the school known q
sStates' rights" My venerated father, unde
and about whose roof you are assembled to
night, who gave large part of his life to tn
study of our complex form OF Government
taught his SONS to learn from the constitution
as expounded by the fathers and the courts
that the General Government is supreme onl
within the scope of its limited and define
powers, and the States and the people there
of also supreme in the exercise of a.
powers not granted to the Federal Gov
ernment He taught them that it was equal
the duty of the patriot to maintain in full vigo
all the powers granted to the General Govern
ment and all the powers reserved to the State
respectively, or to the people; so that our duf
form of Government might not be lost thfoug
either the centripetal or the centrifugal force
of the system He willingly saw his son 6
forth to battle for the constitutional powers @
the Federal Government; and now, were he "
among us, he would, believe, approve thei
effort to resist by peaceful methods, the attemI
to impair the distinctive feature of our syste1
of government on which depends the perpetr
alton of popular liberty.
NV friends, all the policies of the Republics
party have discussed this evening, though al
parently differing widely in character, are
fact closely related in purpose and effect l bt
lieve them all to be part of general tendenc
of the classes which control that party to prat
tically subvert popular government. The steI
are first to destroy the Independence OF IL
masses by immensely increasing the burden
of debts and taxes, and by cutting off the ol
portunities and rewards of labor, and by Il
same act swell the wealth and power Of Il
favored classes; and then, by ally1ng Il
money power to the illimitable forces of Go
ernment. patronage and plunder, to contr
elections by bribery and force, and practical
subvert the free rule of the ballot Look
the powers which may be brought to bear
effect this result! See the vast growth OF CO.
porations, some of which already rule with {
iron hand the greatest States Of the republi
look at the 1900 national banks, holding almo
every business interest and business man
their grasp; see the veteran corps Of 1000
active partisans paid from the public treasur
and tell me whether, if the policy which b
impoverished the mass of the people, and pill
up the vast fortunes which have risen as RAJ
idly as cloud mountains in the sky, shall
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