Daily globe., 1879-05-31
HAYES THIRD VETO.

when the people will square accounts.
HAYES THIRD VETO.
1t is almost useless to waste words on SO
weak production as Mr.. Hayes last veto.
It is utterly lacking in all that constitutes
craftsmanship, is characterized by the mar
rowest partisan bias, and as an argument
lacks both logic and force. The veto was
expected. Indeed, it was announced as
already prepared several days before the
passage of the bill-the legislative, execu-
tive and judicial-by the Senate. No one
save Mr.. Hayes has attempted to convince
the public that it was dictated by other than
has had the temerity to state that the repeal
measures embodied in the bill were not just
aud necessary, besides being demanded by
the people at large.
MIR. Hayes affects to believe that the law
authorizing supervisors and deputy mar
shals to take charge of elections, and invest
ing them with arbitrary powers of arrest, as
sists in preserving peace at the polls, and is
further designed to carry out the provisions
of the fifteenth amendment to tho constitu-
ton, and yet he admits that the law is en-
forced principally in the larger cities of the
Northern States. In these cities there has
never been any opposition to persons of ne
gro birth, and therefore the pretense that
such law is required to protect them in
their rights in sheer nonsense Only in ex-
ceptional instances is the law applied to
districts where opposition to negro voters
would be likely to create a disturbance. AS
for its utility in preserving the peace, no
person can honestly claim that before it's en-
actment there was greater disturbance than
since. The local authorities are even more
interested in maintaining order at the polls
than the federal government. Whatever
casualties arise through riot or other causes,
have to be cared for by localities, not by the
general government. The disgrace that fol-
lows all such affairs falls upon
the cities. not upon the nation.
1t is preposterous, therefore, to assert
that the municipalities are unmindful OF
of elections. They are vitally interested in
, preserving the peace at all times. more es
} pecially at elections, and are competent to
maintain it by the proper use of the police
authority given them by the States. The al.
legation that federal interference is neces-
every city of considerable size in the
country.
Mr.. Hayes says that ''the constitutions
authority to regulate Congressional elections
which belongs to the government of the
{ United States, and which it is necessary tc
exert to secure the right to vote to every
| citizen possessing the requisite qualifications
, ought to be enforced by appropriate legisla
J tion." 1t is not necessary to exert" any
constitutional authority which belongs to the
, government to secure the right to vote te
every citizen. That right is possessed and
exercised by every citizen all over the coun
! try except in few of the Republican New
| England States, and if deprived of tha
right recourse would be had to the local au
thorities, not to the general government, fo1
chinery as is maintained by the election
laws is necessary to secure every person il
: his rights, and he further knows, if he pos
sesses the intelligence of ordinary mortals
; that the only use that these laws have eve
; been put to has been to restrict the exercise
of the franchise by duly qualified voters
, He knows, too, that still further abuse O
: the power granted by these laws is contem
3 plated in the future, and that is the reaso,
3 why his party has brought SO strong pres
l sure upon him to veto the measures of re
Q peal. The facts of the past were sufficien
Q grounds for the repeal of the laws; the pos
Q sibilities of the future afford still create
t reasons why they should no longer remail
: on the statute books. Mr.. Hayes veto is Q
: a part with those that have preceded it
8 an outrage upon the intelligence of the pee
: pie and menace to the liberties of tn
: nation.