The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-09-13

States OF all power to keep the peace at Con-
gressional elections." He states further In this
message:
~lhe States may employ both military and
civil power to keep the peace and 20 enforce
tie laws at State elections. 1t is now proposed
to deny 20 the United States even the necessary
civil authority TO protect the NATIONAL elections
No sufficient reason has been given for this dis
cr1miDation in favor of the State and against
the national authority. Ii well-founded obiec-
tons exist against the present national election
Jaws, all good citizens should unite in their
amendment II is the right aud duty of the
National Government 10 enact and enforce laws
which will secure free and fair Congressional
elections. - $50
In order to meet the Presidents views of the
non-interference with the civil authorities, and
still to prevent the useof the troops at the polls
Congress next proposed the following bill. using
the spirit, and almost the words, of the consti-
tuition in framing it,
AN act to prohibit military interference at
elections.
WHEREAS, The presence of troops at the
polls Is contrary TO the spirit of the institutions
and the traditions of our people and tends to
destroy the freedom Of elections; therefore
~Be IL enacted etc, That il shall not be law
full to bring to or employ at any place where
general or special election is being held In a
State any part of the army or navy of the
United States, unless such force be necessary
TO repel the armed enemies of the United States
or to enforce section 4, article of the constitu-
ton of the United States and the laws made in
pursuance thereof, on application Of the Legis-
lature or the Executive of the State where such
force is to be usen, and so much of all laws as
is inconsistent herewith is hereby repealed
The bil it was confidently hoped would meet
his approval, as there was nothing in il to q de-
prive the civil authorities of the United States
of all" Tor any power to keep the peace at
Congressional electionso But the President.
on the 18th day of May, at the demand Of his
party, again interposed his veto. This last bill
embraced this single idea That in time OF
peace the presence of troops at the polls, being
contrary to the, spirit of our institutions and
the traditions of our people, shall not be per-
mitted. In his veto message the President
uses the following language:
Under the sweeping terms of the bill the
National Government is effectually shut out
from the exercise of the right and from the
discharge Of the imperative duty 10 use its
whole Executive power whenever and wherever
required for the enforcement of its laws at the
places and times when and where it's elections
are held. The employment OF its organized
armed forces for any such purpose would be an
offense against the law unless called for by,
and therefore upon permission of, the authori-
ties of the State IN winch the occasion arises,
What is this but the substitution of the dscre-
ton of the State Governments for the discretion
of the Government of the United States as to
the performance of its own duties? In my
judgment this is an abandonmentof its tobliga-
tons by the National Government; a subordi-
nation Of national authority and an intrusion of
State supervision over national duties which
amounts, in spirit and tendency, to State SUI
premacy.n
Here is the doctrine of Federalism revived
The debasement of States and the consolida-
ton of power in a strong centralized Govern
ment As Mr.. Foster puts it, National author
ity shall be supreme; the State must be sub
servient thereto"
Failing in the two measures above recited to
prevent by law the use of the troops at the
polls, Congress,in passing the Army hppropri-
alton bill, refused to appropriate any money
for the sarmy of the United States to he used
as police force 10 keep the peace at the pols at
any election held within any Stare" Still the
law remains to disgrace the statute book II Is
rendered imperative by withholding supplies as
above stated. 1t is for the people to say wheth-
or or not Congress did right f
But, fellow-cizizens what arguments were
given by the Republicans for their fierce oppo-
sition to these measures, and what reasons for
these extraordinary vetoes of the President?
tits painfully truethat during that long par
llamentary struggle in Congress, the severest,
perhaps, this country ever knew, which lasted
for more than three months, in answer to the
strong and logical argument put forth by the
Democratic side In favor of civil liberty, con-
stitutional law, the right of persons, the admin
istration of justice and free government citing
the words of the fathers Of the constitution of
the United States, the laws of the States aud
country, together with the decisions of the Su-
preme Court in support of their positions, most
frequently the answer came in bitter invective,
In taunting denunciation, in the cry Of revolu-
ton, Confederate Brigadiers, secession, solid
South, etc. The constitution was disregarded,
and the decision Of courts UNDECIDED. The
great struggle was to retain these odous laws
for party advancement; and failing in argu-
ment they sought to distract the minds of the
people by appealing to their passions rather
than their Judgments, and by bringing up any
question, no matter how irrelevant Fellow
citizens, this will not do Tho people of the
country are not to be trifled with. Questions
of too grave importance are at stake Shall the
free ballot be preserved? Shall civil liberty
under the law be maintained? Shall the State
Governments in all their rights be supported?
Shall the General Government in all it's consti
tutional powers be perpetuased? These are
the questions that are addressed to the inteli-
gence of the country and are involved in the
issues before US. If you would have them de-
termined in the affirmative, these laws danger
Gus to the liberties of the people must be re-
pealed.
Troops at the polls in republican America!
An army of overseers and spies to control cleo
tions and arrest innocent men without warrant,
all for partisan purposes, and paid out of the
Federal treasury Revolution to at that these
should be stricken from our statutes, How in
consistent with our ideas of free institutions 1t
has been the law in monarchical Great Britain
for 200 years that troops should not be nearer
than two miles of any polling place on the day
of election. Shall the American citizen be less
free than the subject of Her Majesty's kingdom?
When it comes to this, that great party in the
country, on whatever pretense, Can advocate
such unrepublican and such undemocratic
doctrines, then it may well give us pause But
when President of the whole people so far
forgets the functions Of his high Office as to
lend himself for partisan ends to thwart the
will of great majority of the people of the
country may it not give us cause for alarm
Does he remember Mrch 4th, 1S77, when, hav-
ing been raised to his high estate by such
questionable means, having failed to receive
majority of the popular vote by more than
$4,000, and having taken his place under the
quiet, yet pronounced protest of great major
ity of the people, including very large num-
Der in his own party; having taken his oath Of
Office, standing on the east front of the Capitol,
and speaking to Is, 000,000 of people, he pro-
claimed the sentiment that he serves his party
best who serves his country best" Did that
sentiment occur to him, l ask, during the last
session Of Congress when he put forth veto
after veto Of the most partisan character?
In view of the sentiments promulgated in
these extraordinary vetoes, which were prob
ably shared by all the members of the Cabinet,
propose to submit the views of some of them
touching the unwarranted use Of the army.
Secretary Sherman, in 1856, then member of
the House Of Representatives, proposed an
amendment to the Army Appropriation bill as
follows: provided, nevertheless, that no part
of the military force of the United States herein
provided for shall be employed 10 aid of the en-
forcement of the laws" referring to the laws Of
the Kansas Legislature. Thus at that time the
Secretary is on record against the use OF the
bsyonet