Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-05-30

/ Ing eleCllOllS lOI DSilatOAo ohi ~.
tatives shall be prescribed IN
each State by the legislature
thereof, but Congress may at
any time, by law, make or alter such
regulations, except as to the place
/ OfchoOsing a Senator" a further pro-
vision has been since added which IS
embraced in the fifteenth amendment.
/ 1t is as follows:
SEC. ]. The right OF the citizens OF the
| United States to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States, or by
/ any State, on account OF race, color or
/ previous condition of servitude.
SEC. >. The Congress shall have power
to enforce this article by appropriate
| legislation. Under the several pro-
visions OF the Constitution, Sec. t article
| |, Congress, in 1866, passed compre--
/ hensive law which prescribed iull and
| detailed regulations for the election OF
/ Senators by the Legislatures OF the sew
eral States. This law has been in
force almost thirteen years. In pur-
suance of it all OF the members OF the
present Senate of the United States hold
| their seats. Its ConstitutiOnality is not
| called i'm question. 1t is confidently be-
| lieved that no sound argument can be
made in support of the constttutlonallty
| of the national regulation OF senatorial
elections, which will not show that cleo
tions for members OF the House OF Rep
resentatives may also be constitution
ally regulated by national authority.
The bill before me itself recognizes the
principle that the Congressional cleo
| tiOns are not State elections, but
National elections. 1t leaves in full
force the existing statute under
which supervisors are still TO be APP
pointed by National authority to OBJ
serve and witness Congressional cleo
tions, whenever due application Is made
by citizens who desire said elections TO
be guarded and sCrutinized. II the
power to supervise in any re-
spect whatever Congressional elections
exists, under section 4, article !, OF the
Constitution, it is a power, which, Ike
every other power belonging to the
Government of the United States, Is
permanent and supreme, and includes
the right to employ the necessary
means to carry it into effect.
Effect of U. S. Election Laws.
The statutes of the United States
which regulate the election of members
of the House of Representatives are an
essential part of which it is proposed to
repeal by this bill, and have been in
force about eight years. -Four Con-
gressional elections have been held un-
der them, two of which were at the
| Presidential elections OF 1872 and 1876.
! Numerous prosecutions, trials, and con-
victions. have been held in the courts
of the United States in all parts OF the
| Union for the violation OF these laws,
and i'm no reported case has their con-
| stitutionality been called in or qucs-
toned bv any Judge of the courts
of the United States. The valid
! ity of these laws is sustained
| bv a uniform course OF judicial
| action and opinion. If it is urged that
| the United States election laws are not
necessary, an ample reply is furnished
| by history of their origin and OF their
results. They were especially prompted
bv the investigation and exposure OF
| frauds committed in the city and State
| of New York at the elections of 1873.
| Committees representing both OF the
| leading parties of the country have sub
mitted reports TO the House OF Repre-
sentatives of those frauds. a committee
| of the FOrtieth Congress, after full in
| vestigatiOn, reached the conclusion that
the number of fraudulent votes cast in
| the city of New York alone, in 1868, was
not less than $4,000. A committee OF
the Forty.fourth Congress, in their re-
port submitted i'll 1877, adopted the
! opinion that for every one hundred
| actual voters in the city Of New
! York in 1868, one hundred and
/ eight votes were cast, when in fact
! the number of lawful votes cast
| could not have exceeded IS per cent. OF
| the actual voters OF the city. BY this
| statement the number Of fraudulent
votes at that election in New York alone
| was between thirty and forty thousand.
! These frauds completely reversed the
result of the election in the State OF New
York, both as TO the choice of Governor
and State officers, and as TO the choice
! of electors for President and Vice PreSi-
dent of the United States. They at
tracted the attention OF the whole coun-
! try. 1t was plain that ii they could be
continued and repeated with i'm
! punitv, free government was I'M
| possible and a distinguished Senator,
| i'm opposing the passage OF the election
| laws, declared that he had for a long
time believed our form OF government
was a comparative failure in the larger
cities. To meet these evils and prevent
these crimes the United States laws
regulating Congressional elections were
enacted. The trainers OF these laws have
! 1. -, IN -
In the large cities under their provisions,
the elections have been comparative
| " pcaceable, orderly and honest Even
the opponents of these laws have borne
testimony to their value and efficiency,
and to the necessity for their enactment
4 committee of the Forty-iOurth
| Congress, composed of members, a ma
iority Of whom were opposed to these
! laws, in their report on the New York
election Of 1876, said: The committee
would commend to other portions of the
country and to other cities, this remark
able system developed through the
agency OF both the local and federal au-
thorities, acting in harmony for an hon
est purpose. limo portion OF the world
and in no era of time where there
has been an expression OF the pop
ular will through the forms
OF law, has there been a more complete
and thorough illustration OF republican
institutions. Whatever may have been
the previous conduct of elections in
these cities, or howsoever they may
conduct themselves in the future, this
election OF 1876 will stand as a monu-
ment Of what good faith, honest en-
deavor, legal forms and just authority
may DO for the protection Of the electoral
franchise"
A Plea Tor Radical Supervisors.
This bill recognizes the authority and
duty OF the United Statss to appoint
supervisors to guard and scrutinize
Congressional elections. but it leaves 10
the government of the United States all
power to make its supervisors etIeCtual.
The great body OF the people want free
and fair elections. They DO not think
that a free election means freedom from
| tho Wholesome restraints OF law or that