The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1879-05-17
The Iniquities Of the Federal Election
Lava

The debate that has taken place in the
senate on the political amendments in the
legislative bill has given the country a
tolerably clear idea Of the iDiquities OF the
Federal election laws, under which the re-
publicans carried elections in the larger
Northern cities and paid their campaign
expenses out OF the public money. There
has been some sound democratic talk by
Senators Eaton, Thurman, Herman and
others, which will assist in placing the re-
publican party before the country in their
true light should the factious majority with
the assistance of their fraudulent president
prevent the repeal of the obnoxious, arbi-
trary and unconstitutional features Of these
laws. The people Of this country, educated
to the idea of the largest possible personal
liberty consistent with the rights of others,
believe that the laws of the country are
subject to the will of the majority and
should be changed to meet the conditions
of peace or war, and that their enforce
the judgment of courts and by civil pro-
cesses OF indicting, trying and convlcting,
and not their enforcement by Corporal
and a file of soldiers with partisan depu-
ty marshal, clothed by the forms of law, to
be at one and the same time the accuser,
the judge and the executioner. This idea
that the President shall send an officer
with file or company Of United States
troops to enforce the right of citizen IN
der statute, or punish wrong done him,
is anti-republican and unconstitutional. He
might as we'll be made dictator at once
While this nation looks with contempt upon
the submission Of people in the despotic
countries Of Europe, they have quietly sub
mitted to a greater outrage upon the forms
of republican liberty by permitting the
stealing Of the highest Office in the coun-
try after all the iniquities Of their cleo
tion laws had failed to accomplish the OBJ
of despotic Europe ask themselves if the
power to arrest citizen without process
Of law simply on the edict of a ward bum
mer who may happen to be appointed
deputy marshal, does not sound more like
despotism under an absolute monarch
than like lawful liberty in free America?
How absurd the claim of the republican
party managers for free elections" under
such laws as thesel In the debate on
this question Senator Herman, of New
York, expressed the sentiment OF the dem
ocracy az follows;
NO FREE ELECTIONS.
with this system of supervisors and
msrshals, with the army TO back them,
there will be no free elections Those in
power in the federal government will be
tempted to and will be able to retain
power. Neither political party holding
power should ever be allowed to have this
machinery on election day. This elaborate
scheme OF thus authorizing supervisors
and marshals at the polls of an election to
be clothed with arbitrary power oyer citi-
zens and the army to be there TO enforce
their will is dangerous TO the liberty of cit
izens and will ultimately destroy the fed
eral government. These laws should be
repealed. If our laws passed for this pur-
pose fail to become laws because the Pres
ident vetoes them the remedy is with the
people acting in their sovereign capacity
at the ballot box, and to that tribunal we
can IN my judgment confidently appeal.
This government is theirs, they will pre-
serve it.