Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-05-12

came the law by approval Of President
Jefferson: 10 all cases of insurrection or
obstruction of the laws of either the Unit
ed States on All individual state or territory,
when it is lawful for the president Of the
United States to call for the militia for the
purpose Of auppressing such insurrection
or of causing the laws to be duly executed,
it shall be lawful for him to employ
for the same purposes such part of the land
OF naval force of the United States as shall
be judged necessary, having first observed
the prerequisite of the law in that respect.
By this act it will be seen the scope Of the
law Of 1898 was extended it seems to author-
ize the national government to use the mill
itia on every occasion where the supremacy
Of the constitution has been resisted and the
perpetuity Of our institutions imperiled.
The principle ofthis statute, enacted by the
fathers, has enabled the government of the
United States to maintain its authority
and preserve the integrity Of the nation. At
the most critical periods of our history my
predecessors in the executive office have re.
lied on this principle, the use of the army
and navy of the United States in causing
the lawsto be duly executed, and the impor-
tant provisions of the acts of 1892, 1895 and
1907, modified in its terms from time TO time
to adapt it to existing emergencies, remain
ed in force till by an act approved BY Presi-
dent Lincoln, July 29th 1861, it was re.en-
acted substantially in the same language in
Whenever, by reason of unlawful obstruc.
tions, combinations or assemblages of persons
or rebellion against the authority of the
government of the United States, it shall
become .impracticable in the judgment Of
IN nnf h,v ~,
ordinary course of judicial proceedings the
laws OF the United States within any state
or territory, it shall be lawful for the presi.
dent TO call for the militia of any or all the
states, and to employ such parts of the
land and naval forces as he may deem nee.
cessary to enforce the execution of the laws
of tho United States. or to suppress such
rebellion In whatever state or territory
wherein the laws of the United States NAV
be tortiblY opposed or the execution there
OF forciDly obstructed."
This ancient aud fundamental law VII ,ct
has been in force from tho foundation o
government, it is now proposed to abrogat.
| on certain days aud at certain places, Ii
my judgment no fact has been producec
which tends to show that it ought to bt
repealed or suspended for single hour il
any place in the United States. All the
teachings of experience in the course Of oul
history are in favor Of sustaining its eff
cheney unimpaired.
President Washington suppressed tn,
whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania, in 1894
and in 1906, on the same principle, Presid
ent Jefferson broke up the Burr conspiracy
by issuing orders for the employmen o
force, either of the regulars or of militia, b,
such proceedings of the civil authorities a,
might enable them to suppress eHectuaily
the further progress of the enterprise.
was under the same authority that Presideu
Jackson crushed notification in South Car
olina; that President Lincoln issued his
call for troops to serve the union in
1861. Numerous other occasions of les.
significance, and under probably every
administration, was certainly under the
present. This power has been usefully ex.
alted to enforce the laws without objection
by any party in the country, and almost
without attracting public attention. The
elementary constitutional principle which
was the foundation of the original statute
Of 1892, and which has been its essence in
various forms since its first adoption, IS that
the government Of the United States poe
sesses under the constitution in full, the
power of self protection
through Its own agencies altogether, inde.
pendent of state authority, and if need be
against the hostility of state government
1t should remain embodied in our statute.
unimpaired, as it has been from the yer,
| origin OF the government. 1t should be re
garded as hardly less valuable or less sacred
than the constitution itself. There are
many important statutes containing
provisions that are liable te
be suspended or annulled al
places of holding elections if the bill before
me should become a law. l do not under.
take to furnish list of them. Many Of
them, perhaps most Of them, have been Sc,
forth in the debates on this measure. They
relate to extraordinary crimes against the
election lave, to quarantine regulations, to
neutrality in Indian reservations, to civil
rights OF citizens, and to other objects in re.
gard to them. and it may be safely said
that the effect of this bill is to take from
the general government part of its power
to enforce the laws.
concluded to-morrow.]