The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-03-20
THOSE PEsTIEEROUS MARsHAIs.
An Independent View of tile Political
Complication
Nordhoff in he ~ Y. Uero]t,l

lt'""syD Ht Wc ~. llefQ{li
1t will be remembered that the
office of United States Marshal is
always political office, tho reward
OF partisan services that the deputy
marshals for election purposes are
therefore sure to be partisans, and
that in fact, the law authorizes the
party in power in every city of
$4,000 or more inhabitants to ap-
point any number of it's followers
deputy marshals and pay the $50
apiece out OF the public treasury for
their partisan services. It is not an
cxtravagang statement on the part
OF the Democrats, therefore, to say
that this deputy marshal law en-
ables the party in power to pay it's
cnnvassers very handsomely out of
general tuxes.
On the whole the Supervisor law
seems to be a very small matter for
either party to get up great ex-
citoment over. The supervisors
have under the law very comprehen,
sive but very i'll defined powers. If
both should agree they co,lld prob
ably defeat any election at all, but
being of opposite political parties,
they are not likely to agree, and
thero is no provision made for their
disagreement" except that the House
of Representatives shall decide
between them. Sessions 5,522 and
5,523 OF the Revised Statutes proS
vide for the punishment of anyone
who shall interfere with them, either
by threats or action, or who refuses
to answer any inquiry made by them
or give a fulse answer, but even
these criminal statutes do not do
moro than enable a guarrelsome
supervisor, or one who has prede ,
termined to make tr )uble for his
party's advantage, to accomplish this
purpose and annoy the voters. In
fact the whole Supervisor law might
we'll be oa(led I'm act to facilitate
election rows.
The Rel ublicans are extremely
tenacious about supervisors, and the
Democrats might very we'll giveup
that point, if on their side the Re-
publicans would give up the deputy
marshals of elections, and this, in
the last days of the last session,
several prominent Republicans were
willing to do. They acknowledged
privately that the Deputy Marshals
law was liable to gross abuse and
was not defensible before the public,
and this is the plain truth about it.
If the reputable leaders of the two
parties would amicably discuss these
laws in private, with n desire to come
to conclusion which should be
fir and acceptable to both sides,
the whole difficulty could be settled
without waste of time and without
any exciting debate. It is doubtful
If more than two dozen m IN in b 9th
houses have ever carefully examined
the laws about which 50 much fuss
has been and is making. The Rich.
moa,d State remarks about them .
Nobody cares particularly about
the supervisors. It is the meddle-
some deputy marshals we are after.
Rid us of these and the supervisors,
one or two of each party to witness
q fair count, will not be greatly OBJ
jected TO we suppose by anybody"
1t is not possible as yet to foreteli
the temper in which the new Con-
gress will regard the laws, what
method the Democrats will deter-
mine on for their rep~al, or what the
Republican policy will be. One
may hear good deal of wild talk in
political gatherings, but it is the
talk mainly Of people who have no
votes in Congress and who ought
not to have much influence. Some
Of these strongly urge TINT if the
President should veto any of tho
repeating bills Congress shall there.
upon adjourn without making the
necessary approp iations. Offers
recommend that in case of q veto
Congress shall at once declare the
Presidency vacant and ignore Presi-
dent Hayes as part of the govern
lnent. These are samples of the
wild talk to be heard in hotel lob.
bies and which is encouraged by the
other side, who want nothing better
than a grand display Of Democratic
nonsense. But among the resposi-
BILE mon there has been for some days
growing determination to make
tho session short, to get as many of
the bad laws repealed as possible,
and to put the RESPONSE bility for
the rest clearly upon the Republic
cans and adjourn. -