Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-03-27
The Joint Democratic Caucus.
PROPOSED LEGISLATION BY CONGRESS AT THB
EXTRA SESSION.

EXTRA SESSION.
At the joint democratic caucus of the Senate
and House yesterday afternoon, it was almost
unanimously agreed that the appropriation
bills which failed Of enactment at the last ses-
sion OF Congress, namely, the army and the
1egiS ative, executive and judicial, should be In
trOduced and put on their passage Immediately.
After It o was determined tnat the army % bill
was instructed to introduce that measure to-
day, and Mr.. Atkins, chairman OF the approprt-
atfons committee of the 18th Congress. was re-
quested to take charge of the Introduction Of
the legislative b Il.
THE ELECTION LAWS.
lt was agreed that sections 20l6, 20lS and 1920
OF the federal election laws Of the revised stat
uteS and all succeeding sections, including 1927
2O11 should be amended by striking out Of the
first line the words "and required" Section
2o19 will be amended by striking out the clause
POPS Will be amended so as to require supervisors
OF elections to be residents OF the precincts In
which they perform such duties. Section 2osl,
except so much thereof as relates to the pay of
supervisors of elections and all sections parts
of sections which authorize the appointment of
chief supervisor OF elections or deputy mar
shals and all those descriptive of the power of
such omcerS will also be repealed. The effect
Of the repeal, If enacted, will be to provide for
the appointment by the courts of two super
cal parties. in every voting precinct through ii
out the United States, II request is made for the
same sam by petition or otherwise Of not
precinct in which the supervisors are
to act in compliance with their request.
BY the repeal supervisors OF election are gwen
the power to act In their capacity not only in
cities OF more than 10000 Inhabitants, but in
small towns, irrespective OF population. The
power Of arrest now vested in the chief super
visor is to be abolished with that officer and the
functions and powers OF the two supervisors
provided for is to be restricted to that of wit
Desses and challengers only. The penal sec
t1oDs OF the Revised Statutes 5505 to 552s, which
provide for the punishment OF illegal voting as
may be reported either by the supervisors or
citizens, are not to be interfered with, but will
remain intact At the last session the repeating
clauses embraced section Poll and all succeed
ing sections including POPS. The programme
agreed to leaves standing sections Poll to 2O15
inclusive and all OF 2017 and 2019 excepting as
indicated above and is simply amendatory of
section POPS requiring supervisors to be resi-
dents OF the precinct In which they act. Sec
ZION 1922, which preScribeS penalties for the
interference OF marshals, was not among the
repeating clauses of the bill of last session
THE SUBJECT OF GENERAL LEGISLATION
curing the present session was not discussed,
and only referred to by the report of the caucus
committees, which stated that they had been
cerning this question; a majority of the Senate
caucus being In favor OF restricting the busi.
ness OF the extra session to the appropriation
bills and to the bill to prevent the recurrence of
epidemic diseases, and the House caucus COM
mlttee being still more strongly in favor of i'm
proving every opportunity to the transaction of
the general business whenever either house is
not engaged upon an appropriation bill. A
prominent member Of the caucus is authority
for the statement that that subject will not be
determined by caucus action, there being, in
his opinion, very few members on the demo-
cratic side who are In favor of such a course
he is quite positive that it will be negatived by
large majority.