Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-05-17

country, and he gives it loyal an
decided support. But this wouli
not affect him in the slightest il
any matter outside of strictly polili
cal bounds. He is luminous ant
| forcible in discussion, and grea
! weight is conceded to his opinions
------+-
The Case Plainly Put.
Said Representative Chalmers, O
Mississippi, on Saturday, the 26tl
ult., just after the vote was taken O
the Supervisors bill:
Gentlemen upon the other side o
the House in this debate have talked
about everything ia the heaven
above, in the earth beneath, and ia
the waters under the earth. | pro
/ pose now to bring them back to th'
question at issue in this bill, which
is plain and simple.
There are two laws standing upOT
the statute-boOk in regard to Super
visors of elections, one made for the
country, the other made for the city
confessedly for the city of New
I York; and John Davenport boasts
that they We're made at his dicta.
tion.
The city of New York is Demo
cratic; the country districts are Re-
publican. Hence we find that
through the ingenuity of this match.
less trickSter in politics we have one
law for the Democrat aud another
for the Republican. The Supervis-
ors who are TO watch over the Dem
Ocratic polls are intrusted with eN-
traordinary power, to supervise
registration in effect to determine
the qualifications of voters, and
with or without warrant to arrest
citizens at the polls. In the country
districts there are no such powers.
BY section 2029 of the Revised
Statutes, which remain unchanged,
it is expressly provided:
1.-THE Supervisors of Election ap-
pointed for any county or parish in
any Congressional District, at the
instance of ten citizens, as provided
in section 20l1, shall have no author
ity to make arrests, or 10 perform
other duties than to be in the inn
mediate presence of the officers
holding the election, and to witness
all their proceedings, including the
counting of the votes and the MAX
ing Of a return thereof"
Now all that is proposed by this
bill is that we shall equalize the
powers of Supervisors everywhere
i'm the Union make their power
the same in the cities that it is in
the country districts, the same for
the Democrat that ir is for the Re-
publican, the same for the bond
holding, purse-pr0ud man in the
rural districts of New York that ii
is for the tOiling masses in the city
of New York, who have been de
nounced on the floor of Congress as
thieves, scOundrels and the very
scum of the earth.
That is the full extent Of the leg
islation here prOpOsed-no more.
Yet, when we have proposed TO
equaliZe the power of Supervisors,
it has been suddenly discovered
that they are mere 'stool-pigeons
with their wings clipped If they
are stool-pigeons, we do not create
them; the Republican party created
LitCkls GAlkAg 6Ab NAiE CtAlAAE LliAAG LlAAk
they madestool-pigeons with clipped
wings to nestle gently at Republi-
can polls, they created yultures with
fierce beaks and sharpened talOns to
hover around Democratic precincts,
and to tear the vitals of Democratic
voters.
We simply demand that the law
shall be eIualized. We leave the
us We found them. We
dO not even change their pay, lest
perchanCe il should be said that we
recognized the cOnstitutiOnality of
theirappoin;ment, which we utterly
deny. We leave them the same in
the South that they are to-day, not
because it is right, but because we
do not desire to demand upon an
appropriation bill anything that is
not vital and Immediately essential
for the preservation of civil liberty.
That is all there is in this bill as to
of Elections.
In response to my gallant Demo-
cratic friend from Ohio Mr.. Ewing),
who paid such q handsome cOmpli-
ment to the South, / have a word
to say. There was time when |
as a Southern Democrat believed
that the position of Northern DEM
Ocrats i'm the war was hateful. But,
sir, / have learned to believe that
the time will come when the histo-
rian will write ii down that the
Northern Democrats were the truest
patriots in this country. They imi-
lated the example Of their old lead
ar, Andrew Jackson. 1t viii be
that when on the
plains OF Florida the militia, claim
ing that their enlistment had ex-
pired, attempted TO return home,
sold Hickory" with the old flag in
his hand, rallied the volunteers and
drove the militia back to their
places. When upon the next occa-
sion the volunteers undertook TO
leave, he, with the same old flag i'm
his hand, rallied the malitia and
drove the volunteers back to their
places. So, sir, the historian will
say that when the Southern Demo-
rrats undertook to leave the Union, |
the gallant Democrat Of the North, /
with the old flag in his hand, rallied |
the Republican party and drove /
them back into the Union.
When the war was closed and the I
party undertook to de- /
str0y the Constitution, history will |
say that the same gallant Northern |
Democracy, with the same flag in
their hand, rallied the Southern |
Democrats and drove the Republic
cans back to their duty. Applause. !
We, sir, in the South loved the Con- /
stitutiOn more than the Union; the /
party loved the Union |
more than the Constitution but il |
viii be written i'm history that the |
gallant Democracy of the North |
we're the truest patriots of the land,
and that they loved both the Union
and the Constitution one and indi-
visible. GGtreat applause.
THE cosfliness Of crime is begin
ming to attract the serious attention !
Of legislators. No incOnsiderable !
portion Of the burden Of taxation \
results from this source. Our cum
brous and intricate appliances for
detection, arrest, trial and punish
ment Of criminals arc a heavy load |
upon the productive labor of the !
country. That this complicated and !
costly mechanism might be greatly
and cheapened, without Z
its efficiency, is the con-
nlusiOn almost invariably arrived at 4
by those who study il attentlvely.
Indeed, there is a general and grow (
i,,or i,,,nra5lsnt, fbaf 81 r,a nj finaff,s, 3