Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-11-13

sentlal for the perpetulty oil TINS govern
ment. 1t is founded in dlstrust oil
the people. There is no more reason to
suppose the people Of this country will
commit suicide through States than
through the central government, and
therefore this whole idea that you can
not have pure elections unless you have
a Federal officer TO administer them is
founded in a distrust of the people for
self government and a suggestion that
purity has its only fountain in the city
OF Washington"
This is a most substantial statement
of a plain and obvious truth-there Is
no exaggeration in tit is very mod
crate statement of the consequences OF
the position which was taken at the
last session of Congress by the Repub-
licans generally and chiefly illustrated
by the claim OF their right and duty to
have an armed force at the polls OF pop
ular elections, in case the President
should think it proper to send them.
They held that there was nothing but
his discretion TO prevent the presence OF
troops upon all occasions OF the express
sion of their free will by the people.
Force and free will are inconsistent
terms. In England and America over
and over again it has been decided by
parliamentary decision that the presence
of armed forces at the polls OF election
invalidated the election so tar as the
party whose influence caused them to
come there is concerned"
CREATURES WATCHING THEIR CREATORS.
"Do not the Republicans argue that
| those armed forces are merely present
as police to see lest any harm should
Gomez
''That contains the germ OF the very
danger am speaking Of Why should
the army become the guardians OF the
/ liberties OF the peOplel The army Is
/ but one OF the instruments OF the peo-
| pie to govern themselves. They never
! were put in position OF guardian and
/ ward. The army is the creation OF the
/ law, and the law is the declaration oil
tine peoples will. 1t is like placing the
creature above the creator to suppose
| that the American people cannot hold
| and will not hold free and fair elections
unless their own creatures are put to
watch them. That is the truth; there
is hut one side OF it"
| "Then your remedy for thisr"
al would not permit this. i consider
the admission OF such a right as abso-
| lutely fatal TO every theory OF our gov
! eminent. As to Congressional elections,
/ the remedy is always full and fair. III,
/ i'm the first place, the wrong man shall
be returned to Congress through vio-
lence or fraud, the community which is
Inisrepresented is injured. But not only
isthat community injured, but the whole
country is injured by allowing mis-
| representative TO become a part OF the
governing power of the whole country,
But the control OF that is distinctly
placed by the Constitution IN each
| house of Congress. When the COnsti-
tuition gives exclusively to each house
the power of judgment over the quallii-
cations, elections and returns OF Its own
members, it gives Congress the eX-
| elusive power to redress every wrong,
ininstice and outrage that has been per
petrated at the polls-all that tended to
| misrepreSent the community. 1t gives
them the power to reject every man
| who comes there with unclcan hands,
stained either with blood or with fraud.
/ Now, if YOU hand over to Congress the
control Of not only the judgment OF the
qualifications, elections and returns OF
its own members, but also the control
of the elections themselves, you are
making them Judges in their own case,
and that is forbidden by every maxim
of Justice. No man shall be Judge IN
his own case. But if Congress Is to be
a Judge of its own conduct in the super
visions of the elections, the result will
be the complexion OF Congress will
never change, for you cannot expect
that Congress would rebuke its own
acts. But if they have the power to re-
iect returned Representative, they
/ notify men i'm advance that when they
present themselves with q certificate
stained with violence or with fraud they
cannot take their seats. That is the
cure and that is the only power that was
ever intended to be eXerted.
"Hamilton said, in the FederdliSt, that
there ought to be a regulation and con-
troll by the Representatives in Congress
TO see that elections were held so the
country would not be left without a
Congress. But that was an extreme
case. 10 was suggested that the States
might, bv their negative action, kill the
government by not holding elections,
and vet he has admitted that no power
can compel State Legislatures to elect
Senators. When the time has come that
the people of this country intend to
break up their own government oil
course nothing further is to be said
that is political suicide. But when 1t
does come it will be time enough
then to put this arbitrary machine
in TO galvanize the body when the soul
is out OF it. But the strength OF this
country is the love the people bear to
their government, and that cannot be
legislatcd in and it cannot be leglslated
ont. The whole of this claim OF the
power now To enact Congressional cleo
ton laws is nothing in the world but an
attempt to prolong the present office
holders in their tenure OF power be-
vOnd the constitutional term. That IS
its translation in English. 1t could
never have been contended that the
party who went into power under a
Constitution had a right to use that
power to procure their reelection or
prolong their power in any way.
"When we come TO the office OF Presl-
dent, the Constitution expressly declares
that no man can be an eleCtOr who holds
office under the Constitution. NO OF
flee of honor or profit can be held 10y a
man who acts as a Presidential elector.
The meaning of that is that men shall
not use their official power rs stepping
stones 10 other offices or to continuation
in power. When you come to a popu-
lar election it means that you Wust
have hands off, and that is the true
principle. And our people seem to
have lost sight OF the fact that the man
who is President cannot call himself,
with any degree Of decency, the head OF
party"
II West Virginia had required ten
davS to collect her vote in an election,
We would have complained that the
I ,,.,rl- ,,.a, unnecessarily DELAYED al