The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-08-21
OHIO POLITICS.
Speech Of Congressman A. J..
Warner
Delivered at Williamsport, Noble Coun.
ty, Ohio.

Mr. PRESIDENT AND FRLLow- CITIZENS: Ger
tain of the issues which will be presented to
the people in the approaching canvass, whilo
not new, nevertheless have not, until recently,
been the occasion Of much public discussion
Our fundamental laws have been deemed 30
secure that little concern respecting them has
been elected; but we are now called upon to
meet the encroachment of power upon consii-
trtiOnal guarantees hitherto unassailed.
II any one principle is supreme In uur con-
stituEon it is that, primarily, all rightful pow
ers Of government come from the people
When, therefore, a hundred and three years ago
the peoplecomposing the thirteen colonies of
this country declared their independence of
Great Britain, they resumed to themselves all
powers Of government In their sovereign Ca
pacity they organized States, formed confed-
GRAFTON Of all the States for their common de-
Tense, waged common war for their lndepend-
ence, and finally transformed the confederation
into General Government, with powers lin
tied and defined by awritten constitution. The
exercise of such powers as pertained alike to
all the States they intrusted to the General Gov
ernment But the same people that delegated
to the General Government its powers also
framed the constitution and organized the Gov
ernments of the States; only in the latter case
the people of each State acted by themselves,
and, in the Language of that day, seyery
power, Jurisdiction and right which is not
by the said constitution clearly delegated to
the Congress of the United States, or the de-
partments OF the Government thereof, remains
to the people Of the several States or to their
respective State Governments to whom they
may have granted the same" To the Govern
ments of the States alone was intrusted the ex-
ercise of those powers which pertain especially
to the people composing the several States;
but these powers are complete and sovereign
in their sphere as the powers delegated to the
General Government The constitution of the
United States and the laws made IN pursu-
ance thereof are the supreme law of the land,
and power is given to execute them through
out the Union. But no less are the consitu-
hon and laws of the State, not in conflict with
the constitution of the United States, supreme
within the State; and the General Government
has no more right to infringe upon the powers
intrusted to the States than the States have to
set aside the laws of the General Government
The Supreme Court has reaffrmed this doc
trine in q recent decision by Chief Justice
Waite: 3The very highest duty of the States,
when they entered into the Union under tho
constitution, was to protect all persons within
their boundaries in the enjoyment of these in
alienable rights with which they were endowed
by the Creator Sovereignty for this purpose
rests alone with the States"
day, like Minerva, full-armed from the brain of
Jove They are the ou'growth Of the struggles,
the experiences, and necessities of our race
There are certain great principles which lie at
the foundations Of our institutions that are old
er than the English language, older than any
written constitution. They belonged TO the
German and the Saxon before the Roman had
ever set footupon the Rhine.
Macaulay says the power Of the English King
was limited by three great constitutiona
principles, 80 ancient that none can say when they
began to exist, so potent that their natural de-
velopment continued. through many genera
tions, and produced the order of things un-
der which We are now living" The King could
not legislate; he could not himself levy taxes;
he must rule according to law. Nor could he
keep a standing army without the consent of
his Parliament These great principles con-
stitute tho trunk of English liberty and of the
tree of liberty our fathers planted in this coun-
try. How carefully each one of these great
fundamental principles was guarded in the
formation our Government! sAll legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested in a Con-
gress of the United States"-nos in a Congress
and President The entire control of reven-
ues, taxation and appropriations is given to the
Legislative branch Of the Government. Con-
gress-not the President-shall have power to
raise and support armies" but even Congress
may not make an appropriation for an army
for longer time than two years.
So solicitous were the founders OF our Gov
ernment respecting standing army that sew
eral of the States objected to the constitutional
provision permitting any standing army at all
The convention of New York resolved ~Fhat
standing armies in time Of peace are dangerous
to liberty, and ought not to be kept up except
in case OF necessity. Other States urged that
to appropriate money for q standing army
should require two-thirds OF both houses, and
with one voice it was declared that at all times
the military shOnld ha nndnr atrict an uh0rdina-
ton of the civil power.
The constitutions Of most of the States pro
hibited the presence of any troops within GER
ia n distance of the polls. 1t has been the law
of England for 200 years that troops should not
be nearer than two miles OF any polling place
on the day of election. In the light of history,
then, what think you, my fellow-citi2ens, of an
Executive veto against the act passed only in
May last, not to do away with the aImy-not to
lessen its efficiency where needed-but to pro-
hibit its use at the polls!
Now let us appeal, my fellow citizens, to
| your candid judgment How long do you be-
ieve the right to exercise freely your choice at
elections would remain to You il the Executive
be given the right to use the army at the polls!
Would it exist half generation! The present
| Executive might not use such powers against
| the liberties of the people, or TO perpetuate
| party control The next, possibly, might not,
but, as sure as the power and right to use it ex-
lists, the time will como when it will be 80 used;
some man will appear who, for power or for
spoils Of office, will use it
Twenty-Five years ago one of the founders of
the Republican party, Mr. Seward, in the
strongest terms, condemned the use OF the
army in any way as civil police. He
said: @Civil liberty and standing army for
the purpose of civil police have never yet stood
together. = II the founders of the con-
stitution had been told that, within seventy
years from the day on which they laid its solid
foundation, aud raised its majestic columns,
standing army would have been found neces-
sary and indispensable merely to execute mu-
| nicipal laws, they would have turned shudder-
ing away from the massive despotism which
| they had erected"
| The only safe way is to take away the power,
and that is what Congress tried to do. Failing
in the repeal Of the law, Congress refused the
| appropriation of money for such purpose.
You must say whether or not they did right
! The majority in Congress sought the repeal
| OF another lava law which had its origin, as
Senator Thurman showed to the Senate, with
the Republican Union League Of New York
city; law to enable the party in power to con-
troll elections through Supervisors and Deputy
Marshals. Under this law q aM,rshsl appoint
ed by the President may appoint Deputy Mar
shals without limit at IS day, to be paid out
of the public treasury, to stand at the polls,
with power to arrest without warrant Under
this law in 1876 between 1900 and 5, eco Super
visors and between II, 600 and $4,000 Deputy
Marshals were appointed, at a cost to the peo
pie Of $2S5, 600 In New York alone nearly
1000 Deputy Marshals were appointed, many
of them from the very slums Of the city. In
1878 over 5000 arrests were made, but all were
dismissed without trial after the polls were
closed In the city Of St. Louis in 1876 over
1000 Deputy Marshals were appointed, ut a
cost to the Government of $40, 900, and, as
shown by sworn testimony, no one could
he appointed unless pledged to vote the
Republican ticket By this partisan ma
ohfnery Republican Representatives were re-
turned.
Now should such laws be retained on the
statute books? Are you willing to be taxed for
such purposes? Give the Executive control
over such machinery, and with it the right to
use the army to back up the Marshals, aud how
long will elections remain free? These laws
were not enacted to secure free and fair cleo
tions, but to perpetuate party rule. It is party
machinery, the whole of it. Would the Rtpub-
lican minority in Congress, do you think, Insist
upon keeping these laws upon the statute books
if there was Democratic President and only
Democratic Marshals and Deputy Marshals
were to be appointed? Laws should be as fair
for one as for another. Nor were these laws
made for the South as has been claimed, so
much as for close districts, and especially the
| 81 Al, ,boro al o,r ha hos