The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1879-06-07

election of members of the house of repre-
sentatives may also be constitutionally reg
ulated by national authority.
The bill before me itself recognizes the
principle that the congressional are not
state elections. 1t leaves in full force the
existing statute under which supervisors
are still to be appointed by national
authority, to observe and witness" con-
gressional elections whenever due apilpca-
ton is made by citizens who desire state
elections to be guarded and scrutinized."
If power to supervise in any
respect whatever the congressional cleo
tons exists under Section 4, Article l of the
constitution, it is power which like every
other power belonging to the government
of the United States is paramount and
supreme, and includes the right to employ
the necessary means TO carry 1t ipso effect.
The statutes of the United States which
regulate the election of members of
the house of representatives., an essential
part of which it is proposed to repeal by
this bill, have been in force about eight
years. -Four congressional elections have
been held under them, two of which were at
the presidential elections of 1872 and 1876.
Numerous prosecutions, trials and
convictions have been held in the
courts of the United States in all
parts of the Union for violation
constitutionality been called into question
by any judge of the courts of United States.
The validity of these laws is sustained by
the the uniform course of judicial action
and opinion.
Ii it is urged that the United States cleo
ton laws are not necessary, an ample reply
is furnished by the history of their origin
and of their results. They were especially
prompted by the investigation and exposure
of frauds committed in the city and
state of New York at the elections
of 1868. Committees representing both of
the leading political parties of the country
have submitted reports 10 the house of rep
resentatives, in extensO, of those frauds. A
committee of the fortieth congress, after q
full investigation, reached the concluGion
that the number OF fraudulent votes
cast in the city of New York
in 1868 was not less than $4,000.
A committee of the forty-fourth congress
in their report submitted in 1877 adopted
the opinion that for every one hundred
actual voters of the city of New York in
1853, l08 votes were cast, when in fact the
number OF lawful votes cast could not have
exceeded So per cent. of the actual voters
the number of fraudulent votes
at that election in the city of New York
alone was between thirty thousand and forty
thousand. These frauds completely re-
versed the result of the election in the
state of New York, both as to the
choice of governor and state of,
ficers and as to the choice of cleo.
tors of president and vice-president
of the United States. They attracted the
attention of the whole country. 1t was
plain that if they could be continued and
repeated with impunity, free government
was impossible. A distinguished senator
in opposing the passage of the election laws
declared that he had for a long time
believed that our form of government was a
comparative failure in the larger cities To
meet these evils and to prevent these
crimes, the United States laws regulating
congressional elections were enacted
The trainers of these laws have not been
disappointed in their results. In the large
cities, under their provisions, the elections
have been comparatively peaceable, orderly
and honest.
Even the opponents of these laws have
borne testimony to their value and
efficiency, and to the necessity fol
their enactment. A committee of the
44th congress, composed of members, a ma
IN their report on the New York election oil
1876 said: "The committee would commend
to other portions of the country and to
other cities this remarkable system devel
oped through the agency of both local and
Federal authorities, acting in harmony for
an honest purpose. Ia no portion
of the world, and in no era
of time, where there has been
an expression of the popular will through
the forms of law, has there been a more
complete and thorough illustration of Re-
publican institutions. Whatever may have
been the previous habit or conduct of cleo.
tons in those cities, or however they NAV
conduct themselves in the future, this cleo
ton of 1876 will stand as a monument OF
what good faith, honest endeavor or legal
forms, and just authority may do for the
protection of the electoral franchise"
This bill recognizes authority and duty OF
the United States to appoint supervisors to
guard and scrutinize congressional cleo.
tons, but it denies to the government OF
the United States eli power to make It's
supervision effectual. The great body OF
the people of all parties want free and fair
election. They do not think that a free elec
ton means freedom from wholesome
restraints of law, or that the place of an
election should be sanctuary for lawless.
ness and crime. On the day of an election
peace and good order are more necessary
than on any other day of the year. On that
day the humblest and feeblest citizens, aged
and infrm, should be, and should have rea
of their most responsible duty and their
most sacred right as members of society
their duty and their right to vote.
The constitutional authority to regulate
congressional elections which belongs to
the government of the United States and
which 1t is necessary to exert to secure the
right TO vote to every citizen possessing the
requisite qualifications, ought to be en-
forced by appropriate legislation. So fan
from public opinion in any part of the
country favoring any relaxation of the
authority of the government in the prote c.
ton of election from violence and corrup
ton, | believe it demands greater rigor both
IN the enactment and in the exaction of the
laws framed for that purpose. Any oppres
SION, any partisan Partially which expe.
Renee may have shown in the working OF
existing laws may well engage the
careful attention both of congress
and of the executive in their
respective spheres of duty for the cor.
rection of these m 1schiefs. As no congress.
sional elections occur until after the regular
session of congress will have been held
there seems to be TO public exigency that
would preclude seasonable consideration
at that session of any administrative
details that might improve the
present methods, designed for the
protection OF all citizens in the complete
and equal exercise of the right and power
OF suffrage at such elections But with nv
views both of the constitutionality and the
value OF existing laws l cannot approve
any measure for their repeal ex-
cept in connection with the en-.
actment of sother legislation which
may reasonably be expected to afford wiser
and more efficient safeguards for free and
honest congressional elections.
(Slgned) RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May Goth, 1879.
The house refused to pass the legisla-
tive appropriation bill over the presi-
dents veto, yeas 113, nays 81, not the