Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-05

| ohA AAduucA VI AOlOAAS CltCIlOuS lOT Oeu-
ators and Representatives shall be pre-
scribed in each State by the legislature
thereof, but Congress may at any time
by law make or altar such regulations ex-
cept as to the place of choosing Senators.
A further provision has been since add
ed which is embraced in the fifteenth
amendment. 1t is as follows:
Section 1. The right of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of race or color or
previous condition of servitude.
| Section 2. The Congress shall have
power to enforce this article by appro-
pirate legislation.
NATIONAL AUTHORITY.
Under the general provisions of the
constitution, section article 1, Congress
in 1866 passed comprehensive law
which prescribed full and detailed reg
ulatiOns for the election of Senators by
the Legislatures of the several States This
law has been in force almost thirteen
years. In pursuance of it all of the mem
bers of the present Senate of the United
States hold their seats. Its constitution
atty is not called in question 1t is con-
tidently believed that no sound argument
can be made in support of the constitu-
tionality of national regulation of the Sen
atorial election which will not show that
the election of members of the House of
Representatives may not also he con-
stitutionally regulated by the national
authority. The bill before me itself rec
ognlzes the principles that the Congress
Sional elections are not State elections, but
national elections. It leaves in full
| force the existing statutes under which
supervisors are still to be appointed by
national authority to observe and witness
Congressional elections, whenever due
application is made by citizens who de-
sire said elections to be "guarded and
scrutinized." If there is power to SUI
pervise in any respect whatever the Con-
gressional elections it exists under section
4 article l of the constitution. 1t is
power belonging to the government of
the United States, is paramount and SUI
preme, and includes the right to employ
the necessary means to carry it into
effect.
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 cleo
tons of 1872 and 1876. Numerous pros
ecutions, trials and convictions have
been had in courts of the United States in
all parts of the Union for violation of
these laws. In no reported case has their
constitutionality been called in question
by any judge Of the courts of the United
States. The validity of these laws is
sustained by the uniform course of judi
oial action and opinion.
WHY PASSED.
If it Is urged that the United States
election laws are not necessary, an ample
reply is furnished by the history OF their
origin and their results. They were es-
pecially prompted by the investigation
and exposure of frauds committed in the
city and State of New York at the cleo
tons of 1868. Commissioners repre-
senting both of the leading political par
ties of the country have submitted re-
ports to the House of Representatives of
the extent of these frauds. A committee
of the fortieth Congress, after a full in
Vestigation, reached the conclusion that
the number Of fraudulent votes cast in
the city of New York alone in 1858 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 100 electoral voters of the
city of New York in 1868, one hundred
and Lightweight votes were cast, when,
in fact, the number Of lawful votes cast,
could not have exceeded SO per cent. of
I. the actual voters of the city By this
statement the number of fraudulent vo-
tiers at that election in the city of New
York alone was between thirty and
forty thousand. These frauds complete
ly reversed the result of the election in
the State of New York, both as to choice
Of government and State officers, and as
, to the choice of election of President and
Vice President of the United States
They attracted the attention of the whole
country. 1t was plain that if they could
he continued and repeated with impu-
nifty free government was impossible. A
distinguished Senator, in opposing the
passage of the election laws, declared he
| u
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 Con-
gressional elections were enacted.
THE RESULT.
The trainers of these laws have not been
disappointed in their results. In the large
cities, under these provisions, the elections
have been comparatively peaceable, order
ly and honest. Even the opponents of
these laws have borne testimony to their
value and efficiency and to the necessity
for their enactment. The committee of
the forty-fourth Congress composed of
members, a majority of whom were op-
posed to these laws, in their report on the
New York elections Of 1876, said: ''The
committee would commend to other por-
tions of the country and to other cities
this remarkable system developed through
the agency of both local and federal au-
thorities, acting in harmony for an hon.
est purpose. In no portions of the world
and in no era eff time where there has
been an expression of the popular will
through the forms of law, has there been
: more complete and thorough illustra-
ton of Republican institutions. What
, ever may have been the previous habit
or conduct of elections in these cities, or
however they may conduct themselves in
the future, this election of 1876 will stand
as monument of what good faith, hon
est endeavor, legal forms and just author
ity do for the protection of the electoral
franchise"