The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-02-27

| - NAiApA10 Guy 4oV buICu4 SHdll
/ abridge the pri0ileges or 5mnauaojtjes
OF citizens Of the United States-nor
deny TO any person the eq,taI pro
lection Of the lars And the
further provision that Congress
shall have power to enforce these arti-
Giles by appropriate legislation to-
gether with the original provision that
Congress shall have power to make all
laws which Shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution the
foregoing powers, and all other powers
! vested by this Constitution in the Gov
eminent OF the Uni ted States, or in
any department OF officer thereof"
Now, sir, with such an arsenal of
power as this, are we to he told that
the United States is powerless to pro-
tect or even supervise the election OF
It's own officers OF Representative in
Congress? Is Congress the Judge OF
the election and Qualification of It's
own members? May it appoint COM
mittees and compel the attendance of
witnesses to testify rs to the mode in
which elections were conducted? And
/ yet has it no power to station witness
es ut the polls in advance in order the
! better to ascertain these facts? Is the
/ United states obligated to guarantee to
every State republican form of GOV
ernment? And yet must it see thirty
thousand of is citizens DISTINGUISHED
by absolute force without lifting q
/ hand to prevent il, or instituting any
/ method Of defining It's truth? Is every
person under the Constitution entitled
TO the equal protection of the laws?''
And yet may j." State virtually outlaw
thirty thousand of its citizens with
Iimpunity, simply preserving the shell
Of republican form Of government.
But, sir, coming back to the original
source of power contained in Section
4, article |, of the Constitution. What
words measure the grant Of power both
10 the Stale aud to Congress? Are
they not these: THE times, places, and
/ manner Of holding elections, &c, shall
be prescribed in each State by the Leg
l5lature, &c, but Congress may at any
i time make or alter what? Why
whatever the State may prescribe. .
i THUS the power Of Congress is measur-
! ed by the power of the State. What
teYer the State may do in the first in
stance, Congress may do in the second,
except to change the place Of choosing
/ Senators. The two powers go together
they have CANNON origin; they
measure and bound each other recipri-
cally; they were spoken into being at
the same moment and stand or fall to-
gether. But for this clause OF the Con-
stitution the state could not "pre-
scribe" such regulations. And for the
same reason Congress could not make
or alter" them. Therefore, to deny
that Congress can make or alter the
times, places and manner of holding
elections is to deny that the State can
in the first instance prescribe" them.
And yet gentlemen stand here not only
denying to Congress any such power,
but threatening to revolutionize the
Government if it shall attempt to ex-
ert it, and at the same time insisting
that the State is supreme, amenable
| TO no power on earth. AS all roads
once led to Rome so who can doubt,
Judging from the course of events in
Ethis country for the last five years, that
we are again drifting upon tr0nblous
times; that ii ever we needed the
Qualities of firTnness. Justice, and mercy
!! to all alike we need them now"
The race" issue is not dead, neither
will it be IN our day. BY the claim
THAT the superior race" must rule,
that the property and intelligence
| will govern, that the "Anglo-Saxon''
never yields, we are abundantly adj
monished of the purposes of our oppo-
fnents. It SIMPLY means this: that
either with law or without law, by the
Constitution or against the Constitu-
ton, the men who have always ruled
this country through their State organ
izations are determined to do SO still.
My response to all such should be that
by the suffering we have endured, BY
the treasure We have squandered, by
the lives we have sacrificed, anG by