The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1879-08-07
NATIONAL ELECTIONS! I!

NATIONAL ELECTIONS!
Great Speech OF Hon. Frank III.
Hurd in the House on June
9th, in Reply to Garfield, and
Defending theDemocratic PO-
sitiOn.
Mr.. CHAIRMAN "A session of unu'
sual excitement appears to be drawing
to close. Questions of thegreatest in-
terest to the people oftheUnited States
have been from the first day until now
the subject of discussion, and it seems
q proper thing at its termination to In
quire into the result of it, and inquire
whether or not the action of the ma
jority of this House meets the approx
al of the American people.
My colleague from Ohio, Mr.. Gar
field, who has just taken his seat, has
seen fit, in answer to the positions
" hich have been maintained by the
Democratic party in the progress OF
the argument, to enter upon q dis
QUESTION as to the nature of Federal
Government and the relations of the
States to the Government under the
Constitution which they created. New.
er, in all my studies of the political
history of this country; never in all
my knowledge of the political debates
which have taken place in the Con.
gress of the United States, have ]
heard such views of consolidation ad.
vanced as have been suggested to-day
by that gentleman.
He advanced the extraordinary
proposition that the Union preceded
the States, when the seventh Article
Of the Constitution declares: The
ratification of the Conventions Of nine
States shall be sufficient for the estab.
lishment of this Constitution between
the States so ratifying the same" Ap-
plause on the Democratic side of the
House,
But in order that all doubt might be
removed upon the subject, that the
Constitution and the Union was the
creature of the States, it was declared
in the tenth Amendment of the Con.
stitution: "That the powers not del
egated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it tc
the States, are reserved to the States
respectively or to the people"
Nor is the opinion Of the highest ju
dicial tribunal in this country wanting
upon this proposition. In the case o.
Lane county vs. Oregon, the folio wins
is the decision of Chief Justice Chase
to be found on page 10th to 7th Wal.
lace:
"The people of the United State.
constitute one Nation, under the Gev
ernment, and this Government, with
in the scope Of the powers with which
it is invested, is supreme. On the
other hand, the people of each State
compose State having its own Gov
ernment, and endowed with all the
functions essential to separate and in.
l.
united might continue to exist. With.
out the States in Union there could be
no such political body as the United
States"
But, Mr.. Chairman, for the purposes
of the present discussion it is not nee.
essary to enter into an elaborate con.
sideration of the doctrines of States
rights or the powers of the Federal
Government. 1t is sufficient for the
bill now under consideration that we
should inquire as to whether it i
within the scope and the powers OF
the Federal Government to pass laws
to interfere with elections in the
States, and only so far as this question
is involved do l propose to discuss
the doctrine of States rights at all.
At the beginning of this session Of
Congress-, the Democratic party de.
clared three propositions: We insist
ed that,ihe army should be kept away
from the polls; that the test oath
should be repealed, and that laws
should be enacted for the impartial
drawing of jurors; and that the Fed.
eral government should not exercise
over elections held within
the States.
We insisted and maintained, that
because OF, and by virtue of the Con.
provision, that the House
of Representatives alone shall origi-
nate money bills; the representatives
of the people had the right to insist
that the grievances of which they
should be remedied be-
fore appropriations should be made
for the support of tho Government. "A
In the discussion, which has con-
tinued for three months, one of the
most earnest and able that has ever
occurred in an American Congress,
the Democratic party has maintained
these positions. 1t is not necessary to
enter into an argument it is sufficient
for my purpose to brifly recapitulate
them.
We said that the measures to which
we objected we're unconstitutional ;
we said that there was no such per-
son as q voter of the United States as
such that every man who had right
to vote, had it because of State author
ity and under State Laws, and that,
the Federal Government
not creating the voter, had no power
" 1ut0IAOI0 VIII ulL4 IA kuO OAOAOAoC
of his rights of franchise.
We insisted that under the laws as
they now stand there is no such thing
as q National election that under the
provisions of the Constitution, in
order that there should be q National
it was fundamental that Con-
gress should fix the places, time and
of holding such elections. In
that event there might be q National
election, but that is not the case; for
in every instance the times, places and
manner of holding elections are fixed
by the constitution and laws of the
States except in q single instance as to
the time. The States having exercis-
ed power upon the subject there is no
occasion for the exercise of power by
The United States and to say that the
United States and each State at the
- Al q