The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-04-23

Virginia Mr. Hereford bad spoken
of his State being trodden by the iron
heel of military despotism, but there
il not solitary man in United States
uniform on the soil of West Virginia
In Maryland, 1872 artillerynle at
Fort McHenry, gnard the entrance
to Baltimore's beautiful barbor. In
Virginia, there is school of prac
tice at Fortress Monroe outside of
that school there is not Federal
soldier iu the State. There are only
80 soldiers in North Caroline guard
iag fort at the mouth of Cape Fear
River. la SoCth Carolina there are
l20 srtillerymen to guard the en-
trance TO Charleston Hasbor. There
are go soldiers 10 Georgia and lS2 in
Florida. There is not one ia Ten
nessee, Kentucky, or Missouri. There
are 81 in Arkansas, 32 in Alabama,
and 239 in Louisiana. The great
State Of Mississippi has not one on It's
soil, nor has Texas, except those
guarding the frontier on the Rio
Grande. 10 the entire South, said
Mr.. Blaine. there are 1855 soldiers
TO intlmidaIe, overrun, oppress, and
destroy the liberties of 10. 900, 900 OF
people IN l,203 counties, or not quite
one soldier 10 each county one SOL
dier to about 100 square miles of ter.
ritory There vas an old saying, be
continued, that there were soothsay
ers Ia Rvme who could not look each
other 10 the face without smiling,
and no two Democratic Senators on
the floor could go into the cleak-
room and look each other in the face
without smiling, or rather blushiDg,
over this talk, the whole thing was
such miserable pretense-such a
miserabiv- biv-msnutacyured false issue.
Ia New England they had $50 sol
diers, or about 100 to every l,000,-
600 people, whereas the ratio in the
South was not quite 10; yet the peo-
| pie of New England never complain
ed of the military power. TIE ten
dency Of this talk, as be had said,
was to lisrepresent Us abroad, and
the Democratic party stood indicted,
and be charged them with public
SANDER OF TIER country, creating the
impression 10 ,he civilized world that
we are urdef military despotism.
What would any European, familiar
With large armies, think Of such ss.
sertioDs when be learned that l.l55
soldiers were spread over territory
larger than France, Spain, Portugal,
Great Britain, Belgium, II Hand, and
the German Empire. Bu'. continued d
Mr. Blaine, the real motive of The
Democra ats must be looked for else
where. 1t Is simply TO get rid If the
Federal supersis ision at the Federal
elections To get rid of the civil pow
er of the Uuited States in the eli C.
zion Of Representatives to Congress !;
aud therefore this bill connects i'self
directly with the bill which was be-
fore Congress at the last session,
known as the Legislative, Executive,
and Judicial Appropriation bill. He
was aware that parliamentary rules
forbade him to discuss bill peRding
before the House of Representatives,
but be also knew that nothing forbade
him to speak Of what was done in the
House, but in Democratic caucus,
where this legislation was perfected.
Mr.. WITHERs, of Yirginia-Was as
it not reported bv the Committee oi
the Whole House OF Representatives,,
and referred, in this body, to com
mittee?
Mr. BLAINE-Now you are asking
me to say what the House did
would not do that it it is against
parliamentary law. As TO what
passed il the committee OF the Sen.
ate, it can be Inferred from what oc
Cured 10 this body on Friday last,
when you sat in solid phalsnx and
would not allow even a grammatical
error to be corrected. | was allowed
TO offer amendments 10 the commit
tee, but only to see them voted down.
Mr.. Blaine went on to say that one
of these appropriation bills could not
be debated without also debating
Se other, because The clause under
discussion in the Army bill prohibited
the presence of civil officers at tie
polls; be was not now speaking oi
military officers He did not believe
any gentleman on the other side had
ever seen military officer at the
polls on election day
Mr.. HEREFORD, of West Virginia,
said he had seen soldiers make ar
rests at the polls in bic State
Mr. BLAINE-When
Mr. HEREFoRD-In 1870, after tie
war.
Mr. BLAINE-Wh did they ar.
rest anybody for!
MI HEREFoRD-For the purpose
OF intimidation.
Mr.. BLAINE oh /! Yes! Laugh
ter.
Mr. WILLIAMS, Of Kentucky, sGid
be knew Of troops being present and
stacking their arms in the vicinity OF
the polls in Kentucky, so that voters
passed through files of soldiers to
vote. This was in 1865.
Mr.. Blaine reminded him that
Kentucky was in very disturbed
condition about that time, and it was
settled by Supreme Court decisions
that the war did not close until 1866
Mr.. LOGAN, of Illinois, said that be
knew something about the presence
of troops a: the polls in Kentucky in
1865. He was then commanding
G5, 900 men around Louisville, and
he never saw a more peaceable elec.
tion in his life. Under his orders the
troops kept away from the city and
away from the polls.
Mr.. BLAINE, resuming, said this
bill connected itself directly with The
provisions inserted by the Democratic
caucus in the Legislative bill. They
could not be separated. for if to-day
it is enacted that no civil officer what
ever shall appear armed at the polls,
even if the rest of the Election law
were left standing, its provisions
could not be carried out, because nc
Marshal or Deputy Marshal could ex.
ercise his authority to preserve peace
at the polls. 1t was not proposed by
the other side to prevent the State