The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-08-30
OHIO POLITICS..
Speech of Congressman A. j,
Warner
Delivered at Williamsport, Noble Coun.
ty, Ohio.

Mr.. PRESIDENT AND FFILow- CITIZENS: Ger
tain OF the issues which will be presented to
the people in the approaching canvass, while
not new nevertheless have not, until recently,
been the occasion of much public discussion
Our Fundamental. laws have been deemed 30
secure that little concern respecting them has
been elected; but we are now called upon to
meet the encroachment of power upon consti-
trdonal guarantees hitherto unassailed.
II any one principle is supreme in our con
stitution it is that primarily, all rightful pow
ers of government come from the people.
When, therefore, hundred and three years ago
the people composing the thirteen colonies Of
this country declared their independence of
Great Britain, they resumed to themselves all
powers of government In their sovereign ca
pacity they organized States, formed confed-
Grafton OF all the States for their common de-
fense, waged common war for their mdepend-
ence, and finally transformed the confederation
into General Government, with powers lin
tied and defined by written constitution The
exercise of such powers as pertained alike to
all the States they intrusted to the General Gov
eminent But the same people that delegated
to the General Government its powers also
framed the constitution and organized the Gov
ernments Of the States; only in the latter case
the people of each State acted by themselves,
and, in the language of that day. severy
power, jurisdiction and right which is not
by the said constitution clearly delegated to
the Congress of the United States, or the de-
partments OF the Government thereof, remains
TO the people OF the several States or TO their
respective State Governments to whom they
may have granted the same" To the Govern
ments of the States alone was intrusted the ex-
ercise of those powers which pertain especially
to the people composing the several States;
but these powers are complete and sovereign
IN their sphere as the powers delegated to the
General Government The constitution of the
United States and the laws made in pursu-
ance thereof are the supreme law of the land,
and power is given to execute them through
out the Union. But no less are the constitu-
ton and laws of the State, not in conflict with
the constitution of the United States supreme
within the State; and the General Government
has no more right to infringe upon the powers
Entrusted to the States than the States have to
set aside the laws of the General Government
The Supreme Court has reafirmed this doc
frine in a recent decision by Chief Justice
Waite "The very highest duty of the States,
when they entered into the Union under the
constitution, WAS TO protect all persons within
their boundaries in the enjoyment of these IN
alienable rights with which they were endowed
by the Creator Sovereignty for this purpose
rests alone with the States. =
Governments did not spring up complete in
day, like Minerva full harmed from the brain of
Jove. They are the outgrowth of the struggles
the experiences, and necessities Of our race
There are certain great principles which lie at
the foundations of our institutions that are old
er than the English language, older than any
written constitution. They belonged to the
German and the Saxon before the Roman had
ever set foot upon the Rhine.
Macaulay says the power Of the English King
twas limited by three great constitutional
principles; go ancient thatnone can say when they
hafro 10 lot hat thoip otrt,.,l Il
velopment continued through many genera
tions," and produced the order of things un-
der which we are now living" The King could
not legisIate; he could not himself levy taxes !;
he must rule according to law. Nor could he
keep a standing army without the consent of
his Parliament These great principles con-
sfitute the trunk of English liberty and of the
tree of liberty our fathers planted in this coun-
try. How carefully each one. of these great
fundamental principles was guarded in the
formation our Government! sAll legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested in a Con-
gress of the United States"--not in a Congress
and President The entire control of reven-
ues, taxation and appropriations is given to the
legislative branch of the Government Con
gress-not the President-shall have power to
raise and support armies" but even Congress
may not make an appropriation for an army
for . longer time than two years.
So solicitous were the founders of our Gov
erDment respecting standing army that sew
eral of the States objected to the constitutional
provision permitting any standing army at all
The convention IF New York resolved @Ihat
standing armies lii time of peace are dangerous
to liberty, and ought not to be kept up except
. in case of necessity" Other States urged that
to appropriate money for standing army
should require two-thirds OF both houses, and
with one voice ii was declared that at all times
the military should be under strict subordina-
ton of the civil power.
The constitutions of most of the States pro-
hibited the presence of any troops within a GER
tain distance of the polls. 1t has been the law
of England for 200 years that troops should not
be nearer than two miles Of any polling place
on the day of election In the light of history,
then, what think you, my fellow-citizens of an
Executive veto against the act passed only in
May last, not to do away with the army-not to
lessen it's efficiency where needed-but to pro-
hibit its use at the polls?
Now let us appeal, my fellow citizens, to
your candid Judgment How long do you be-
leve the right to exercise freely your choice at
elections would remain to you if the Executive
be given the right to use the army at the polls?
Would it exist half generation? The present
Executive might not use such powers against
the liberties of the people, or to perpetuate
party control. The next, possibly, might not,
but, as sure as the power and right to use it ex-
lists, the time will come when it will be 80 used;
some man will appear who, for power or for
spoils OF Office, will use it
twenty-five years ago one OF tne 1Ounuers OF
the Republican party, Mr.. Seward, in the
strongest terms, condemned the use of the
army in any way as civil police. He
said: @Civil liberty and standing army for
the purpose of civil police have never yet stood
together. If the founders Of the con-
stitution had been told that, within seventy
years from the day on which they laid its solid
foundation, and raised it's majestic columns, a
standing army would have been found neces-
sary and indispensable merely to execute mu-
niclpal laws, they would have turned skudder-
ing away from the massive despotism which
they had erected
The only safe way rs to take away the power,
and that is what Congress tried to do. Failing
in the repeal of the law, Congress refused the
appropriation of money for sucii purpose.
You must say whether or not they did right
The majority in Congress sought the repeal
of another lava law which had its origin, as
Senator Thurman showed to the Senate, with
the Republican Union League Of New York
city; q law to enable the party in power to con-
troll elections through Supervisors and Deputy
Marshals. Under this law Marshal appoint
ed by the President may appoint Deputy Mar
shals without limit, at IS day, to be paid out
Of the public treasury, to stand at the polls,
with power to arrest without warrant Under
this law in 1876 between 1900 and 5000 Super
visors and between II, 200 and 1900 Deputy
Marshals were appointed, at cost to the peo-
pie of $285, 600. In New York alone nearly
1900 Deputy Marshals were appointed, many
of them from the very slums Of the city In
1878 over 5000 arrests were made, but all were
closed In the city OF St Louis in 1876 over
1000 Deputy Marshals were appointed, ut =
cost to the Government Of $40, 900, and, as
shown by sworn testimony, no one conld
be appointed unless pledged to vote the
Republican ticket By this partisan ma