The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-05-21
AN HONEST ELECTION.
The One Great Issue Between the
Parties I'm the Next Campaign-Dem-
ocratic Opposition 20 Free and Fair
Elections FOrcibIy Delineated I'm a
S,,...u, ,,v s..,, Hahn COburn.


IGen. John Coburn before the Young Mems Rebuilt
can Club of indianapolis
While we stand firmly by the results Of the
war, and reconstruction, and by whatever
else has been done, there is another thing that
we as Republicans propose to obtain for this
country-we mean to have fair elections. That
has been one of the questions that has been be-
fore Congress and before the people ever since
the days of reconstruction. 1t was one of the
first aims of the Republicans after the war to
devise such measures as that tho people Of the
South, white men and black men, and all to-
gether, might have the right to vote, and the
effort was to give such protection that the legal
voters might have the fullest enjoyment of their
rights, and that fair, full, and free election
might DO everywhere held. 1t was expected
that the people of the rebelllous States would
cordially accept the offers held out to them,
and II IL true that ut the start large number
Of them did cooperate III the measures planned
by Congress- But the struggle has been going
OH for many years upon this question, until now
We are startled with the fact that the only polit-
zeal issue before the people Ii how an election
shall be- conducted. Never until now was this
the question agitaiiIS the public mind. In
other years there has been u division OF scntl-
mcnt upon some great measures, some lines Of
public policy, some important principles, some
method of action, or some question of cxpendl-
lures. But now We do not find that it III any
thing i'll the action Of the Republican party
that merits severe condemnation from the
Democrats; but the great struggle is how
the election is to DC conducted. When You
think of this surprising Issue between the two
parties, II is enough to set rational person
thinking. Why il it that We are brought TO
such an issue? When men are going to run
l,,.r..
cleared In contest Of musicians, the first
necessity il to have silence. II you are trying
Il question in the courts affecting the rights of
property or personal liberty, the first thing i'll
sisted upon would be- that there should be-
silence, and the Sheriff must be there to Oh.
force order and keep the peace 80 that the trial
may proceed orderly. But now, when We arc
going To have race which in Importance sur
passes all the races ever run ; when We are go
ing to have Il trial before which all trials the
world has ever seen sink into insignitcance-a
trial to who shall grasp the Sccptcr of empire,
who shall guide the policy and dispense the
patronage, and stand at the helm to steer the
ship of state, instead of there being an agree
ment between both parties to have men at the
polls to keep order, We lind that one party is i'll
favor of breaking down every barrier which
had been put up to prevent disorder and con-
fusion and violence. That party has been labor
ing at this for yeurs. The laws that have been
passed by Congress year after year since 1870
have been adopted in view of the fact that one
political party was attempting, by every means,
10y fraud and violence and intimidation, before
| and on the days of election, to grasp at power
and offices, and this not III the South alone for
in New York more than anywhere We're the
elections carried by fraud and violence. We lind
that party at all times cndcavoring, to the ut
most of its ability, to defeat any measure i'll
tended to prevent frand at elections; and
when at last, by fraud and violence and
/ IlAf.ttlntnl,ip
they obtained majority i'll the lower house.
and subsequently III both branches of Con-
grcss, we see them voting to drive away every
officer whose sworn duty II was to keep order at
| the polls. In the extra session last year the
! struggle was continued, and this year il has
been resumed, and they are evidently deter
mined to wipe out all OF the election laws by the
riders which they have added to the Deficiency
| and Appropriation bills, intended to tie the
| hands of the President of the United States as
commander-n-chcf of the army The army,
| they bay, must not be used on election day
and vet that day, of all other days i'll the year,
/ is the one when there should be peace, and or
| der. and quiet, and when, therefore, the Prcsi-
| dent should have full power and authority to
! arrest criminals and protect law-abldInS citi-
Zens In the bills now before the President,
! they propose to take all this power away from
| him; but do not believe they will receive his
! signature. | have no personal knowledge of
! his intentions, but do not see how the Ircsi-
dent can ever sign such bills as these. do not
think can do better than bring before you
! from the Congressional Record some facts
| bearing upon tins question. II Is so intimately
connected with the present canvass that people
| cannot be too fully acquainted with the actual
! condition of things. Under the 2.OO2d section
Of the Revised Statutes the President Is cs-
pecially empowered to use the army
! to preserve the peace mt the polls
at national elections, when members of
Congress or Presidential electors are to
| be chosen But hear il asked, Why is il that
| the Republicans are SO wonderfully anxious
about the retention and enforcement OF tins
proviso? Why do you make this fuss about 1t
| Do YOU have any trouble III Indiana
| Why are YOU worrying about Other peoples
! business? The rcasoniS just this III" election
in Louisiana il lust much our election as II Is
theirs. These men make laws for us, and the
electors choose President for lis. The cleo
tons in 1876 might have been fairly conducted
in Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New
York, and III the entire North and large
part of the South, and yet we were i'll danger
of tumblIng over the prccipicc INTO civil war
simply because i'll Florida and Louisiana and
South Carolina there was a grave ques-
ton as to who had carried the State,
because there had been violence and
fraud and intimidation i'll those States.
| Therefore, il is our business and we must see
to it. Even though these things may not hap
pen in Indianapolis. it Is just us bad Tor IL" II
they happen anyWl ere else Such violence Is a
transgrcssiOn of tie Laws of the United States,
and the President should have the power TO call
in the military arm, if necessary, TO suppress It,.
WHY is it that every Democrat objects to having
troops ut the polls when they cannot call q
single instance of troops under orders having
intcrfcred with the progress of an election!
went to Alabama to look into this very matter,
and after the most thorough investigation it was
proved that not one man had been interfered
with by the troops, although hundreds OF people
| were killed or injured by the violence OF the
mob. Unfortunately the troops were not quite
near enough to be of service-not so near as
they should have been. Let me give some
facts as to the way these elections were con-
Quoted in some of the Southern States. In
Louisiana nineteen parishes gave, in the spring
of 1863 a Republican vote of 2i,724, against
2i.82O Democratic. In tho fall Of the same
year between Grant and Seymour, there were
only |, 253 Republican votes, while Seymour was
credited with 52,3l5 In 1870, when there was
nothing important at stake, the vote went back
to its proper proportions, and these nineteen
parishes gave 30,465 Republican and 26,9O6
Democratic, just decent Republican majority.
The reason they did not vote in the fall of 1865
was because of the wholesale murders which
had taken place in New Orleans, which had
made 1t unsafe for the coored people to vote
the Republican ticket. In Georgia twenty-siX
counties had total registered colored vote IN
the spring of 1868 of q, 52i, and yet in the fall
election only Ii, 400 votes were cast, and Grant
secured but 1928 What could have been the
cause of this? 1t was terror and it is clear to
me that the army was NO. used as 1t should
have been. In Georgia, in 1872, three Con-
gressional districts gave 20, 960 Democratic and
22,042 Republican votes while In 1878 the vote
was 8, 439 Democratic, and the Republican vote
had been cut down to 7S. The same thing Oc-
Cured in Mississippi and North Carolina. The
question il. what became of these votes
Such Il condition of affairs in relation to
your elections il Of the utmost impor-
lance. If there is anything of more
importance to the people of tins country, i
want to know it. And yet this Democratic
party, having profited by this kind OF business,
having n solid south, and having obtained a
ma jority in Congress, are now seeking to wipe
out from the statutes the last vestge Of all
obstacle which stands i'll the way of their Sc
curing control of this Government by fraud
and violence. ! have not so much respect for
the methods by which they have obtained Their
present ma jOrity in Congress rs have for the
men that shouldered their arms at Bull Run
and Chattanooga, and that marched on Louis
vile. l believe that Bragg, and Beauregard
and jeff Davis were more honorable men than
those who are the present Democratic leaders
in Congress, and who are seeking to break
down the last protection and safeguard OF an
honest election for members of Congress and
Presidential electors In order that they may
,rasp the Presidency and obtain the patronage
nd control Of the Government of this country
We have got to fight an earnest battle. 1t il
to be no chlds play. The contest between tn,
two parties, so far as the Democrats are con-
! cerned, il not question of principles or policy
but question of power. 1t il simply ques'
ton whether the men who attempted to over
throw the Government shall now be permitted
Ill n,.,s In, Ia.