The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-07-11
FEDERAL ELECTION LAWS.

of Elections in the Princeton RcriaU for
July mentions incidentally as n cause of the
confusion of ideas existing "the too great
"predominance OF professional lawyers In
"poltical functions" Aud in the course of
an admirable article, lie deprecates dragging
the judiciary into politics in the following
convincing style:
II Is quite natural that, with our laws and customs
should. In case OF contested electlons turn to the
courts. We have already In some Instances rrohted
by the traditional respect Of the people for anything
which emanatcs from judicial authority TO escape from
serious complications which had arisen from con-
tested elections. regard this resource, however,
which Is full OF dangerto the courts. Instead Of
finding In the courts an institution capable OF stand
ing by Its strength and Of sustaining the nstltu
tion Of elections besides, shall drag the courts
down Into the mire OF party politics Party ZEAL with
us, overrides everything else. II IL the strongest
political and civil force In this country The Judi
cary cannot check or control It. The result OF col
llslon between the judiciary aud party real win he
that the traditional or the Judiciary win be
gradually broken down by rage al party defeat The
judiciary win then no longer bc available To correct
fraud OF error In elections, nor for Its own proper
business either. The supreme Court Of the United
states lost prestige and authority by the Electoral
Commission OF 1877 to n degree which II cannot re-
cover In fifty years Of careful aud correct activity
within Its proper functions, and the worst of 1t Is that
we are likely to need In the FUTURE Institutions which
can bring the highest possible degree Of traditional
reverence, sanctiiy, and dignity to the support OF
private rights II we up the Judiciary In political
| contests, where are TO nnd such institutonsp
| recent example has shown us that judicial de-
cision, - when 1t decides the possession OF political
power between parties, easily degenerates into
| stump speech. The Electoral Commission OF 1877
showed that " you know the party politics of the
Judges You know what the decision win bc on
question Involving party power. Such Is the convic
tion of the American people OF both parties to-day
This Is certainly suandering the prestige OF the judi
clary with great rapldity.
He exposes the fallacy that negro suffrage
can produce good results as follows:
We have managed to get on IN our Northern COM
munitcs with the dogmas Of the democratic republic
because our population Is reasonably mixed and the
elements ofncompetency are not too large fraction
of the whole, but especially because have the In
heritcd Institutions of civil liberty securely cstab-
lished In our constitutions, and In the habits and
knowledge of people; but the history OF the South
under reconstruction was reductio nd dbsurium of
the great dogmas OF democratic repubcanism. The
a demands which are now made the South really
amount to asking that civilization shall be voluntarily
subjected to barbarsm out OF Difference to majority
, | rule.
The experience of the South with negro suffrage has
suggested and therefore has proved and Illustrated
many of the observations which have been made In
> | this and the former paper. The vast number OF
4 black men who admitted to the sufrage-in
. some more than half the adult male population
, of the State-were Incompetent for the function
signed to them Just as 1t might he said Of some OF us
that are incompetent to navigate ships, run loco
:. motives, manage banks, or command armies. In
any practical art should say that the ques
. ton OF capacity was fundamental as determining
; what functions undertakes; but, soon a
political question is raised, people begin to think O
1t as transcendental question: having no limitations
In earthly facts. Yet political activity is practica
art. IL then there Is n body OF men who cannot d,
what the election theory requires tina, they shall do
,e they Just much material to be duped the
L. side or buhlozed on the other. As to the matter
a fact, those who know the negro best say that h
neither knows nor cares anything about the mex
' Presidential election unless Gen. Grant runs.
TO Grant does run, the negroes are All for him.
or What should We do IL our manner OF dealing will
our political problems was subject to review AM
correction by some other and distant communities
Sc say Sonth Carolina and louisiana We put tramp
cs In the State prison in Connecticut. am not sur
Ia that the people of Louisiana would approve of this
consistent with the ''rights of man, ~ IL they fe
d" called upon express any opinion about It, yet d
IN not why they should treatment
white ramps II we their treatment of hlac
ones.
Any election system requiies homogeneous popu
laton. In England, where social classes are widel
separated, free and independent elections remain
sort OF nna'tanable ideai. On the continent, wne,
there bureaucracy widely separated from the nor
world and able to favor or annoy the citizen
Ut elections have always been manipulated to suit I'll
u government of the time This need OF homogeneo'
population Tor the success OF elections Is greatest III
ed Hons on th,t svstsm In New Foy,and h,ye work,
of very fairly and SO yet except the largest cite
ill where The pona'oh Is most heterogeneous IN eanc
mt tion' occupation Possessiohs anu nationality. III
when the population Includes two races nearly eqn
~ In number, an election OF the New England type b
en comes impossible. The question Is only which raj
rn shall rule the other and the election gives chance
try that question. In Hayti the blacks, aided by Il
climate, drove the whites - away. In our southe
ad States the struggle only beginning The point
our present purpse that no elections on our Sort