Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-03-05
sprinrerls Infamous Scheme.


William NJ. Springer, member of
Congress from this State, is Chairman
of the House Committee on Elections.
He held the second place in the same
Committee of the last Congress, but
was then, as now, the actual head of
the Committee. He seems to have been
selected for this position on account OF
his unscrupulous willingness to perpe-
trate any injustice against any member
elected, and against any portion of the
people choosing Representative, that
may be necessary to gain an advantage
for the Democrats. Springer has de-
veloped in the past, and continues to
show, the peculiar but disreputable
qualification which secured him his pres
ent distinction.
Springer has charged himself with the
task of electing Democratic President
by vote of the House of Repree eentatives
in case the Democratic candidate should
be defeated before the people. To car
ry out this purpose it is necessary to
make some changes in the present
House as elected by the people. Hence
Springer proposes to nullify the votes
of certain districts, and thereby steal
the votes of certain States Thus, in
Indiana, the delegation is equally di-
vided, even if De La Matyr acts with
| the Democrats, and the vote of that
State will be lost to the Democrats in
case the election of President be trans
| ferred to the House. Consequently,
! Mr.. Springer selects Orth, who had
the smallest majority among the
Republican members elected from
| that State, as the man to be
ousted in order to provide the Indiana
| delegation with Democratic majority.
| But this is not enough. To make the
matter doubly sure, Springer thinks he
will steal another State, and so he Sc
| lects Minnesota, because it has only
three congressman (two Republicans
and one Democracy, and because the
change in a single vote will accomplish
the desired result. Washburn was
elected over Donnelly by a majority of
3,O12, but that large majority does not
startle Springer. He merely counts up
the number of voters whom it is ne
cessary to disfranchise and cuts down
| Washburn's vote to that extent. He
throws out 1,700 votes in Minneapolis
because the ballots were numbered ac-
cording to a statute of the State which
some of the Courts had pronounced
illegal. He throws out 1870 more
votes, some of them because the re-
turns were signed by two Justices of
the Peace and Probate Judge instead
of three Justices, and others upon pre-
texts equally technical and trivial. 1t
is not maintained, even by Springer,
that Washburn did not receive a large
majority of the votes actually cast, but
it is proposed to unseat Washburn and
disfranchise the voters of his district,
and indeed the entire State, on ac-
count of unimportant errors made by
the election officers, for which the
voters themselves were in nowise re-
sponsible, and which they could not
prevent. By this high-handed proceed
ing Springer proposes to make the State
of Minnesota, with Republican ma
iority of 10000 votes, cast a ballot in the
House of Representatives for a Demo-
cratic President.
No principle was so clearly and en-
phatically stated by the Supreme Court
of Maine in deciding against the
Gracelon fraud in that State as the
doctrine that voters cannot be cheated
of their rights by the errors, neglectful
or intentional, made by the election
4
upon this point; the Republican, Dem
! ocratic, and Independent Judges united
in sustaining it. The same principle
J has governed the Courts throughout
the country in adiudicating election
cases. The judicial purpose is uniform
, ly to ascertain the intention of the
voters and TO sustain the majority thus
found, regardless of informalities and
technical violation of the requirements
, of the law governing the election. But
when the Gracelon steal was first made
public Springer rushed into print to
justify it, and eontended that the DEM
ocratic Governors action could not be
reviewed by the Courts nor the rights
of the people defended in any manner.
/ He foresaw in the Gracelon fraud a
possible disfranchisement of the Re-
I publican majority of Maine in the
Presidential year, and he approved il
: on account Of the party advantage that
! might thus be secured, no matter how
: dishonesty. From the same motive,
Mr.. Springer has instructed the Elections
Committee of the house of Representa-
2 tives to adopt Gracelon's method fol
! unseating Washburn. If this Com
2 mittee make their report at the present
q session, public sentiment will compel
2 the House to reject it; if the report
shall be withheld till after the Presi
Dental election, public sentiment viii
apprehend the purpose, and the Demo
Q cratic party will be the sufferer.
t How the people regard Springer
$ disreputable tactics may be noted 10y
the reelection to the present Congress
t of the men whom Springer was particu
a larly active in rejecting from the pre-
Y eeding Congress. Field of Massachusetts
4 Belford of Colorado, and Pacheeo o
$ California were unseated in the las
: Congress at Spirngers instance an'
0 upon grounds purely technical aud in
; sufficient when not altogether fictitious
A The result was, that the constituent!
Y of these gentlemen returned them Il
I, the present Congress by majOlitie
which even the audaeious and un
scrupulous Springer dare not attack
4. But similar rebuke in the cases o
Washburn and Orth will not serve tt
II avert the design of stealing the vote
l. of Minnesota and Indiana in case th'
a Democrats see fit to throw the Presi
II Dental election into the House. Suci
IS an outrage, if consummated, could