Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-01-14
wEDNEsDAY..JANUARY IA, 1885.
Deputy Marshals.

whatever concerning the law OF tne
United States which provides for Fed
erai deputy marshals to oversee cleo
tons for congressman. He repeats
again and again that the deputy mar
shals appointed in Cincinnati last 0cto-
Der by Marshal WRIGHT did no harm
to anybody, but did, on the contrary,
cause the elections for congressman in
that city to be fairer than they would
otherwise have been. He will not see
the point Of the question which we
have so often addressed to him, but
persists in considering and discussing a
proposition upon which we have not
asked his judgment.
We do not know anything personally
Is to whether Mr.. WEIGHTS deputy
marshals acted well or i'll on the occa-
sion alluded to, nor whether their la
bors conduced to fair elections. We
have nothing to do with that matter
just now. We may discuss it in con-
nection with some other point, but not
in connection with the question we have
80 frequently tried to get Mr.. HAL
STEAD to answer. Ii the Governor of
Kentucky had sent over to Cincinnati
o few thousand brave Kentuckians on
the day Of the last October election in
Ohio. and these brave Kentuckians,
armed with bulldog revolvers, and
showing willingness and readiness to
shoot down every voter who did not keep
step to the music they were playing, had
succeeded in insuring to the people of
that city o fairer and more quiet cleo
ton than they had had for many years,
Mr.. HALsTEAD would be able to see
that evil had been done that good might
result. As it is, he either does not see
that Marshal WRIGHT has committed
an offence Of the same sort, or else he
sees the fact but will not confess it. In
the Commercial Gazette Of the 9th he
deyotes an article Of q dozen short para
graphs to us, but in not one of them
does he tackle the particular point upon
which we have tried in vain to evoke
his opinion. Three Of the paragraphs
aforesaid read as follows:
"The editor of the Richmond (ya.)
Dispatch is occasionally capable Of
fairness. He has not informed him
self about the impeachment Of Marshal
Lot Wright.
Before the editor of the Dispatch
grinds out any more editorials on this
subject he should endeavor to obtain
information. He has been unwittingly
sustaining fraud and hypocrisy rarely
fragrant and scandalous.
"No honest man has been found, or
can be found, who was prevented from
voting, or who was intimidated or in
any way injured by the United States
marshals."
We must again remind our Cincinnati
contemporary that we are discussing
the question without reference to what
was done at the last October election in
Ohio. We are q THURMAN man, too,
as between him and any other Democrat
in Ohio; and we have been indignant
because Of the treatment the distin-
guishcd ex-senator has received at the
hands Of his party associates. But all
this is off the question. IL the law is
q good one, let it remain upon
abe statute-book. IL bad one,
let it be repealed. Is it good one?--
that's the question. Is it consonant
with free institutions? II gives to one
party the whole influence Of the Fede-
raj Government whenever this inhu-
ence may be needed to perpetuate the
rule Of the party in Office. We under
take to say that If the law in question
shall remain upon the statute-book, and
shall be used as it may lawfully
be used, there will never be another
Republican Congress. The United
States marshals can easily carry every
doubtful congressional district in the
United States. There is no doubt what
ever that they could SO use their Office
IS to accomplish this result. One
third Of the districts in the Union are
safe for the Republicans another third
of them are safe for the Democrats !;
and the remaining third could easily
be controlled by the Federal mar
shals. All they have to do is
to follow Marshal wRIGHr's exam
pie and appoint thousands of deputy
marshais, arm them with revolvcrs, pay
them Eve dollars day to work for the
success Of the Democratic party, thus
buying their votes II they are Repdbli-
cans, and station from twenty to fifty Of
them at each voting-place. We are not
surprising an impossible case, but case
that would have occurred in 1886 in
Cincinnati and in hundred other con-
grsssional districts II Mr.. CLEVELAND
had been defeated.
Does The commsycial- Gazette think
that such . law is . good laws We
DO not; and II we were . member Of
tho House Of Representatives Of Con-
xress we would vote to anseat every
member Of that body who was elected
By the assistance Of Federal deputy
mArshals. Mr.. HALsTEAD will agree
With u in less than four years.