Iron County register., 1890-07-24
The Force Bill Analysed.

der the power given to Congress 70 aou
to or alter the regulations OF o'a.e,
which prescribe the times, places an"
manner of holding elections ior inean
bers of Congress. all that the oohsiss'
can do. so long as it uses the maciiih-
erv of the State, is to appoint orhcers
to suneryise or watch over the coma uct
of the election and note any lrreguiafl-
ties or objections. Congress may iih-
nose new duties Oh the election o1Ilcers
Or new penalties for breach OF du'y or
nerpetration of fraud, or pr0Viue lor the
attandance of Federal officers to pre-
vent frauds and see that the elecIlohs
are legally and fairly conducted. ihat
was the extent of the decision OF tne
Supreme Court of the Unlied states ih
Siebold's case under the existing law.
But Congress cannot 90 hiote thai
This that Is provide for the oversight
of Congressional elections neld uhuer
State laws and punish frauds commit
ted at the same. Congress has no right
OF DOW er to cOnfiscate the States cleo
ton machinery, such as the list OF tax
ables, registration lists, election booths
and ballot-bOxes, and provide for tie
appointment of officers to conduct the
election under the State laws. If Con-
gress desires that the election shall be
held under Federal law it must pro-
vide Its own machinery; If the manner
of conducting the election is left to the
State the officers of the State must be
permitted to conduct it without inter
ference by the Federal Supervisors.
In PENNSYLVANIA there is no registry
of voters. Here the voters are the male
taxable citizens. They are assessed in
order to enable them to pay their poll
taxes or taxes on the person. The list
is tax list and peculiarly a State af-
fair. Yet the Federal election bill aG-
thoriZes the United States Supervisors
to require the assessor "to mark tn
name of q person chalienged' on that
list. Challenged far what?
Supervisors are authorized to hold
under strict scrutiny all registry books,
check lists, tallies, returns and all other
papers connected with the registration
or election, and to affiX their signatures
TO them whenever they see fit to do SO.
These returns relate 10 State officers,
as Governor, Assemhlymen, Judges,
Sheriffs and others. The Federal Gov
eminent has no right to meddie with
the election of these officers, at least
none has been asserted until now.
Supervisors are to pass on the quail
fications OF voters, and when voters
are rejected by the State officers the
supervisors may receive them and put
them into the ballOt-box. This is "su-
pervising" with vengeance. The
parties change places now; the super
visors become judges and ins spectors OF
elections. and judges and inspectors
will be tolerated as lookers-on. The
votes are To be counted by both the
supervisors and the election officers.
The latter are again tolerated.
N TSlQ a q mi
forward all certificates and returns!
And this of state election, by State
officers, with State property. The tad
pole is now frog; the supervisor first
developed into an inspector to receive
votes (rejected by the lawfully ap-
pointed officers), and is now a return
judge!
Supervisors are to "watchn natural
iZation-that is, they are to watch to
Judge. The act does not provide any
one to watch the supervisors. Out
West people do not get naturalized;
they simply declare their intentions,
and that is all that is required by West
ern State laws.
If there are more ballots in the box
than names on the list of voters writ
ten down during the day. then there is
to be lottery aud q blindfolded super
StSOi diis u fiSpCCAoi " IL
draw out the excessive ballots. This
is novel way of discovering the will
of the majority, Luck, not votes, is to
determine who is elected. That there
will be an excess everywhere is highly
probable, because, as before shown,
while supervisors may receive votes
rejected by the inspectors and put such
votes in the box, they cannot compel
the inspectors to write the names of
such voters on their list or do it them
selves.
Both sets of officers-that is the
State officers and the Federal super
visors-are to make and certify returns.
This is intended TO prepare the way for
contest, so that the majority may
weed out the minority with material
ready made and adjustable to any
case. If the State officers do not open
the polls Mt time satisfactory to the
supervisors the latter may open them
and hold the election in accordance with
State laws - another usurpation OF
State offices by Federeral officers.
The Chief Supervisor is authorized
to notify Judge of the Circuit Court
of the United States that it will be NEG
essary for him to open court, and then
-''court must be opened" by October l.
Here the tail wags the dog. Congress
might at least preserve the semi blance
of authority by enacting that the court
must be opened on October l and not
put the Judge under the order of the
Chief Supervisor in this upside down
manner.
After all this form of an election by
State officers under State laws, the re-
turns of the Federal canvassers fnOte
the change of their name), in case of
difference between them and the state
officers, are the only returns to be
placed on the roll by tie Clerk of the
House of Representatives. The truth
of the return is nothing; the fact that
there is Federal return is everything;
and that there will always be such a
return is certain. because it is so intend
ed. The next step will be to dispense
with the form of an election and rely
upon returns only.
For all this revolutionary work, lib
eral pay is provided for the partisan
and willing tools who do it, and, in
case of disagreement over the pieces of
silver, resort may be had to the court,
again dragging that tribunal into the
nasty business. Pehaps the authors
of the bill do not know that the Cir
cult Court of New York refused to be a
dispenser of this kind of blood money.
The above are some of the striking
points of the proposed bill, which it is
hoped will attract attention in time to
prevent such violation of the rights
of the citizens as is intended by the bill.
philadelphia Times.
The Public are respectfully invited to call