The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-10-22
Let the People Have Chance at the
Force Bill.

our legislative system. or else Sucn
measure as the National Election bill
would not have passed the lower House
of Congress before an opportunity had
been accorded to the people to express
an opinion upon it."
The above-quoted extract is the first
sentence of the unanswerable paper con-
tributed by Mr.. T. V. Powderly, Master
Workman of the Knights of Labor, to
the September number of the North
American Review, in opposition to the
passage of the infamous Fraud and
Force Federal Election bill. Master
Workman Powderly strikes the key
note of the whole situation in the above
ringing sentence-a sentence that will
find an echo in every true American
heart His utterances have all the
more weight, too, because he does not
write from partisan standpoint, as a
Democrat or Republican, but because as
an independent American citizen he
sees that the Fraud and Force bill SIS
fraught with danger to our Republican
form of government"
1t is surely a point we'll taken in the
above quoted sentence that such
radical measure as this proposed Fraud
and Force bill-a bill that completely
reVolutionizes our methods of election
and changes, practically, our form of
government-should first be submitted
to the people and the people should have
an opportunity of passing upon it-be-
fore it became law. No other SUPPOSE
tion is compatible for moment with
the theory that this is republican
form of government, in which the peo-
pie are the ultimate and real rulers.
Congress has power to pass any needed
laws to carry out more fully and COM
pletely any of the existing laws, or to
enforce any of the constitutional powers
of the Government. But Congress has
no right or power to radically change
the most important system of laws that
we have, namely, the public election
laws, without first giving the people an
opportunity to approve or disapprove of
that change. 1t is the radical and un-
derlying proposition of American insti-
tutions, as embodied in our Declare
ton of Independence, that 'All just
Governments derive their powers
from the consent of the governed"
but the Republican Congress by means
Of the Fraud and Force bill, proposes
to usurp one of the most important
powers of government imaginable
mainly the control and management Of
public elections, and the discharge of
the sacred right of suffrage without
giving the people any opportunity of
consent or dissent.
This, briefly, is the last and most rev.
olutionary encroachment upon the con-
stitution and the laws of the land, and
upon the rights of the people that the
Republican party has attempted-the
passage of the raud and Force bill, over
the heads of the people and without
their consent; nay, without giving them
the opportunity to express their opin-
ion" on this all-important proposition,
either way. The Republican party has
done this thing; they have attempted to
ride rough-shod over the Constitution
and the laws of the land, and to deprive
the people of their most sacred right
the right of free and fair ballot and it
is not the fault of that party that they
did not succeed in passing this odious
-Tnaasura,- -vhieh-Master-We -Werlznnen Pow
derly says: "Is fraught with danger to
our republican form of government"
The Republican party, by the unheard
of rulings of Gar Reed, railroaded this
despotic measure through the Lower
House of Congress- in spite of the united
and determined opposition of the minor
ity. the Democratic party. A similar
attempt was made to railroad the meas
ure through the Senate, and it only
failed because it was an impossibility,
under the rules, to get it through at this
session. The Republican leaders ex-
hausted every effort to force the bill
through the Senate, and if they had had
their way the Fraud and Force bill
would be law to-day; the form of our
institutions would have been radically
would have had no lot or part in the
matter. Their consent would not even
have been asked, while the shackles
of partisan and military despotism
would have been fastened upon them
forever.
What should be the attitude of free
people toward political party that
would propose and accomplish, SO far as
they were able to accomplish, such an
Infamous wrong upon the people?
But, fortunately, it was an impossi-
bility for the Republican party to force
the Fraud and Force bill through the
Senate this session, as much as they de-
sired and as hard as they tried to do it.
In consequence of their failure, the peo-
pie will now have an opportunity to
pass upon this despotic and odious
measure at the polls. The Republican
party never intended that the people
should have this opportunity; they in
tended to pass this law in Congress
without giving the people any voice in
the matter; they intended to bind
Sampson hard and fast and let him dis
cover, when all too late, that the Philis-
tines were upon him, and he was shorn
of his strength! But, the Providence
that overrules the destinies of nations
and of men frustrated the base design
and the issue will now go before the
people, and it is the transcendent and
overwhelming issue of the hour, in
which all minor issues are lost
and swallowed up. Should the ap-
preaching election go strongly Repub-
lican-National, State and county; es-
pecially, should the Republican party
increase its majority in Congress, then
Gar Reed and his followers
will claim that as vindioation
of their course and an endorsement
of the Fraud and Force bill, and that
measure will be passed at the next ses-
sion of Congress. But, if the people
rise in their might, as we believe that
they will, and make Democratic gains
all along the line-especially should
they carry the next Congress, as we also
believe that they will-then will this
odious measure be forever buried under
an avalanche of just popular indig.
nation. Let the people consider
we'll the all-absorbing issue of thts CAM
paign, for it is the question whether We
shall remain free men, or whether we
shall become slaves.