Nevada County picayune., 1890-07-31
A MENACE TO LIBERTY.
Concise Statement of the Meaning
 of the Force Bill.
From the New York World.


 troi of all elections. It takes from
 the States the substance of the right
 reserved in the Constitution. to de- terminc and judge of the qualfica-
 tons of voters. It is partisan measure, and the assertion that it is to secure full and free elections is a mere pretense. How intensely parti- san 1t is is shown by the fact that She bill provides that it shall go into ef- feet at the coming fall election. The chief supervisors are to be appointed for life. and, as the electoral machin- cry is put into their hands, it will be for years under control of ReDubli can partisans, no matter what may be the character of the Administra- ton.
 The motive of the bill is therefore bad. It is intended to control at Washington the return of Congress- men. The business of choosing their Representative is to be transferred from the people to the partisans of the Administration. For hundreds of years all elections to English speaking Parliaments have been con ducted by the officers of the locality where the voting has taken place. In England the writ for an election is received by the sheriff of the county and the proceedings are in charge of the returning officers of the counties and boroughs. The statutes rcgu- latIng the procedure date back to Henry VI.
 So firmly fixed is the tradi.ionary right of the people of the locality to conduct their own elections that only a year ago Rowell, the Republican author of the worst iea,ures of the pending bill, complained bitterly, in the contested election ease of Smalls and Elliott, that the election officers of South Carolina are appointed by the Governor. Now 1t is attended by this man and his patty that the power shall come from q very much remote so0rce-from Washington. The change is to be hastened, too, in order to he made while Quay is at head of the party. Therefore, in considering the bill, we are forced to judge it by what the master of cor ruption may accomplish under it's provisions.
 All Congressional legislation must find its warrant ill the Constitution. There can be no difference of opinion in the proposition that the States alone have the right to declare who N ail he voters The only limitation upon thi, 5ht i, that suffrage shall moi be denied to any one on the ground that he Is a negro or was q slave. No one has the right to vote for Congressman unless he is q voter of the State. The Constitution says that the electors who shall vote for Representatives in Congress Sin each State shall have the qualiica- tions requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State This means that every one who is permitted by the laws of the State of New York to vote for members of the Assembly may vote for members of Congress. As the voting is done under the laws of the State, State officers have invariably conducted elections. It is now pro- posed that the State laws shall be ad- by United States officers. The clause of the Constitution on which the makers of this new law depend is that which provides that Congress may make or alter the reg ulations which the States are directed to prescribe concerning the "manner of holding elections. " Thls pro- vision was adopted as a precaution- ary measure, and Tn order to guard against possible refusal of State to provide for the election of Con The resolution adopted by the State of New York concerning this clause on ratifying the Constitu- ton shows what was intended New York's resolution was as follows:
 "In full confidence that the Con- gress will not make or alter any reg ulations in this State respecting the times, manner, and places for hold iug elections for Senators or Repre- ,cntatives, unless the Legislature of this State shall neglect or refuse to make laws or regulations for the pur- pose, or from any circumstances be of making the same, and that in those cases such power will be duly exercised until the Legisla- ture of this State shall make proyis- ion in the premises.