The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-08-20
MAINE MORNING. AUGUST

statements of the newspapers, for most of
the opposition editors do not seem
to have read it. l know they
do not misrepresent it-they do not seem to
have read it; that is a pleasanter way of
putting it. Laughter, But they DO NOT
( vides for this and nothing else: To give
publicity to every step in the election Of
Congressman. whenever the people of
district anywhere in the country petition for
it. 1t touches no local officers. 1t inter
vides that there shall be United States super
visors appointed by the courts. who shall
examine the registration, examine the
naturalization, watch the voting, watch the
| supervisor. If a whole district is under the
law, and the certificate of the chief super
visor and that of the United States officers
differ. the certificate of the United States
that but from that there is an appeal
to the courts. The man who holds
states certificate, if he thinks he
is wronged by not receiving United States
certificate, is granted an appeal to the courts.
| That is the beginning and the end of the
law. 1t is nothing but to have the elections
looked into, and the theory on which it pro-
| ceedS is that If everything is public. If the
American people can see plainly what is 60
ing on in the elections, which lie at the
long endure If the elections in district
are honest, why such a law would be well
coined by every man to prove 1t. Ii they are
not honest, Is there any reason why we
should not know it? Ought we not to know
| 1t, and bring that crime to punishment? Is
there greater crime to be committed in this
country than the crime against the ballot, by
which alone the people of this country can
make their wishes known? TApplause.]
The first cry that Is raised against the bill
is that it is force bill, that it is brlstling
with bayonets in every line, as one very able
| editor said.
| NO BAYoNETs IN IT.
| Now Mr.. Roger @. Mills, who is as accurate
a statistican as he is calm in statement, and
who formulated the famous tariff bill
that bears his name, has stated that there are
| $1,000 polling places In the United States.
Let US except his statement. he being the
| enemy, as worthy of credence. We know
Then if you admit that it is a force
bilP' 1T is easy to see you would have
| fve-sevenths of soldier at every polling
place in the United States When
| think of the 65, 100000 people in this
wide country, groaning under the despotism
| of fve-sevenths of soldier at each polling
place, the picture it conjures up is positively
| APPALLING. Mr.. Chairman, the cry of force
about that bill amounts to just as much as
that. There is no proposition of force in it.
the United States, and it is the duty of the
President to enforce the law of the United
| States, il 1t is opposed or defed-whether it
be tariff law, an election law, or any other
| kind of law.
We discussed that question once for four
| years in very serious way, and we estab-
lished then, believe, the proposition that
| this is a national government; that this
country is a nation, and that the laws of the
United States are to be obeyed; and the
| same force" lies behind the election law
| that lies behind the tariff law, or the inter
national revenue law. and there is no other
| force to be considered. And let me say fur
ther, there seems to be a violent prejudice
| and outcry about the blue-coat and the bayo-
nets. l don't think anybody need have any
| fear about the blue-coat or the bayonet: the
only time that we were familiar with them
in this country was when the thin lines of
the blue coat and the bayonet stood between
this government and destruction [applausel
and there seems to have been lingering pre-
ludice in the Democratic mind ever since.
[Renewed applause.
the last to advocate troops at the polls, or
anything of that kind; it is utterly un-Amer-
ican; it is utterly unnecessary. All that we
need is to pass such laws as we have pre-
pared, and the laws of the United States
are going to be carried out in this country,
and nobody need get in the least restless
about ii, or anticipate violence or anything
OF that kind. That is settled question, and
as for bayonets in this bill it is merely cry
to deceive-nothing else in the world. They
based 1t simply upon clause in a statute
enacted years ago with reference to city
rights, which has been upon the statute
books ever since. 1t does not matter
whether the bill enacts it or repeals it, and
| they quote that section of the revised stat
| utes and say it is in the bill. There is moth
ing Of the sort in the bill; there is nothing in
1t that any honest man need fear; 1t is SIM
ply bill to look into elections, and is there
.l...l. At. i f.--s
elections looked intoP Of course there. is
not you all had just as lief have the cleo
| tions of Maine, Massachusetts and the whole
| North looked into. There is nothing we
want to conceal or cover but when in Amer
lea under the United States government you
find that people object to publicity in
matters touching the public welfare and
public legislation, you make 1t pretty sure
that 1t is time to look into it, [Applause.l
SAFETY IN PUBLICITY.
There is nothing wholesome in this govern
ment in secrecy; the best safeguard is pub
licity, and to know all about it. And this
question of fair elections is in the mind of
the people everywhere. You read it in the
demands of the labor organizations; you
read it in the demands of the Farmers
Alliance. 1t is moving everywhere, the de-
mand that the elections shall be so fair that
no man can question them. i see that today
your county cOnv vention passed a resolution
in favor of the Australian ballot, and in
favor of purity of elections Applause.l My
and l think it is one of the best things that
has been done for many years Applause.
The state of New :. York has adopted it. Ii
| it is good thing to have honest elections in
New York, Massachusetts, and Maine, why
isn't it good thing to have guarantee OF
honest elections everywhere? The election
of a member in South Carolina weighs
| exactly equal with the vote of the man
,l,or,. Ava ffnrn
guarantees to us equal representation, but it
| takes six votes to elect me where it takes
| one vote to elect the man in Georgia. That
| is not fair and equal representation, and 1t Is
| not confined to the South alone.
| They raise the cry that this is sectional.
| We always hear that cry If anybody thinks
| the South Is going to be interfered with.
| This bill was originally drawn to meet frauds
| in the state of New York. Nobody called
| that sectional! 1t was only intended then
| was not sectional. But the minute you have
| it applied everywhere, as every law of the
United States ought to be, then goes up the
| cry: ut is sectional" The moment you lay
your hand ON a southern election, and say:
''Lets see that it is fair and honest" then
| we are told it is sectional"
No one could be more averse to raising old
| issues than | am. believe in burying them.
The war Is over; the objects Tor which 1t
/ was fought are gone, and the North has made
| every concession and conciliation. l repeat,
the time has come to bury war issues South
| as we'll as North. say the time has come to
put that section on the same footing as the
rest of the country. What northern news.
paper would be found to make such remark
| as / read from the Charleston News and
| Courier, that South Carolina should be con-
graduated that she had fe wer representatives
| at the Grand Army encampment just held in
Boston than any other state. Would any
| northern paper say that?
We have gone forward in the right spirit
| we do not want to keep alive any Of the war
| issues. They are kept alive there, and / say
it is their turn to conciliate and concede, and
| drop war issues, and part of it is to apply
| the same law Of elections to them as applies
to us. They say we want to put their ig-
norance over them; we do not want to put
ignorance on top of intelligence anywhere.
| They say this is bill to bring home their ig-
norance upon them; but they can protect
themselves against ignorance. They say it
is an effort to put the ignorant negro in con-
troll. The State of Massachusetts has got up
on its constitution, written there "a years
ago, a clause making the ability to read and
| write qualification to vote. There is moth
ing in the constitution of the United States
| to prevent that being in any constitution