Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1890-07-04
ann rIectlon. Must be Falr.


The Democratic atlitnd1s. q The Election
Law now before Congress strongly sug-
gests the couplet that emo man e'er ielt
the halter draw, with good opinion of the
law" Cleveland, beyond peradven-
ture. owed his election in 1884 to the
persistent disregard of the rights OF the
citizens in certain sections Of the United
States. Had there been fair elections,
or anything approaching fair elections
in all parts of the South, be would no
more have been president than if he had
not been named for the office. The
principal opponent of the Election bill
from the South on Wednesday was sent
to Congress in 1886 by total vote of
1.722 in a constituency where there are
at least 40 900 voters He hanged in
1883, by extraordinary exertions, and
by representing to his friends the pre-
posterous farce in which they had par
ticipated two years before, to run tie
vote up to 5000, or about one-ffth or
one-sixth the number of votes required
to elect a congressman in districts where
the people enjoy unrestricted the politi-
cal rights conferred on them by the Con-
sii'ution Of their country.
Tue halter certainly ought to pinch in
this instance, and give an exceedingly
poor opinion of the law, but hos about
those unfortunate citizens who are de-
prived of their rights? 1t is asserted
that an eel gets used to SHINING; but,
somehow, we have always been skeptical
concerning this extraordinary manifesto
ton of the force of habit. Men may
grow weary of trying to remedy their
wrongs when the government fails to
give them adequate protection; but all
the same it is an unsafe and dishonest
basis upon which to erect a government,
and no country can permit the indefinite
continuance Of the anomaly.
Concerning the constitutional right Of
Congress to regulate elections, there can
not be two opinions among honest and
unprejudiced men, no matter what party
they belong to. The clause which con-
fers the power is too clear to admit of ar
gument, and the logic which placed it in
the Constitution is equally secure from
attack. The States have been allowed
to regulate such elections purely as a
matter of convenience, and so long only
as they did not abuse the privilege
When 1t became apparent, as it is now
to the entire nation, that the privilege is
being used TO disfranchise, in nun erous
instan es, more than half the voters in u
congressional district, and bring the
Constitution and laws in'o contempt, it
is high time for Congress to resume its
delegated power and determine the quail
iicatioDs of its own members.
OF the alleged sectional nature of the
law there is this to be said, it is so only
in the sense that where any section or
community sets itself above the Consti-
tuition and the laws the Election bill will
apply, be THAT section il the North,
South. East or West. Congressional
elections have been held for years in
New York under a similar law, which
does not look much like sectionalism as
the term is generally understood, and
the result has been, as Congressman
Lodge pointed out, that an honest ballot
is secured now in precincts which used
to give greater majorities than the whole
number of men, women and children
living within their voting limits. What
has been done in New York without
revolution and disaster, can be done
wherever fraud. intimidation and out
rage rear their heads in the false guise
of expediency .-Ameriean