Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-15
GOING BACK ON QUAY.
A Philadelphia Republican Organ Takes
the Senator TO Task for Abandoning the
Federal Election Bili-Other Opinions OF

Federal Election Bill-Other Opinions o
His Action.
From the Philadelphia Press.l
Mr.. Quay's proposal that the Senate abandon
the Federal elections bill is disposed of for th,
present, at least, by its reference yesterday t
the Committee on Rules. 1t is hoped that there
it will remain, while the Republican Senator,
do their duty, at whatever inconvenience
toward this essential Republican measure.
Senator quay may enjoy the satisfaction oi
having won. at single stroke, the hearty ap
proval OF the Democratic party. They have
| nothing but praise for his BETRAYAL of the Re
publican cause in this proffer of his assistance
to defeat the bill to secure honest elections
| They now approve as a saint and a statesman
one whom, week before they held to be some
thing quite the reverse. This may please Mr.
! quay just now. 1t has the charm of novelty
but we do not believe that it will strengthen his
| position in his party.
The National Republican party in convention
assembled, on June q, 1888, affirmed the "un.
sWervlng devotion" of the Republican party
TO tne supreme and sovereign right of every
| lawful citizen, rich or poor white or black to
cast one 1ree ballot in public elections and have
that ballot duly counted, and we demand
effective legislation to secure the integrity and
purity OF elections" Does this declaration of
MS partys will by its supreme council count for
nothlng with the Chairman of the Republican
National Committee?
On June 20 of this year the Republican State
convention of Pennsylvania called upon Con-
gress TO adopt such legislation as will prevent
suppression or Justification of the votes Of
our fellow citizens at elections for officers of
the National Government Mr.. Quay's will is
understood to have been the law of this con-
vention. Does its platform now mean nothing
ha ha fof fho oid of
cratic minority in opposing the very legislation
demanded by the Republicans in the most
solemn and authoritative form in which a
party can express its will?
The Republican party has been systematically
defrauded in elections in the Southern States
Tor ID years. Now is the Republican oppor-
tunity, If they will but act together, to pass a
measure which will make this Wholesale system
OF fraudulent elections less easy less certain,
and less safe for the Democrats. Now they
allow no Republican witnesses to the method
session of the polling places, and hold it.
Under this bill a witness must be allowed.
Their frauds cannot be So easily covered. 1t
lets daylight into dark place and compels the
which rogues detest,
1t will take some nerve in many districts for
Republicans to claim and use the advantages
given by the bill. Perhaps 1t will fail at first in
most Of the districts on account of the peril to
which those who invoke it will be exposed from
the inscriptions night-raiders of the Southern
Democratic party, Nevertheless, 1t is the duty
of Republican Congress to perfect the law SO
that when the Republicans are willing to make
a struggle for their rights they need not fail
through the inadequacy of the Federal election
law.
Probably Senator Quay finds Washington
very hot. No doubt cruising OFF Atlantic City
would be much pleasanter. but if the Republic
an Senators who are, 10 and 20 years his senior,
ana VINO have been as constant in their attend
ance at the sessions of the Senate as Mr.. Quay
mas been constant in his absence, can stand the
August heat in the Senate Chamber, surely
Mr: Quay can keep up his occasional brief
visits to his desk. Trying as this protracted
struggle is to human endurance Senators whose
Republican faith is bottomed on earnest con.
vlctlon. do not propose to abandon their post
out OF mere wearlness and give up the cause to
which the Republican party is committed
Senator Quay pleads his desire to have the
tarih bill passed as his excuse for abandoning
the elections bill. The Republicans have IL
majority in the Senate, and if they cannot pass
the tariff bill and elections bill both thew are
not in control. Senator Edmunds has proposed
a. measure Tor reaching vote on the tariff bill.
lhe same rule can force a conclusion on the
electlons Dill, II the majority only choose to
take the matter in their own hands and exer-
clse the control which of right belongs to them.
10 put the elections bill over until the short
session OF Congress. when there Is hardly time
to get through the necessary appropriation bills
is to abandon it altogether. Even if there was
prospect or taking it up then, the postpone
ment subjects the election of the Fifty-second
Congress without check to all the fraudulent
methods by which the Southern Democrats
turn the election into a farce
We do not think the tariff bill needs this sort
OF aid, or that Senator Quay is serving the
cause of protection by placing himself in op-
position to the great bulk of his party In Con-
gress Though he may have persuaded himself
that the sacrifice of the elections bill is neces-
sary to save the tariff bill, other Republicans,
whose Senatorial experience is far greater and
whose devotion to protection cannot be chal-
lenged, do not share in this opinion. The
course he has chosen Is betrayal of his party
to the Democratic minority. There are enough
true Republicans left to defeat the proposal
and we look with confidence to see it done.
On Quay's Resolution.
CINCINNATI Enquirer (Dem.): There seems
to be pretty strong belief that Mr. Quay's
will be adopted as the rule of the
Senate. 1t is even intimated that the Demo-