Omaha daily bee., 1890-12-21
CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS
A Bill offered in the Senate to Prevent
Selling Firearms to Indians.
THE ELECTION BILL AGAIN CONSIDERED,
Spooner Makes an Address of over
Five Hours in Length Upon the
Measure - Doings In
the House.

WASHINGTON, Dec 2O-fn the senate today
Mr. Pettgrcw introduced a bill to prohibit
the sale Of firearms and ammunition to ln-
dians on reservations. Referred.
A dozen private pension bills were passed.
Mr.. Moody, from the committee on Indian
depreciation claims, reported the house bill
for the adjudication of claims arising from
Indian depredations. Calendar.
Mr.. Sawyer asked unanimous consent for
fixing an early day in January for cousidera-
tion OF the postal telegraph BILL but Mr. Wal
colt objected
Mr.. Platt introduced joint resolution ap-
propriatng 500, 900 to enable the president to
take action to obtain from the German gov
ernment a supply of the remedy discovered
by Dr. Koch and the formula for the manu-
facture of the same. Laid over.
The morning hour having expired, the pre-
siding officer laid before the senate the elec-
tion bill
MIR. Paddock gave notice that after consid-
Grafton of the pending bill he would ask the
senate to take up the pure food bill, which
was demanded by farmers from one end of the
country to the other.
MIR. EdmuCds demanded the regular order,
and the floor was taken by MIR. Spooner in
speech in advocacy of the bill. A stranger
in the gallery, he said, listening to the debate
without knowledge of the country would be
impressed with the idea that all love of liberty
and devotion to the constitution and freedom
from partisanship were to be found on the
democratic side of the chamber. He hoped
the gentlemen on the other side would not as
sumo that the republicans were not equally
with them lovers of liberty. This debate had
been characterized by rudeness. The COM
mittee on privileges and elections had
been referred to in language of discourtesy.
Almost every senator on the other side had
made harsh and bitter reference to Senator
Hoar. Mr.. Spooner highly eulogized Mr..
Hoar and defended John L. Davenport from
the attacks made upon him. Mr.. Spooner
then proceeded to discuss and defend the de-
tails of the pending measure, A good deal
had been said in connection with what was
called "domiciliary visits" but nothing had
been said of the domiciliarv visits of night
riders at the south, the shooting Of men aud
the whipping of women. Ii had been said on
the other side that the bill was aimed at the
south. 1t was, in part. 1t was aimed at
every spot in the United States where, by
frahd or force, men who had "a right to vote
Tor members of congress were cheated out of
that right. The south, he thought, was
where the bill was specially needed. In
proof he read extracts from a speech by
Delegate Chrisman in the late constitutional
convention of Mississippi, declaring that
since 1915 there had not been a fair election
in that state; that in plain words they (the
whites) had been stuffing the ballot boxes
committing perjury and carrying elections by
fraud and violence. He also read the qualif-
cations for voters i'll the constituti tion
of Mississippi, among others being the
ability of voter (after January, 1922
to read or to give reasonable
explanation of the meaning Of any clause OF
the constitution of the state. If the consttu-
tion of Mississippi had stopped at the educa-
tional test and excluded from the right of
suffrage every white or black who could not
read that instru ment nobody would complain
OF it. But now the ignorant white voter
might have the simplest clause read to him to
be asked IL he understood it, and, answering
yes. might be permitted to vote, while an OBJ
struse clause (as to the right of eminent do
main or some technical question: might be
read to the coored voter, who would be asked
to give reasonable explanation of it. The
scheme was plainly devised to let the ignor-
ant white man vote if he voted the democratic
ticket and to keep the ignorant black man
from voting unless he voted that
ticket. And yet the democratic sena-
tors rallied against the pending
measure as giving supervisor lordy pow
ers. This constitution of Mississippi had
been adopted, too, not by vote of the peo-
pie, but by the convention itself Southern
men ought not to fold their arms and say
they would keep their increased representa-
tiOn while suppressing the negro vote. 1t
had been said on the other side that the negro
should never have had the right to vote but
1T was too late now to argue that question
The right had been given him. whether in
wisdom or unwisdom, and could not be taken
from him. Referring to MIR. Stewards
speech yesterday and his remark that the
elections law could not be enforced in the
south because public opinion would not sup
port it, Mr.. Spooner said: Have we fallen
in condition in our country that calls
for the preservation by law of the
purity of the ballot at the north,
but that we must stop at
Mason ana Dixon's line because public opin-
ion in the south is in favor of dishonest and
fraudulent and violent suppression of suff-
rages | cannot believe it." Mr.. Spooner
spoke over FIVE hours and his speech was lis
tened to with marked attention on both sides
of the chamber.
Mr.. ingalls, said it was the conviction of
the great mass Of the people of the north that
the constitutional convention of Mississippi
assembled for the avowed purpose of disfran.
cnisinga majority of its citizens, who We're
also citizens of the United States. 1t had
been assembled for the express purpose of
multiplying, defeating and overthrowng
amendments to the constitution of the United
States, by agreeing to which the state of Mis-.
sissippi had secured re-admission into
the union and the southern people
had retained representation in the
house Of representatives. and in the
electoral college while they suppressed the
colored vote, They had retained representa-
tiOn which had given them for fourteen years
supremacy in the house and once placed in
the presidential chair a man who never had
been elected to that Office in any just sense
Contrary to the usual course pursued ia free
communities the results of the Mississippi
convention would not be submitted to the
people to be voted upon. 1t had been ar
ranged to have it declared the organic law of
the state without any action on the part OF
the voters. -., ,a
Mr. Edmunds added that the convention
came into existence by methods entirely out
side of the constitution of the state, which
provided particular way for its own amend
ment.
The con ferenc ce report on the bill for a pub
lie building at Kansas City was agreed to
and the senate adjourned.