The Portland daily press., 1890-07-24
The Federal Election Bill.

The loudest, and perhaps the most fire.
quent cry of the Democrats against the Fed
eral election bill is that it is force bill and
they assume that this alleged fact is enough
to condemn the bill in the eyes Of fair minded
men. Whether this Democratic assumption
be right or wrong 1t is not necessary to
consider. The force bilP of 1916 may have
been right and just as the majority of the
Republican s...syy OF that time thought. or II
may navs been wrong as all the Democrats
ana E0me conservative Republicans. like
-noar of Massachusetts and Hawley of Con-
necticut, thought. Whether right or wrong
whether just or unjust. whether oppressive
as 1t was alleged it would be, or doomed to
defeat In a Republican Congress as it GER
tainly was from the moment of its introduce
tion, the "force bilr' and its fate have MOTH
ing to do with the Federal election bill of
this Congress; for they are entirely different
measures, with purposes so unlike, and, In
their main features based upon principles so
different, that comp arison will be found to
exist between them by no one but the de-
luded or INSCRIPTIONS partisan.
In the first place the exigencies which the
two measures were framed to meet are en-
tirely different. The situation in the South
fifteen years ago and today are entirely
different. The year 1876 was the year when
the DemocrA tic party, by force and arms,
was accomplishing the overthrow of the
State governments which had been built up
In the South after reconstruction. Those
governments were Republican. The Demo
Gratis called them Radical" Carpet Bag"
and ''Scalawag" governments. Whether all
or either of these epithets were just, it is not
necessary now to inquire. Right or wrong,
honest or corrupt, these state governments
In many Of the Southern States were over
turned by the strong arm Of force. Men
with shot guns inundated Republican vo-
tiers at the polls; armed bands from one
State would invade another State to aid
their Democratic brothers in the overturH of
Republican government. In Arkansas
there were two governors, each surrounded
by an army The legislature of that State
sat within picket lines Of Democratic troops.
and the legislator of Arkansas obtained &C
cess to Observation-Disclosures only by pre-
senting pass to a sentry. Companies Of
armed men were abroad In the South. The
Confederate General Chalmers, whose politi-
cal career has been so remarkable, led two
hundred armed men from Memphis, Tennes-
see, into Arkansas, and then sent back for
two hundred more. From Augusta, Georgia,
armed bands Of Democrats invaded South
Carolina. There was an armed revolution,
In the midst of which the Republican State
governments Of the South disappeared,
while the rule of the white Democratic party
rose over their ruins and as an incidental
circumstance, of less Importance to the
whites OF the South at that time, but of great
Importance in later years, the influence of
the negro vote was swept away in the Con,
gressional districts as well as in Municipai
and State affairs.
This was the situation which confronted
the Republican leaders of 1875. The en-
franchised negro, after brief exercise of
his rights, had been deprived of them by
force. Government by all the people had
ceased In the South, and government by a
class had been substituted.
These were the circumstances which bega'
the ''force bill" That bill was intended tC
restore government by all the people in the
Southern States, In their State. county and
municipal affairs. The strong arm of the
United States government was to be invoked
TO interfere In the elections OF Southern gov
ernors. members of the legislatures and may.
ors of cities. The bill had also provision
extending the supervisors law OF 1871 to the
elections of members of Congress; but this
provision, resting upon clause OF the con-
stitution which gives the United States the
undoubted right to supervise the election oil
the members Of It's own House OF Represen
tatives, was not the part which was mos
bitterly resisted. II was not the part wnlch
made the force bill" hateful In the South
and measure Of doubtful propriety In the
North.
reference to the debates Of the second
session Of the FOrty-third Congress will
show for what the force bill" was resisted.
It was resisted because it took from the
State courts and transferred to the courts of
the UnitedlStates, the trials of persons en-
gagged in intimidation and violence in the
State and local elections; 1t imposed upon
- such persons heavy penalties, to be inflicted
by the United States for offences in matters
relating wholly to State affairs The final
section enabled the President Of the limited
States to declare region OF the South in a
state Of rebellion and to suspend the writ ~
habeGs corpus. with all the attending circum.
stances Of martial law. These were the fea.