Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-12-02

restraints and penalties will be useful. In all
the constitutionaiity of such legislation has
been affirmed by the Supreme Court. Its prob
able effectiveness is evidenced by the character
of the opposition that is made to it. II has been
as pronounced as If II were new exercise OF
Federal power and an invasion OF the rights OF
the States
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Congress has already fixed the time for the
clared that the vote for members of Congress
must be by written or printed ballot. it has pro-
yided for the appointment by the Circuit Court
in certain cases, upon the petition Of a certain
number OF citizens, of election supervisors, and
made it their duty to supervise the registration
OF voters conducted by the StSte officers; 20
challenge persons offering to register; to person.
ally inspect and scptinize the registry lists and
TO aflix their names to the lists tor the purpose
Of Identification and the prevention of fiauds;
to attend at elections, and remain with the
to attach to the registry lists and election re-
turns any statement touching the accuracy ard
fairness OF the registry and elections. and 10
take and transmit 10 the Clerk OF the House of
Representatives any evidence of fraudulent
practices which may be presented to them.
| The same law provides for the appointment
| of Deputy United States Marshal to attend at
the polls and support the Supervisors IN the dis
charge OF their duties, and 10 arrest persons vio
lating the election laws. The provisions of this
familiar title of the revised statutes have been
put into exercise by both the great political par
| ties, and in the North as well as in the South,
| By the filing with the Court of the petitions re-
CURED by law, II is not, therefore, q question
| whether we shall have Federal election law,
| for We now have one, ard have had for nearly
twenty years, but whether we shall have an eff
! fective law The present law stops just short Of
effectiveness for 1t surrenders to the local au-
thor1tles all control over the ceitfieation which
establishes prima fGcie right to g seat in the
| House OF Representatives. This defect should
/ be cured. Equality of representation and the
| purity OF the electors must be maintained, or
| everything that is valuable in our system of
government is lost. The qualification OF an
| plgntnr in, no tutr i,,- Ia
opinion, prejudices or fear of any class, how
| ever powerful.
| The path of the elector to the ballot-box must
| be free from ambush of fear and the enticement
of fraud; the count so true and open that none
shall gainsay it. Such a law shall be absolutely
non partisan and impartial. It should give the
advantage to honesty and the control TO ma
| jorites. Surely there is nothing sectional
| about this creed. If it shall happen that the
penalties OF laws intended to enforce these
rights fall here, and not there, it is not because
| the law Is sectional, but because, happily,
! crime is local, and not universal. Nor should
it be forgotten that every law, whether relating
acted by the State or by the nation, has force
| behind it. The Courts, the Marshal, or Con-
stable. the posse ?omitatus, the prisons all
and always behind the law. One cannot be
| justly charged with unfriendlinesS TO any sec.
| ton or class who seeks only to restrain viola
lions of the law and of personal rights
No community will find lawlessness profitable
| No community can afford to have il known that
the officers who are charged with the preserva-
ton of the public peace, and the restraint of the
| criminal classes, are themselves the product of
! fraud or violence The magistrate is then with
out rest and the law without sanction. The
| floods of lawlessness can be levied and made to
| run in one channel. Tie killing of an United
| States Marsnal carrying writ of arrest for an
election otfense, is full of prompting and offense
| to men who are pursued by City Marshal for a
| crime against lite and property.
But il is said that this legislation will revive
animosities, end some have even suggested
| that when the peaceful methods of fraud are
made impossible, they may be supplanted by
| Intimidation and violence. II the proposed law
\ gives any qualified elector by hairs weight
more than his equal influence, or detracts by so
| much from any other unqualified elector, it is
fatally impeached. But If the law is equal, and
| the anlmosities it is to evoke grow out of the
| fact that some electors have been accustomed to
exercise the franchise for others as we'll as for
| themselves, then these animosities ought not to
| be confessed without shame, and cannot be
given any weight in the discussion without dis
| homer.
No choice is left to me but to enforce with
| vigor the laws intended to secure to the citizen
| his constitutional rights, and to recommend
| thst the undergraduates of such laws De
promptly remedied. II to promote with zeal
| and ready interest every project for the devel-
opment of its material interests its rivers har-
bors, mines and factories, and the intelligence,
peace and security under the law of its COM
mun!ties and its homes, is not accepted as suffi-
| Gent evidence of friendliness to any State or
| section, cannot add connivance at election
practices that not only disturb local results, but
rob the election of other States and sections of
| their most priceless political rights.
| EXPENDITURES SHOULD BE scRUTINIzED.
| The preparation OF the general appropriation
| bill should be conducted with the greatest care
and closest scrutiny of expenditures. Appro-
priations should be adequate to the needs of the
public service, but they should be absolutely
/, free from prodigality.
venture again to remind you that the brief
| time remaining Tor the consideration OF the i'm
portant legislation now awaiting your attention
offers no margin for waste. If the present duty
is discharged with diligence and courage, the
work of the Fifty-frst Congress may be conf
IDENTIFY submitted to the considerable Judgment
of the people. BENJAMIN HARRISON.
Executive Mansion, December l. 1890