The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-12-07
Election Methods.

Election Methods.
| / have in each of the three annual mes
sages which it has been my duty to submit
to Congress called attention to the evils and
| dangers connected with our election methods
| and practises, as they are related to the
choice of officers of the national government.
In my last annual message Iendeavored to
| invoke serious attention to the evils of un-
| fair apportionments for congress. cannot
close this message without again calling the
attention to these grave and threatening
evils. / had hoped that it was possible to
secure a non partisan inquiry by means of a
commission, into the evils the existence of
which is known to all. and that out Of this
might grow legislation from which all
thought of partisan advantage should be
eliminated and only the higher
drought appear of maintaining the
freedom and purity Of the ballot and the
equality of the elector, without the guaran-
| ty of which the government could never
have been formed and without the continu-
ance of which it cannot continue to exist in
| peace and prosperity. 1t is time that
mutual charges of unfairness and fraud
between the great parties should
cease, and that sthe sincerity of those who
profess desire for pure andlhonest elections
should be brought to the test of their will
lingness to face our litigation and our elec-
ton methods from everything that tends to
impair the public confidence in the an
nounced result.
The necessity for an inquiry and for leg
| islation by Congress upon this subject is
emphasized by the fact that the tendency of
| legislation in some States in recent years has
in some important particulars been away
I foxr r6 FREQ Ia
and equal appointments.
| Is it not time that we should come to-
gether upon the high plane of patriotism
while we devise methods that shall secure
the right of every man qualified by law to
| cast free ballot and give to every such
ballot an equal value in choosing our public
| officers and in directing the policy of the
| government.
| Lawlessness is not less such, but more
where it usurps the functions of the peace
| officer and of the courts. The frequent
| lynching of colored people accused of crime
| is without the excuse which has sometimes
| been urged by mobs for failure to pursue
the appointed methods for the punishment
| of crime, that the accused have an undue
| influence over courts and juries.
Such acts are a reproach to the commu-
nifty where they occur and so far as they
can be made the subject of federal jurisdic-
ton the strongest repressive legislation is
demanded. A public sentiment that will
sustain the officers of the law in resisting
mobs and in protecting accused persons in
their custody should be promoted by every
possible means.
The officer who gives his life in the brave
discharge of this duty is worthy of special
honor.
In Conclusion,
| This exploit of the work Of the executive
| departments is submitted to Congress and
| to the public in the hope that there will be
| found in it a due sense of the respon-
| sibilty and an earnest purpose to
maintain the national honor and to promote
| the happiness and prosperity of all our
people. And this brief exhibit of the
growth and prosperity of the 'coun-
| try will give US level from which to
| note the increase on decadence that new
Legislative policies may bring to us.
There is no reason why the national in
| huence. power and prosperity should not
observe the same rates of increase that have
characterized the past 80 years.
| We carry the great impulse and increase
| of these years into the future. There is no
reason why in many lines of production we
| should not surpass all other nationsas we
| have already done in some.
There are no near frontiers to our pos
| sible development. Retrogression would be
crime.
BENJAMIN HARRISON,
| Executive Mansion, December s, 1892.