The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-09-15
THE ELECTIONS LAW.
The Debate on It's Repeal Will
Come Next Week.
THE REPORT OF THE MAJORITY.

The Government Of Elections, Says the
Majority, May be Safely Entrusted to
the Various states, without Necessity
for Federal Interference.
! WASHINGTON, Sept 15.-When the cleo
| Tons committee was called to order bv
lr Tucker yesterday all the members
were present except the chairman, Mr.
titch, whose mother is dying, and Mr.
| Lawson, OF Georgia On the call Of the roll
none OF the Republicans answered to their
names, the reason for the policy thus pur-
sued being thus explained by Mr. John
| son, of North Dakota, the senior minority
member.
! although we had promised at the last
| meeting not to obstruct the majority in
lts purpose to bring the bill before the
| house we had not committed ourselves to
any active assistance in furtherin0 their
| plans or purposes Recognizing that the
| country is in the midst of a severe duan-
elal disturbance, TO relieve which CON
| gress had been called in extraordinary
session, the Republicans felt that they
could not by their votes be in any wise re-
sponsibe for precipitating a btterpartisan
debate such as this bill is likely to lead to
upon congress, before measures for the
financial relief of the country had been
perfected. So we kept still"
The acting chairman then sent out for
Mr.. Lawson, and his appearance gave the
majority the quorum necessary to do bnsi-
ness A motion to report the Tucker bill
was carried by a strict party vote. A reso-
luton was passed instructing the commit.
tee on rules to report an order making the
Dlll and reports the special order immedi-
ately after the morning hour on Tuesday
next and every succeeding day until dis
posed Of
The majority report, drawn by Mr..
Tucker, enumerated the sections of re-
yised statute proposed to be repealed and
discussed them seriatim. The section for
bringing armed troops to tho polls the re-
port said, was passed at the close of the
war and the occasion therefor must have
long since passed away, and as the last
vestige of war legislation on the subject it
should be wiped from the statute book
forever.
AS to the sections relating TO Che ap-
pointment Of supervisors and deputy mar
shals, the report referred TO the discussion
Of the minority Of the same committee in
the Flfty-lirst congress upon the election
OF representatives in congress" of which
Mr. Tucker was a member, which discus
sion is incorporated in the report Fur
ther, upon this point the report called at
tention TO the fact that the states for 4
hundred years and more had 55royided
election laws, appointed a,,1Iicers and nro-
ylued the mgch'r,le r,lery of election. They
'I i"g P,u'0i' led duties for such officers and
w" y. posed penalties for the failure to
I discharge these duties.
The officials provided by the sections
sought to be repealed were directed to
| Bcrutinize, supervise and watch every act
Of the officers of the state. This of itself,
said the majority, must create friction,
and the history of the country since
| the enactment OF these laws had dem
Dnstrated their unwisdOm. BY what au-
! thority, asked the majority, could
| federal officer determine the question of
suffrage which the constitution of the
! United Staes had left to the states alone
/ to determineY
! Many of these sections, continued the
| report imposed penalties upon state cleo
tiun affairs for violations of the laws of
! the state. Was ever more monstrous
proposition written on the statute books
of a free country2 The object of legisla-
| tion should be to oprevent conflicts between
state and federal authorities These
| statutes, said the report, had been fruitful
! In engendering them.
Concluding the report said; But we re-
gard these statutes as chiefly inimical to
the best interests of the people because
| they are in effect a vote of lack of conf
dence in the states of the union. With
such an intention plainly on their face,
with what consideration could they be
met by the people for whom they were in
tended except that of distrust and suspi-
Cion2 Let every trace Of the reconstruc-
tion measures be wiped from the statute
books; let the states of the great union un-
ferstand that the elections are in their own
hands, and if there be fraud, coercion or
force used they will be the first to feel it.
Responding to a universal sentiment
throughout the country for greater purity
In elections, many of our states have en-
acted laws to protect the voter and to pu-
rify the ballot. These, under the guidance
of state officers have worked efficiently,
satisfactorily and benifciently, and if these
federal statutes ARE repealed that senti-
ment will receive an impetus which, if the
cause still exists, will carry such enact
meuts into every state in the union.