The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-10

| Florida Louisiana and South Carolina
when the two houses should assemble in
| February TO declare the election
| Furthermore, republican senators in eau
Gus considered the olicy of declaring Gen
eral Grant President of the Senate as
| soon as his term IN the presidency should
expire, March at noon. Large bodies OF
| troops were in and near the capital The
| President of the Senate would be expected
| to establish provisional government at
| least until another attempt to elect a Pres
| ident should be made The President was
announced ready to declare martial
, law in Washington City. He had lost
| faith in Hayes. HIVES desired to confer
with l.. q. G. Lamar of Mississippi. then
a member of Congress. and Gen. Wade
| Hampton. then claiming to be elected gov
ernor. The President openly declared he
| would rather trust southern rebels than
/, their northern allies"
AS soon Congress met December Z.
1 1876. Mr.. McCrary of Iowa. in the House.
introduced a resolution that Joint COM
mittee of ten five from each branch, be
| organized to report on the stua ton and
| suggest some manner of procedure for
escape from perilous circumstances that
| none denied.
4 The action of the House went to the
Senate, and on January 12 bill came
| into that body. The purport was the
| creation of an electoral commission .
composed of representatives of the lesls-
llative and judicial functions of the govern
ment. but none standing for the executive
a commission of Is members, five senators,
| three of whom must be republicans and
| two democrats: rive representatives. three
! of whom must be democrats and two re-
| publicans. There were to be five members
of the federal supreme court on the COM
| mission. The act itself selected fouc OF
the FIVE. The fifth must he selected by
the four judges named in the act.
! The act naming ,he judges to sit on the
| electoral commission by design chose one
from the manufa curing states of New
England, one from the commercial states
| of the Atlantic coast. one from the a gri-
cultural states of the upper valley of the
| Mississippi and one from the Pacific slope.
| Two of the four :r;Lges so legis]ated into
| the commission we're elassed as republi-
| cans and two as democrats.
| The fifth Judge riade the fifteenth nem-
Der of the commission. political ipves-
| tigation at the outse. wns thus provided
for and a political decree made inevitable
| The fifth Judge who was also the fifteenth
man. must write the decree in the nature
| of things
| 1t must be Tiden, elected under the
law Hayes sele atcd by the electoral com
mission, or Grant, hold-over.
| Joseph p. Bradley OF New EnSian1
| stock, reared and educated in the farming
region of New York a railroad lawyer of
| Newark n. j., financier of extensive
CORPORATION connections. president ot a
powerful life insurance company, active
politician. defeated republican candidate
for Congress in 1862. Grant elector in 1862
| and leader of his ticket was appointed TO
| the sunreme court in 1870 by President
Grant
| The four Judges selected by the act
chose Justice Bradley as the fifth judge.
| the fifteenth member and the arb1ter IN
the momentous event.
| The mart of the electoral commission
was that of a federal returning board.
| Congress- sent committees to each south
ern state contested Individual citizens
visited each Of those states, some friendly
1 70 one side of the controversy. others to
the other side. The ostensible object Of all
| inquiry was 10 discover the truth Of the
| eIect,on returns for President and vice
president.
Tbese reports were heard by the cleo
toral commission In Washington. The
| "a cts were developed and arguments made
hv many of the great lawyers Of the
| land Each state was examined In its
| turn to determine for whom, T1iden or
HAYES. it had given It's electoral vote.
| Meantime Drew, democrat. became gov
| ernor of Florida, Hampton. democrat, be-
came governor of South Carolina, and
| presently Nichols. democrat. became gcy-
| ernor of Louisiana.
JOHN WITHERSPOON DUBOSE.