Year: 1877




If the action of fhis committee were to be
final we should be disposed to accept with
out question or criticism any plan which it
might agree to recommend. But we must
not lose sight of the fact that the committee
is merely to make proposals, which the two
houses are rs free to reject as to accept, as
free to amend as to adopt in their original
form. We hal hoped, and do not yet
abandon the hope. that their plan may be SO
free, not only from solid objections. but
from exposure to captious criticism, that 1T
can pass triumphantly through The ordeal Of
the Congressional debates. We do not yet
know, except from Washington rumors,
what the plan is. AS it is subject to change
or modification by the committee itself we
are unprepared to take strong ground either
for it or against it until the report OF the
Joint committee is submitted to Congress.
If the current description of it is correct
we think the plan judicious in sub
stance, but faulty in details, and
that its weak parts are of such
nature as to give needless handle to par
tisan adversaries. 1t is better that neces-
sary amendments should be made by the
committee itself than left as vulnerable
points to invite attack in Congress. Any
considerable amendment adopted by either
house would impair respect for the judg-
ment of the committee and make it easier
to defeat the whole plan. Amendments
adopted by one house and rejected by the
other might create deadlock, and tactics
looking to this end will be the favorite mode
of opposition by extreme partisans, as
affording the best chance of utilizing
honest members who are not, like
themselves, enemies of every plan
for lifting the question above the
atmosphere of party politics. 1t would be
unwise and suicidal for the joint committee
to supply the insidious foes of any plan
with pretexts and facilities for conducting
their operations. The committee will de-
feat its own patriotic intentions if it reports
a plan that will have to run the gauntlet
of a series of plausible amendments which
might cause it to fall between the two
houses. It would be far better for the COM
mittee to take o few additional days for cor
recting details than to leave their
plan exposed to be torn TO pieces
by hostile amendments in one or the
other house of Congress. Amendments
made in the committee itself will be
friendly to the main purpose of the
plan but amendments made in the Senate
or House are more likely to be prompted by
hostile motives. If the committee is wise it
will abjure oil pride of paternity and NIL
pride of opinion and leave no vulnerable
point exposed to the enemies of peace


If the plan of the joint committee has been
correctly reported it's main features are ex-
cellent. In the first place, it has the great
merit of not deciding the Presidential ques-
ton by the mere organization of the pro-
posed board of referees. The result of the
counting would be quite as uncer-
tain after the adoption Of their plan
as it was before. Both sides could
therefore accept it without any sac
rifce of party pride-a feature es-
sential to tho success of any plan. In the
next place. it is entirely sound and wise in
taking the disputed questions out of the arena
OF party politics and referring them for final
decision to board small enough in numbers
to create sense of individual responsibility
and high enough in character to afford a
guarantee for upright intentions. In the
third place, the proposed plan, if adopted
by Congress, binds all parties to abide by
the decisions of the board of referees unless
overruled by concurrent vote of both
houses. This is the most important pro-
vision of NIL, and is essential to the success
of any plan. It is necessary to settle the
Presidential question in such a way as to pre-
once decided, by binding the supporters of
both claimants to accept the Judgment of
the appointed tribunal. There seems no
possibility of attaining this result except in
pursuance of the main idea of the Joint
committee that the power Of finally decid-
ing points on which the two houses may
differ shall be surrendered in advance by
both, and committed to select body of ar
bitrators, organized with view to simple
justice. We accordingly bestow our warm
est Endorsement on the central ideas which
the joint committee has sought to embody
in its plan. We should be sincerely sorry
to see plan organized on this sound basis
miscarry by errors of detail.


Even on points of detail we find q great
deal to commend in this scheme of the
committee. The indispensable board should
certainly be made up in great part of men,
bcrs of the two houses The authority to
make regulations for counting the electoral
votes is clearly vested in Congress by the
constitution, and it is a sound general rule
that the duties of Congress should be per-
formed by itself or by committees of its
own members. 1t would be great deal
better, if it were practicable, for Congress
to decide the present difficult questions
without calling in extraneous assistance.