Year: 1879

ted of any of the offences specified Il
the five preceding sections shall, in ad
dition to the punishments therein sew
orally specified, be isqualified from
holding any office of I honor, profit o
trust under the United States, bu
nothing in those sections shall be con
strued TO prevent any officer, soldier o
sailor or marine from exercising tn
right of suffrage in any election dis
trict to which he may belong, if other
wise qualified, according to the laws o
the state in which he offers to vote.n


The foregoing enactment woul,
seem to be sufficient to prevent mill
tary interference with election, bu
the last congress, to remove all appre
hension Of lsuch interference, added tt
this body of law, section 15, of an ac
entitled: can act making appropria
tion for the support of the army for th,
fiscal year ending June Both, 1879, ant
for other purposes, y approved June 1S
1873, which is as follows:


"Section 15. From and after the
passage of this act it shall not be law,
full to employ any part of the army Of
the United States as posse comitatus
or otherwise, for the purpose of execut.
ing the laws, except in such cases and
under such circumstances as such
employment of said force may be ex-
pressly authorized by the constitution
or by act of congress, and no money
appropriated by this act shall be used
to pay any of the expenses incurred in
the employment of any troops in viola
tion of this section, and any person
wilfully violating the provisions of this
section shall be deemed guilty of mis-.
demeanor, and upon conviction thereof
shall be punished by fine not exceed
ing 0,000, or imprisonment not ex-
ceeding two years, or BOTH"


This act passed the senate after full
consideration, without a single vote
recorded against it on its final passage,
and by majority of more than two
thirds it was concurred in by the house
of representatives. The purpose of the
section quoted was stated in the senate
by one of its supporters as follows
Therefore, I hope, without getting
into any controversy about the past,
but acting wisely for the future, that
we shall take away the idea that the
army can be used by general or spe-
cial deputy marshal or any marshal,
merely for election purposes or posse,
ordering them about the polls or order
ing them anywhere else where there is
election going on, to prevent disorders
or suppress disturbances that should be
suppressed by peace officers of the
state; or if they must bring others to
their aid, they should summon unor.
ganized citizens, and not summon Of
ficers and men of the army as posse
comitatus to quell disorders and thus
get up feeling which will be disas-
trous to peace. They had stricken out
the penalty and had stricken out the
word expressly" so that the army
might be used in all cases where i'm
piled authority might be interfered
with. The house committee planted
themselves firmly upon the doctrine
that rather than yield this fundamental
principle, for which three years this
house had struggled, they would allow
the bill to fail, Notwithstanding the
reform we had secured, regarding these
reforms of but little consequence along.
side of the great principle that the army
of the United States in time of peace
should be under the control of congress
and obedient to its laws. After long
and protracted negotiation the senate
committee has conceded that the prin'
ciple in all its length and breadth, in.
cluding the penalty which the senate
had stricken out, we bring you back
therefore, a report, with the alteration
of single word, which lawyers assure
me is proper to be made, restoring tc
this bill the principle for which We
have contended for 80 long, and
which is so vital to assure the rights
and liberties of the people.


Thus have we this day secured to the
people of this country the same great
protection against the standing army
which cost a struggle of two hundred
years for the house Of commons Of
England to secure for the British peo
| ple.'


From this brief review of the subject
it sufficiently appears that under the
existing laws there can be no military
interference.


Two provisions of the constitution
authorize legislation for congressional
elections. Section Of article /, of the
constitution declares: "The times
places and manner of holding election,
for senators and representatives shal
be prescribed in each state by the legis-
lature thereof, but congress may al
any time by law make or alter such
regulations except as to places Of choos
Ing senators"


The 18th amendment Of the constitu
tion is as follows: "Section /. Th'
right of citizens of the United State
to vote, shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any state OF
account of race, color or previous
condition of servltude."