CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



175 



contingency is not provided for. The object 

 of the bill is simply to secure a fair and hon- 

 est election, to give nobody the advantage. 

 The bill is in the interest of liberty, in the in- 

 terest of good government, in the interest of 

 justice. It is not in the interest of any party, 

 or of any faction. It was presented for the 

 purpose of preventing the wrongs that have 

 been complained of in some of the States, and 

 to insure fair elections. This is the whole 

 purpose of the bill so far as I know." 



Mr. Wright, of Iowa, said : " I understand 

 that, so far as the provisions of this bill are 

 concerned, it is the intention of the bill to con- 

 fer power on the Federal judges to appoint 

 thesa supervisors in the several election dis- 

 tricts and precincts ; that is to say, their power 

 is invoked and action is taken when applica- 

 tion is made by two citizens of any congres- 

 sional district. But am I to understand that, 

 when this application is made by any two citi- 

 zens of a congressional district, then the power 

 obtains to appoint in all the election districts 

 and precincts, whether application is made 

 from such precincts and districts, or not ? 

 That is the inquiry I suggest to the chairman." 



Mr. Morton: "I understand the effect of 

 the section as now amended to be this : when- 

 ever any two citizens of a congressional dis- 

 trict shall make this request in writing to the 

 circuit judge, the court shall be opened, and 

 thereupon he shall appoint two citizens of 

 opposite parties in each election district where 

 they ask it." 



Mr. Wright: "That is exactly what I un- 

 derstand it to mean; but, as it stands now, it 

 is not necessary that it should be asked by the 

 citizens of the voting precinct or district in 

 order to appoint, but the power is given to ap- 

 point, whether it is asked or net for that par- 

 ticular precinct or district. There is no doubt 

 but that I am right on that subject. Now, I 

 suggest to the chairman that he strike out the 

 words 'in the manner herein prescribed,' and 

 insert ' by two citizens thereof.' In order to 

 get the question before the Senate, I move to 

 strike out, in line twenty-eight, the words 

 'in the manner herein prescribed,' and insert 

 'by two citizens thereof;' and then it will 

 read : " 



For each district or voting precinct in said con- 

 gressional district as shall, by two citizens thereof, 

 have applied therefor. 



Mr. Morton : "I think that would be an 

 improvement. I am willing to accept the 

 amendment." 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Carpenter in the 

 chair): "The question is on the amendment 

 of the Senator from Iowa." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, said : " The com- 

 mittee reported an amendment striking out 

 ' circuit ' and inserting ' district,' and it was 

 not agreed to. I wish to call the attention of 

 the Senator from Indiana now to the condition 

 in which the bill is left. I was a little sur- 



prised that the Senate did not agree to that 

 recommendation of the committee. It seems 

 to me it could not have been considered. We 

 have but one circuit judge in a circuit. Take, 

 for example, the Southern circuit, of which 

 Judge Woods is the judge. I think his resi- 

 dence is in Alabama. That circuit extends 

 from Texas to Florida. Florida and Texas are 

 both in the circuit of which Judge Woods is 

 the judge, who resides somewhere in Alabama. 

 Suppose they want these supervisors in Florida : 

 it is utterly impossible to get at the judge in 

 Alabama. 



" The object of the law is to have a fair elec- 

 tion. That is the intent of it, of course. The 

 machinery of it ought to be so arranged as to 

 enable the people to take the advantage of it. 

 If it is to serve any good purpose, it seems to 

 me that it would have been greatly better to 

 have adopted those amendments of the com- 

 mittee." 



Mr. Morton : " The third section of the law 

 to which this bill is an amendment provides 

 that" 



Whenever, from sickness, injury, or otherwise, 

 the judge of the circuit court of the United States in 

 any judicial circuit shall be unable to perform and dis- 

 charge the duties by this act imposed, it shall be his 

 duty, and he is hereby required, to select and to 

 direct and assign to the performance thereof, in his 

 place and stead, such one of the iudges of the district 

 courts of the United States, within his circuit, as he 

 shall deem best. 



" This provides expressly for the difficulty 

 suggested by the Senator from Illinois. He, 

 however, intimates that there may be an ob- 

 scurity in the construction of this third sec- 

 tion ; that the circuit judge can select but one 

 district judge to perform his duties, in case he 

 is not able to do so. In order to meet the ob- 

 jection, and to remove any obscurity in the 

 third section of the law of 1871, I offer the 

 following amendment as an additional section 

 to this bill:" 



That the third section of the act to which this is an 

 amendment be so amended as to authorize each judge 

 of the circuit court of the United States to appoint 

 one or more of the iudges of the district courts of the 

 United States, within his circuit, to discharge the 

 duties contemplated by this act and the one to 

 which it is an amendment. 



The Presiding Officer : " The question is on 

 the amendment of the Senator from Indiana." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The bill was reported to the Senate as 

 amended. 



Mr. Trumbull : " Now, with a view to get- 

 ting at the direct question, I move to strike 

 out the word ' circuit ' and insert the word 

 4 district,' just as the Committee on Privileges 

 and Elections originally reported it." 



Mr. Morton : " I have simply to say that, 

 upon reflection and further consideration, I 

 hope that the change proposed by the Senator 

 from Illinois will not be adopted." 



Mr. Casserly, of California, said: "There 

 are sixty or severity district judges, all of 



