CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



197 



ment, the matter in contest between the two 

 Houses. 



"There are but three changes made in that 

 tenth amendment. We strike out the words 

 ' this act or,' in the fortieth line of the print 

 which gentlemen have before them. The sec- 

 ond change is in the forty-third line, where 

 we strike out the words 'he resides,' and in- 

 sert in lieu thereof the words ' his duties are 

 to be performed.' The third, and the one of 

 chief importance, is the addition of a proviso 

 at the end of line sixty-two, in these words: " 



And provided further, That the supervisors herein 

 provided for shall have no power or authority to 

 make arrests or to perform other duties than to be in 

 the immediate presence of the officers holding the 

 election, and to witness all their proceedings, includ- 

 ing the counting of the votes, and the making of a 

 return thereof. 



" The eifect of this is that the supervisors 

 authorized by this act stand by and witness 

 the proceedings of the election, and have the 

 official right to stand by, so that, if frauds are 

 being perpetrated, the Government of the 

 United States may have as witnesses, a member 

 of the Democratic party, and one of the Repub- 

 lican party, to the facts in the case." 



Mr. Eldredger "I desire to ask the chair- 

 man of the Committee on Appropriations if 

 the words ' guarded and inspected ' are not 

 retained in the bill." 



Mr. Garfield : " No, sir. It is provided that 

 when ten citizens in any county or parish in 

 any congressional district shall apply to the 

 judge of the district in which such county or 

 parish is situated ' to have said registration or 

 election both guarded and scrutinized ' " 



Mr. Eldredge: "Yes, those are the words, 

 * guarded and scrutinized.' " 



Mr. Garfield : " The persons applying ex- 

 press their wish to have the election guarded 

 and scrutinized. But the powers of the per- 

 sons appointed for that purpose are in terms 

 restricted by the proviso I have read." 



Mr. Eldredge : " They are to guard and 

 scrutinize the election." " 



Mr. Garfield : " The gentleman is in error. 

 The words 'guarded and scrutinized' apply 

 only to the form of application made to the 

 judge. But those words do not apply at all 

 to the powers of the persons appointed. Their 

 powers are defined and limited by the strong 

 language of the proviso which I have just read. 

 They are thus made mere witnesses of all the 

 transactions of the election." 



Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, said: "Before my 

 colleague (Mr. Niblack) takes the floor, I want 

 to ask a question, in order to remove any 

 doubt upon the mind of any member of the 

 House. I desire to know of the chairman of 

 the Committee on Appropriations whether he 

 understands that there is any thing in the lan- 

 guage of this amendment that touches the 

 matter of qualifications of electors." 



Mr. Garfield: "I understand, on the con- 

 trary, that there is nothing that can touch 



or change the qualifications of electors now 

 provided by law." 



Mr. Ritchie, of Maryland, said: "In the 

 State of Maryland the judges of the election 

 have no discretion as to the qualifications of 

 voters. They are controlled by the registra- 

 tion list ; in fact, they are merely recording 

 officers. Now, I ask the gentleman what 

 would be the relation of the supervisors con- 

 templated by this amendment to our registra- 

 tration and elections ? " 



Mr. Garfield: "That of simply standing by 

 and seeing the work done, without any other 

 power than to witness it from beginning to 

 end." 



Mr. Eldredge: "Gentlemen who have not 

 surrendered their opposition on this question 

 have not yet had an opportunity to speak. 

 None of us have had that opportunity who 

 feel that we cannot surrender our opposition 

 as long as we have the power to resist this 

 measure. I ask the gentleman to yield to me 

 for two or three minutes." 



Mr. Garfield: "Gentlemen all around me 

 insist that I shall call the previous question. 

 I cannot yield further." 



Mr. Holman, of Indiana, said : " This is the 

 most fatal measure ever brought into this Con- 

 gress." 



Mr. Haldeman, of Pennsylvania, said : " We 

 are not going to yield." 



Mr. Eldredge: "It is an unconstitutional 

 bill." 



Mr. Holman: "It is most infamous in its 

 character." 



Mr. Garfield : " I now move that the rules 

 be suspended, and that the House proceed to 

 take an immediate vote, without dilatory mo- 

 tions, upon agreeing to the report of the com- 

 mittee of conference." 



The question was put on the motion of Mr. 

 Garfield, to suspend the rules ; and there were 

 yeas 122, nays 23. 



So (two-thirds voting in favor thereof) the 

 rules were suspended. 



The Speaker: "The House has directed 

 that it now vote by yeas and nays upon this 

 question. Will the House agree to the report 

 of the committee of conference on the disa- 

 greeing votes of the two Houses to the amend- 

 ments of the Senate to the sundry civil appro- 

 priation bill?" 



The question was taken ; and it was decided 

 in the affirmative, as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Ames, Averill, Banks, Barber, 

 Beatty, Beveridge, Bigby, Bingham, Buckley, Buf- 

 nnton, Burchard, Burdett, Benjamin F. Butler, Eod- 

 erick K. Butler, Cobb, Coburn, Coghlan, Conger, 

 Cotton.Crocker, Darrall, Dawes, De Large, Donnan, 

 Duell, JDunnell, Eames, Elliott, Finkelnburg, Charles 

 Foster, Wilder D. Foster, Frye, Garfield, Goodrich, 

 Halsey, Harmer, George E. Harris, Havens, Hawley, 

 Hay, Hays, Gerry W. Hazleton, John W. Hazleton, 

 Hill, Hoar, Houghton, Kelley, Kellogg, Ketcham, 

 Killinger, Lansing, Lowe, Maynard, McGrew, 

 McJunkin, McKee, Mercur, Merriam, Monroe, Leon- 

 ard Myers, Packard, Packer, Palmer, Peck, Pendle- 

 ton, Perce, Aaron F. Perry, Peters, Platt, Poland, 



