206 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



open while witnesses are being examined, this 

 shall be done." 



The Vice-President : " The question is on 

 the amendment proposed by the Senator from 

 "West Virginia [Mr. Davis]." 



The Secretary proceeded to call the roll, and 

 the result was announced, as follows : 



YEAS Armstrongj Bailey, Bayard, Beck, Cockrell, 

 Coke, Davis of Illinois, Davis of West Virginia, Eaton, 

 Eustis, Garland, Gordon. Harris, Hereford, Jones of 

 Florida, Korean, Lamar, McCreery, McDonald, Mc- 

 Pherson, Merrimon, Morganj Eandolph, Kansom, 

 Voorhees, Wallace, Whyte, Withers 28. 



NAYS Allison, Anthony, Blaine, Booth, Burnside, 

 Cameron of Pennsylvania, Cameron of Wisconsin, 

 Christiancy, Conkling, Dawes, Dorsey, Ferry, Ham- 

 lin, Hoar, Howe, IngaUs, Kellogg, Kirkwood, McMil- 

 lan, Mitchell, Morrill, Oglesby. Paddock, Patterson, 

 Eollins, Saunders, Teller, Wadleigh, Windom 29. 



ABSENT Barnum, Bruce, Butler. Chaffee, Conover, 

 Dennis, Edmunds, Grover, Hill, Johnston, Jones of 

 Nevada, Matthews, Maxey, Plumb, Sargent, Sauls- 

 bury, Sharon, Spencer, Thurman 19. 



So the amendment was rejected. 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Rollins in the 

 chair) : " The question is on the amendment 

 proposed by the Senator from Maine [Mr. 

 Blaine], which will be read for the information 

 of the Senate." 



The Secretary : " If amended as proposed 

 the last resolution will read : 



" That in prosecuting these inquiries the committee 

 shall have the right, by itself or by any sub-commit- 

 tee, to send for persons and papers,' to take testimony, 

 to administer oaths, and to visit any portion of the 

 country when such visit may in their judgment fa- 

 cilitate the object of the inquiry." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The Presiding Officer : " The question now 

 is on the passage of the resolutions as amend- 

 ed. The resolutions will be read as they now 

 stand." 



The^Secretary read as follows : 



Resolved, That a select committee, to consist of nine 

 Senators, be appointed by the Chair to inquire and 

 report to the Senate whether at the recent elections 

 the constitutional rights of American citizens were 

 violated in any of the States of the Union ; whether 

 the right of suffrage of citizens of the United States, 

 or of any class of such citizens, was denied or abridged 

 by the action of the election officers of any State or cf 

 the United States, in refusing to receive their votes, 

 in failing to count them, or in receiving and counting 

 fraudulent ballots in pursuance of a conspiracy to 

 make the lawful votes of such citizens of none effect ; 

 and whether such citizens were prevented from exer- 

 cising the elective franchise, or forced to use it against 

 their wishes, by violence or threats, or hostile demon- 

 strations of armed men or other organizations, or by 

 any other unlawful means or practices. The commit- 

 tee shall also inquire whether any citizen of any State 

 has been dismissed or threatened with dismissal from 

 employment or deprivation of any right or privilege 

 by reason of his vote or intention to vote at the recent 

 elections, or has been otherwise interfered with. 



And to inquire whether, in the year 1878, money 

 was raised, by assessment or otherwise, upon Federal 

 office-holders or employees for election purposes, and 

 under what circumstances and by what means ; and, 

 if so, what amount was so raised and how the same was 

 expended ; and, further, whether such assessments 

 were or not in violation of law. 



And shall inquire into the action and conduct of 

 United States supervisors of elections in the several 



States ; and as to the number of marshals, deputy 

 marshals, and others employed to take part in the 

 conduct of the said elections ; in what State or city 

 appointed ; the amount of money paid or promised to 

 be paid to them, and how or by whom, and under 

 what law authorized. 



Resolved, That the committee be further instructed 

 to inquire and report whether it is within the compe- 

 tency of Congress to provide by additional legislation 

 for the more perfect security of the right of suffrage to 

 citizens of the United States in all the States of the 

 Union. 



Resolved, That in prosecuting these inquiries the 

 committee shall have the right, by itself or by any 

 sub-committee, to send for persons and papers, to take 

 testimony, to administer oaths, and to visit any por- 

 tion of the country when such visit may in their judg- 

 ment facilitate the object of the inquiry. 



Mr. Whyte of Maryland : "Mr. President, I 

 do not rise for the purpose of making any 

 speech, but, inasmuch as I intend to vote 

 against the passage of these resolutions, I desire 

 in a very few words to give my reasons for 

 that course. 



" In the first place, I am unalterably opposed 

 to these roving commissions. I am opposed 

 to the system which has grown up since the 

 war of appointing committees upon almost eve- 

 ry conceivable subject and sending them at the 

 expense of the country upon roving excursions 

 to see what they can find out. I am opposed 

 to the expense which has been entailed upon 

 the country by the useless commissions that 

 have been ordered by either the one or the 

 other House of Congress within the last few 

 years. We had committees to South Carolina, 

 we had committees to Louisiana, we had com- 

 mittees to Florida anterior to the last presiden- 

 tial count ; and, when the evidence gathered 

 by the gentlemen who had gone on these fora- 

 ging excursions was printed at the public ex- 

 pense and was ready for examination by the 

 parties who were supposed to have charge of 

 the electoral count, we were informed that all 

 of that testimony was aliunde. We had a com- 

 mittee sent to Mississippi, and after taking tes- 

 timony for many days and weeks, and gather- 

 ing together two volumes as large as this (hold- 

 ing up a book) of Munchausen statements, they 

 made their report to Congress, and I venture 

 to affirm that not ten men in or out of Con- 

 gress have ever read fifty pages of those vol- 

 umes. We have had our Potter committee 

 and our Matthews committees, and various 

 other committees. They have all been at work, 

 and the result is absolutely nothing but a large 

 amount of expenditures to be paid out of the 

 public Treasury. I am opposed to it, and I 

 think the time has come when we should set 

 our face against these wandering committees, 

 some of whom I believe, either singly or in 

 twos, have wandered with half a dozen stenog- 

 raphers over the Kocky Mountains during the 

 last summer." 



The Vice-President : " Is the Senate ready 

 for the question on the resolution, upon which 

 the yeas and nays have been ordered ? " 



The Secretary proceeded to call the roll, and 

 the result was announced, as follows : 



