CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 





oeeding between now and tho final adjourn- 

 ment gentlemen on tbe other side must yield 

 t!i.-ir position, for those laws can not bo and 

 sli.-ill not be repealed." 



Mr. Southard : u Mr. Chairman, in response 

 to the gentleman from Mainu I desire to say 

 for myself, and I think I speak the spontane- 

 ous and unanimous sentiment of this side of 

 the House, that these laws, which were enacted 

 for the purpose of controlling the ballot-box 

 and securing the success of the Republican 

 party by bribery, intimidation, and force, must 

 ami shall be swept from the statute-books. Let 

 it be distinctly understood that with this side 

 of the House and with the Democratic party 

 rests the responsibility, and they are ready to 

 do, dare, and die, if need be, in defense of the 

 freedom of the ballot and the freedom of the 

 citizen. It is a question of a fair and pure bal- 

 lot and a question of personal liberty ; and the 

 man \v r ho yields now in this supreme crisis de- 

 serves the condemnation and scorn of a free 

 and independent people. 



" These marshals, Mr. Chairman, are appoint- 

 ed by a party, for a party purpose, but they 

 are paid out of the public Treasury. It is idle 

 to say that any Administration will be fair and 

 impartial in the execution of the law against 

 the opposing political party. In addition, these 

 deputy marshals have the power of arresting 

 individuals without affidavit and without war- 

 rant upon their own ipse dixit, upon their own 

 malice, hatred, interest, or caprice, so that so 

 long as these statutes stand it is utterly impos- 

 sible that the American citizen can be duly pro- 

 tected in his personal liberty and in his right 

 to vote. 



"In St. Louis the special deputy marshals 

 were appointed upon the pledge, and as an in- 

 dispensable condition, that they would support 

 in the canvass and by their votes the Republi- 

 can candidates for Congress. One thousand 

 and twenty-eight special deputy marshals were 

 appointed in that city alone, at an expense of 

 over $20,000, and the result was the election 

 of three Republicans in three Democratic dis- 

 tricts. 



" These supervisors and marshals have in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country arrested citizens 

 without right and imprisoned them until the 

 hour of voting had passed. In New York last 

 fall, if those who were arrested pledged them- 

 selves not to vote they were immediately dis- 

 charged, but if they insisted on the right to 

 rote they were held in custody; but when the 

 ballot-boxes were closed at six o'clock on elec- 

 tion day they were all discharged, and no at- 

 tempt was made afterward to prosecute them 

 for any crime. The plain inference is that 

 these supervisors ana marshals used their 

 authority not to bring to punishment those 

 voting illegally, but simply and solely to secure 

 a victory for the Republican party. This inn- 

 chine is simply one of party for the purpose of 

 perpetuating a party dynasty that has been 

 condemned by the popular judgment of the 

 VOL. xix. 16 A 



country. It is a Northern outrage as well AM 

 a Southern outrage. In the North, in 1876, 

 $220,515.64 was paid to these marshals, while 

 in the South but $54,770.96. Four fifths of 

 tin- money was paid in tho North. In 1878 

 x-j l,i.:!6.74 was paid in the South, while $177,- 

 i ;">!.:;."> was paid in the North, or seven eighths 

 of the entire amount ; and Mr. Davenport of 

 New York has still to come in with his bills of 

 thousands more. 



" I say again, in response to the taunt from 

 the gentleman from Maine [Mr. Hale], that tlii.s 

 side of tbe House has determined on this mea- 

 sure, not as a question of mere dollars and cents, 

 but as a question of absolute incontestable 

 right, as a question of the freedom and purity 

 of the ballot-box, as a question of freedom from 

 arrest without due process of law. We will no 

 longer permit the control of the ballot-box to 

 remain in the bands of paid and hired agents of 

 one political party for the purpose of carrying 

 elections. It is, as I have already said, a ques- 

 tion of personal liberty to the citizen, and we 

 do not mean in this free country that any man 

 shall be arrested and imprisoned until there has 

 been due complaint and warrant of arrest, 

 until there has been due process of law. We 

 mean to protect tho citizen in his personal 

 rights and to protect the ballot-box in its free- 

 dom and in its purity. 



" If the Republican party can beat the Demo- 

 cratic party at the polls, after they have had a 

 free and fair election, we will cheerfully sub- 

 mit, but until that ballot-box is freed we intend 

 to stand us free men to make it free. Let the 

 issue come, and come now. Not a dollar of 

 appropriations should be voted until this most 

 reasonable redress of grievances is conceded." 



The Chairman : " The question recurs on the 

 amendment of the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. 

 Southard]." 



Tho committee divided, and the tellers re- 

 ported ayes 135, noes 110. 



The Chairman : " The amendment is agreed 

 to." 



The next amendment from the Committee 

 of tho Whole was read, as follows : 



After line 16, page 85, add the following: 



For defraying the expenses of the Supreme Court, 

 and circuit and district courts of the United States, in- 

 cluding the District of Columbia, and also for iurors 

 ami \\itnesses, and expenses of suits in which the 

 United States are concerned, of prosecutions for oflenses 

 ("imi.itted in violation of the laws of the United States, 

 and for the safe-keeping of prisoners, $2,800,000: 

 Provided, That the per diem pay of each juror, ^nmd 

 or petit, in any court of the United States shall be $2, 

 ioa that the lost clause of section 800 of the Revised 

 Statutes of the United States, which refers to the State 

 of Pennsylvania, and sections 820 and 821 of the Re- 

 v iM-d Statutes of tie United States are hereby repealed, 

 and that all such jurors, grand and petit, shall be pub- 

 licly drawn from a box containing the names or not 

 loss than three hundred persons possessing the quali- 

 fications prescribed in section 800 of toe Revised 

 Statutes, which names shall have been placed therein 

 by the clerk of such court and a commissioner to be 

 appointed by the jud'/e thereof, which commissioner 

 shall be a citizen residing in the district in which such 

 court is held, of good standing and a well-known mem- 



