278 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



cations of voters, and, with or without war- 

 rant, to arrest citizens at the polls. In the 

 country districts there is no such power. 



" By section 2029 of the Eevised Statutes, 

 which remains unchanged, it is expressly pro- 

 vided : ' The supervisors of election appointed 

 for any county or parish in any Congressional 

 district, at the instance of ten citizens, as pro- 

 vided in section 2011, shall have no 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, including the counting of the 

 votes and the making of a return thereof.' 



''Now, all that is proposed by this bill is, 

 that we shall equalize the powers of supervi- 

 sors everywhere in the Union make their 

 power the same in the cities that it is in the 

 country districts, the same for the Democrat 

 that it is for the Kepublican, the same for the 

 bond-holding, purse-proud man in the rural 

 districts of New York that it is for the toiling 

 masses in the city of New York, who have 

 been denounced on the floor of Congress as 

 thieves, scoundrels, and the very scum of the 

 earth. That is the full extent of the legisla- 

 tion here proposed no more. Yet when we 

 have proposed to equalize the power of super- 

 visors it has been suddenly discovered that 

 they are mere ' stool-pigeons with their wings 

 clipped.' If they are stool-pigeons, we did 

 not create them; the Republican party created 

 them, and at. the same time that they made 

 stool-pigeons with clipped wings to nestle gen- 

 tly at Eepublican polls, they created vultures 

 with fierce beaks and sharpened talons to hov- 

 er around Democratic precincts and to tear the 

 vitals of Democratic voters. We simply de- 

 mand that the law shall be equalized. "We 

 leave the supervisors as we found them. We 

 do not even change their pay, lest perchance 

 it should be said that we recognized the con- 

 stitutionality of their appointment, which we 

 utterly deny. We leave them the same in the 

 South that they are to-day, not because it is 

 right, but because we do not desire to demand 

 upon an appropriation bill anything that is not 

 vital and immediately essential for the preser- 

 vation of civil liberty. That is all there is in 

 this bill as to supervisors of elections." 



Mr. Atkins demanded the previous question 

 an the passage of the bill ; and the question 

 was taken as follows : 



YEAS Acklen, Aiken, Armfield, Atherton, Atkins, 

 Backman, Beale, Beltzhoover, Bicknell, Blackburn, 

 Bliss, Bragg, Bright, Buckner, Cabell, Caldwell, Car- 

 lisle, Chalmers, Clardy, Alvah A. Clark, John B. 

 Clark, ir., Clymer, Cobb, Coffroth, Colerick, Con- 

 verse, Cook, Covert, Cravens, Culberson, Davidson, 

 Joseph J. Davis, Lowndes H. Davis, De La Matyr, 

 Deustcr, Dibrell, Dickey, Dunn, Elam, Ellis, Evins, 

 Ewing. Felton, Fmley, Forney, Frost, Geddes, Gib- 

 son, Gillette, Goode, Gunter, N. J. Hammond, Hatch, 

 Henkle, Henry, Herbert, Herndon, Hill, Hostetler, 

 House, Hull, Hunton, Kurd, Johnston, Jones, Kenna, 

 Kimmel, King, Kitchin, Klotz.Knott, Le Fevre,_Lewis, 

 Lounsbery, Lowe, Manning, Benjamin F. Martin, Ed- 

 ward L. Martin, McKenzie, McLane, McMillan, Mills, 

 Money, Morrison, Muldrow, Muller, Murch, Myers, 



New, Nicholls, O'Connor, O'Reilly, Persons, Phelps, 

 Phister.Poehler, Eeagan, John S. Eichardson, Rich- 

 mond, Kobertson, Eoss, Rothwell, John W. Ryon, 

 Samford. Sawyer, Scales, Shelley, Simonton, James 

 W. Singleton, 0. E. Singleton, Siemens, Hezekiah B. 

 Smith, William E. Smith, Sparks, Speer, Springer, 

 Steele, Stephens, Stevenson, Talbott, Thompson. Till- 

 man, E. W. Townshend. Tucker, Oscar Turner, Thom- 

 as Turner, Vance, Waddill, Warner, Weaver,_ Well- 

 born. Whiteaker, Whitthorne. Thomas Williams, 

 Willis, Wise, Fernando Wood, Wright, Yocum, Ca- 

 sey Young 140. 



"NAYS -Nelson W. Aldrich, William Aldrich, An- 

 derson, Bailey, Baker, Barber, Barlow, Bayne, Bel- 

 ford, Bingham, Blake, Bowman,Boyd, Brewer, Briggs, 

 Brigharn, Browne, Burrows, Butterworth, Calkins, 

 Camp, Cannon, Carpenter, Caswell, Claflin, Eush 

 Clark, Conger, Cowgill, Crapo, Da^gett, George E. 

 Davis, Deenng, Dunuell, Dwight, Errett, Far, Fer- 

 don, Field. Fisher, Ford, Fort, Frye, Garfield, God- 

 shalk, Hall, John Hammond, Harmcr, Benjamin W. 

 Harris, Haskell, Hawk, Hawley, Hayes, Heilman, 

 Henderson, Hiscock, Hubbell, Humphrey, James, 

 Jorgensen, Joyce, Keifer, Kelley, Ketcham, Killinger, 

 Lapham, Linasey. Loring. Marsh, Joseph J. Martin, 

 Mason, McCoid, McCook, McGowan, McKinley, Miles, 

 Miller, Mitchell. Monroe, Morton, Neal, Newberry, 

 Norcross, O'Neill, Osmcr, Ovcrton, Pierce, Pound, 

 Prescott. Price, Reed, Rice, D. P. Richardson, Rob- 

 inson, William A. Russell, Thomas Ryan, Sapp, Shal- 

 lenberger, Sherwin, A. Herr Smith, Starin^ Thomas, 

 Amos Townsend, Tyler, J. T. Updegraff, Thomas 

 Updegraff, Urner, Valentine. Van Aernam, Van Voor- 

 his, Voorhis, Wait, Ward, Washburn, White, Wilber, 

 C. G. Williams, Willits, Walter A. Wood, Thomas L. 

 Young 119. 



In the Senate, on April 24th, the bill was 

 considered. 



Mr. Conkling of New York said : " Why now 

 should there be an attempt to block the wheels 

 of government on the eve of an election at 

 which this whole question is triable before the 

 principals and masters of us all ? The answer 

 is inevitable. But one truthful explanation 

 can be made of this daring enterprise. It is a 

 political, a partisan manoauvre. It is a strike 

 for party advantage. With a fair election and 

 an honest count, the Democratic party can not 

 carry the country. These laws, if executed, 

 insure some approach to a fair election. There- 

 fore they stand in the way, and therefore they 

 are to be broken down. I reflect upon no man's 

 motives, but I believe that the sentiment which 

 finds expression in the transaction now pro- 

 ceeding in the two Houses of Congress has its 

 origin in the idea I have stated. I believe that 

 the managers and charioteers of the Democratic 

 party think that with a fair election and a fair 

 count they can not carry the State of New 

 York. They know that with unrestrained 

 course, such as existed in 1868, to the ballot- 

 box and count, no matter what majority may 

 be given in that State where the green grass 

 grows, the great cities will overbalance and 

 swamp it. They know that with the ability to 

 give eighty, ninety, one hundred thousand ma- 

 jority in the county of New York and the 

 county of Kings, half of it fraudulently added, 

 it is idle for the three million people living 

 above the Highlands of the Hudson to vote. 

 This is a struggle for power. It is a fight for 

 empire. It is a contrivance to clutch the Na- 



