CONGRESS. (TiiE PRESIDENT'S MEMAOB.) 



ruction of dams or canals, but should 



work to such surveys and observations as 

 rmine the water simply, both surface and 

 ican, the areas capable of irrigation, and the 

 and storage capacity of reservoir.,. Thi.s 

 use ol' the water and of the reservoir sites 

 1 i the respective States or Territories, 



ividuals or associations, upon the condition 

 . works should be constructed and 

 r furnished at fair rates, without diserimina- 



rates to be subject t" supervision by the 



,rcs, or by boards of water commissioners 

 instituted. The essential thing to be seemed 

 ominoii and equal use at fair rates of the ac- 

 nuhitcd water supply. It wen- almost better that 



<e lands should remain arid than that those who 

 upy them should become the slaves of unrestrained 

 no|ili,.s eontrollillir the one essential element Ot 

 1 values and crop results. 



he use of the telegraph by the Post-office Depart- 

 it its a means tor the rapid transmission of written 

 municatioiis is, 1 believe, upon proper terms quite 

 lc. The (Government docs not own or operate 

 the railroads, and it should not, I think, own or oper- 

 ate the telegraph lines. It does, howvv er, seem to be 

 uitc practicable for the Government to contract with 

 telegraph companies, as it docs with the railroad 

 jpanics, to cum at specified rates such communi- 

 ons as the senders may designate for this method 

 transmission. I recommend that such legislation 

 enacted as will enable the Post-otliee It partment 

 ly to test by experiment the advantages of such a 

 of the telegraph. 



If any intelligent and loyal company of American 

 '/.ens were required to catalogue the essential hu- 

 n conditions of national life, I do not doubt that 

 th absolute unanimity they would begin with "free 

 honest elections." And it is gratifying to know 

 generally there is a growing ana nonpartisan 

 and for better election laws. But against this 

 of hope and progress must be set the depressing 

 undeniable fact that election laws and methods 

 sometimes cunningly contrived to secure minor- 

 control, while violence completes the shortcom- 

 s of t'raud. 



n my last annual message I suggested that the 

 lopmciit of the existing law providing a Fed- 

 supervision of congressional elections offered an 

 ivo method of reforming these abuses. The 

 of such a law has manifested itself in many 

 t'the country, and its wholesome restraints and 

 penalties will be useful in all. The constitutionality 

 of such legislation has been affirmed by the Supreme 

 Court. Its probable effectiveness is evidenced by the 

 character of the opposition that is made to it. It has 

 been denounced us if it were a new exercise of Fed- 

 eral power and an invasion of the rites of the States. 

 Nothing could be further from the truth. '"' -~ 



already fixed the time for the election of mem- 

 t 'undress. It hds declared that votes for mem- 

 bers ot' Congress must be by written or printed bal- 

 lot ; it has provided for the appointment by the cir- 

 cuit court in certain cases, and upon the petition of a 

 certain number of citizens, of election supervisors, 

 and made it their duty to supervise the registration 

 " voters conducted by the State officers; to ehal- 

 i persons offering to register; to personally in- 

 and scrutinize the registry lists, and to affix 

 their names to the lists for the purjMwc of identifica- 

 tion and the prevention of frauds ; to attend at elec- 

 tions and remain with the boxes till the votes are all 

 ca.st and counted ; to attach to the registry lists and 

 election returns any statement touching the accuracy 

 and fairness of the registry and election, and to take 

 and transmit to the Clerk of the House of Represent 

 atives any evidence of fraudulent practices which 

 may lie presented to them. The same law provides 

 for the appointment of deputy United States mar- 

 shals io attend at the polls, support the supervisors 

 in the discharge of their du ics, and to arrest peryono 

 violating the election laws. The provisions of tl.ifl 

 VOL. xxxi. 14 A 



familiar title of the Revised Statutes have been put 



into exercise by both the great jxilitical part.. 



in tin North as well an in the Booth, by the- filing 



with the court of the petitloiiM required by the law. 



It i not, therefore, a question whether we hhull 

 have a Federal election law, for we now hu. 

 and have had for nearly twi-ntv yean*, but whether 

 we .shall have an effective law. Tin- present law stop* 

 just short of ell ccii vcness, for it Hum-ndi-m to the local 

 authorities all control over the classification which 

 establishes the prima facie right to a scat in th 

 House of Representatives. This defect should bo 

 cured. Equality of representation and the parity of 

 the electors m list be maintained, or everything that 

 is valuable in our system of government is lost. The 

 qualifications of an elector must be sought in the law, 

 not in the opinions, prejudices, or fears of any claws, 



however powerful. The path of the elector" to the 



ballot box must be free from the ambush of fVar and 

 the enticements of fraud ; the count so true and open 

 that none shall gainsay it. Such a law should be 

 absolutely nonpartisan and impartial. It should give 

 the advantage to honesty and the control to major- 

 ities. Surely there is nothing sectional about this 

 creed, and, if it shall happen that the penalties of lawn 

 intended to enforce these rights fall here and not 

 there, it is not because the law is sectional, but be- 

 cause, happily, crime is local and not universal. Nor 

 should it be forgotten that every law, whether relat- 

 ing to elections or to any other subject, whether en- 

 acted by the State or by 'the nation, has force behind 

 it; the courts, the marshal or constable, the pome 

 co'initatiis, the prison, are all and always behind the 

 law. 



One can not be justly charged with unfriendliness 

 to any section or class who seeks only to restrain vio- 

 lations of law and of personal right. No community 

 will find lawlessness profitable. No community can 

 afford to have it known that the officers who are 

 charged with the preservation of the public peace and 

 tin restraint of the criminal classes are themselves 

 the product of fraud or violence. The magistrate is 

 then without respect and the law without sanction. 

 The floods of lawlessness can not be leveed and made 

 to run in one channel. The killing of a United States 

 marshal carrying a writ of arrest for an election of- 

 fense is full of prompting and suggestion to men who 

 are pursued by a city marshal for a crime against life 

 or property. 



But it is said that this legislation will revive race 

 animosities, and some have even suggested that when 

 the peaceful methods of fraud an; made impossible 

 they may be supplanted by intimidation and violence. 

 If the proposed law gives to any qualified elector, by 

 a hair's weight, more than his equal influence, or de- 

 tracts by so much from any other qualified elector, it 

 is fatally impeached. Bnflftha law is equal and the 

 animosities it is to evoke grow out of the fact that 

 some electors have been accustomed to exercise the 

 franchise for others as well as for themselves, then 

 these animosities ought not to be confessed without 

 shame, and can not be given any weight in the dis- 

 cussion without dishonor. No choice is left to mo 

 but to enforce with vigor all laws intended to secure 

 to the citizen his constitutional rights, and to recom- 

 mend that the inadequacies of such laws be promptly 

 remedied. If to promote with zeal and ready interest 

 every project for the development of its material in- 

 terests, its rivers, harbors, mine.s, and factories, and 

 the intelligence, peace, and security under the law of 

 iimunities and its home, is not accepted as 

 sufficient evidence of friendliness to any State or sec- 

 tion, I can not add connivance at election practices 

 that not only disturb local results, but rob the electors 

 of other States and sections of their most priceless 

 political rights. 



The preparation of the general appropriation bill* 

 should DO conducted with the greatest enro aiu^tho 

 closest scrutiny of expenditures. Appropriations 

 should be adequate to the needs of tho public service, 

 but they should be absolutely free from prodigality. 



