Deseret News | 1875-03-24 | Page 2 | Appropriations for Contested Election Expenses

appropriations for contested election expenses 1 I in the B S house of representatives in comm committee idea idee of the whole march 1 an amendment t to the sundry civil appropriation bellap vailous various sums to thirteen c contestants onte stants and contesters cont estees for their expenses in election contests was offered by mr smith of itow I pow tow ew york and the tile following is a part of the d discussion which ensue das reported in the fhe congressional record mr SMITH of new york I 1 desire to say a single word in support of the amendment the committee on elections has adopted the rul rui rule ruie in making these eions to recommend the payment of the expenses irr iff no case except where the committee was unanimous in 0 us I 1 spaying wa that the tho committee went upon the principle r of making no he recommendation except where the committee was unanimously of opinion that thau the contest was instituted in good faith and for probable cause and I 1 submit that the house can cart adhere to the rule which the committee has adopted with perfect safety there seems to be mr chairman a misapprehension a to tiie the amendment ot or the law in the ilie last jast congress there was nu provision of law that these exper rs es should not be paid under any circumstances but in an appropriation billa clause was inserted that these expenses should not be paid out of the contingent fund of the house there were very good reasons for this the law P prescribes re scribes that tho the coni fund of the house should only be used to pay the ordinary expenses of the house whereas the expenses of the contestant and contested conte were not among uong tho the erdl nary expenses of the house now mr air chairman I 1 have only to say that it has been tho thi traditional policy of the tho government for nearly a hundred indred lit ift years to pay the expenses of the parties coming liere here in good faith falth and with probable cause to contest for seats in this house it was only I 1 id ri the lasu last as t congress that the provision slon sion was adopted that these expenses should not be paid out of the contingent fund fetid and this amendment or provision was wa adopted 1 without debate the de debates bates baths ln id jhb globe otobe will show that this que aue question stion hasl hats beell been yip liw up lip for consideration overa od over ove r andover andover again and the leaders of the trouse H ouse and the fhe Ablest leit stilt statesmen estren of the house honse bl hava ave thought public polley policy demanded that W we osh eSh should ouid odId en encourage courso e contests not them where instituted u upon pon won probable cause in the interest of the purity of the ballet box and i the purity of this honse house mr GARFIELD ganfield I 1 desiro sim ply single single word wod won in reply to th from new yew york After Uhe ahe very deliberate opinion expressed by the committee on elections of iome gome four fourbears years aco ago ago when the gentleman fr from m iowa lowa air mr mccrary mccraryjr was chairman of that committee that it wag was foun d to be a 6 very vicious practice to pay contestants the expenses of their contests and that contests were gotten up more for the sake eake of odthe the pay than for anything ng else and a very jarge large number of contests was thrown upon the house overburdening our calendar with work and our contingent ent fund with drafts to meet all that it gasthen wa declared and hud ma made madd 16 a the law as the deliberate judgment of that congress that contestants should not be paid waid of course if ir il a con contestant getchis gets his seat then he gets hitpas his pay as a member of congress now here is an art amendment which puts petg in a group alithe aalthe all nil the men I 1 bel bei bellemey believe levey thad thac have been meli unsuccessful contestants chilt in this Congi congress eks eis lir mr lad hjamar lar you are mis taken amr fr SMITH of new york it includes thirteen out of thirty four mr mi GARFIELD the amend amond trient includes a very large number we lare iare are asked to put on thirteen men without diacri mi nation without statin stating which man has a ca clear e ar case and W which has a less clear weare we are asked to put nil all in a lump and ap prop riale for them and thus substantially sd ly and virtually break down the jaw law which has been established so deliberately on that subject changing the policy of four years jeet tind ain again aln the whole sub mr afre 1 SPEER I 1 desire to say that there are some cases of contestants ami perhaps of contesters cont estees who should be belta bejia paid id at least in my judgment bub but to ta put hem them together in an omnibus amendment to this thia bill lii ill and force the house hoube to vote to pay all these men or against paying theu thed all is unfair to the meu men who should bo be paid and unfair to ibb the house rouse aa as to the mentho men who should not be paid take the case of the delegate from flom utah mr cannon who is not embraced in this thia amendment his seat was contested he received votes out of and yet he was wad put to the expense of taking testimony and securing counsel and the committee on elections did not put puh his name on this list although of all the contests before the house his was the most fraudulent and groundless I 1 11 find upon this list the name hame of mr hodges of arkansas whose right to his seat has not yet been beian ined by the house there is a majority report of the committee in his favor and a minority report agal agai against dist fist him but the house houe has not yet determined that he is entitled to his seat and yet we are ard asked to pay him in addition to his compau i bation as a member and his bis mile age the sum of for the contest I 1 only cite this thi case to show that thal it is manifestly unjust that men nien who are entitled to bo be paid should be weighed down by carrying tue the burden of other men wild who have no merit in thein their cases and should not receive one dollar jt it 14 i unfair to tho the house toco us to vote against men mend who have merit in their claim in order to strike at have ha not but bubl bubi I 1 would rather stand by the thel law of bf the them last jast congress I 1 would rather rathel rdo do v wrong rong to individuals and trust to the tile future to remedy it than do wrong to my conscience and to the people by giving additional compensation to men who tevel nevel had teny any just claim and aud who havo have prosecuted prosecute ct or vt resisted contests from tho tho the most fraudulent and frivolous considerations let iet each case caso stand on its own merits and be fully considered and not be rushed through at this hour of the night and anid of the session I 1 here elere the hammer fell mr mccrary 1 I move to strike but outtie ahti last tast word mr Ch chairman airmail I 1 am very reluctant to aniag antagonize anize the committee on klec elec chions action and I 1 should not do so were it not for the fact that during the whole of last congress I 1 struggled to incorporate into law a provision against the paying of contestants in these cases their expenses itla it ia true that that provision of the statute only goes V to the extent of prohibiting the payment hy by the he house out bf dofita its contingent fund of these expenses it went to that extent only because lct itt would have been useless 0 have gone gune fu ithen further As a matter of course it is in the power of congress at inny time oby eby by joint action of the two houses to td appropriate money morley for this or any other purpose and arid therefore apro a provision that no contestant should be paid by an air appropriation by con corf gress gross would have havu been entirely nugatory so far an controlling aily any future congress is concern concerned ed the gentleman from new york mr mi r smith says that th atthe the provision to which I 1 have referred was adopted withee witheat u t debate it is true that at the time tune it was vaa actually incorporated into an appropriation bill there was no debater debate but therm there had been frequent debates during the last congress Coh gress iu in which this whole thoroughly di cussed by a number of gentlemen on the floor and if it gentlemen will take uhe the pains to examine the debates they will find in those debates a statement prepared by tho clerk of the house houe showing tle tie all sum of money that had been paid as expenses iu in these con cou contested teste delea delec d elec elea tion cases amounting in the forty fotty second congress to considerably more than and in the Forty horty third congress to the ame fame amount it had become an abuse the committee Committe eon on elections Election sin in the tile last congress werd wera satisfied that iti ill a great many instances co contests ite ats ati had been instituted more mere fon foe the tho purpose of making money thac thao ifon ifor for fon any other reason A L I 1 know very well the tho aule of t the tie house was then precisely what the gentleman from new ew york mr smith says it ought I 1 to be he now to pay only cause of contest but it is very difficult to discriminate between the man who has baa probable cause and the man who has not there thore sult suit wiit wilt be that in every case ease with perhaps a very few exceptions tho the conte coute contestant stanl will obtain his hid expenses expenses if heis hels he is paid when ho he falesto falls to ligh lish his right of course you will pay the sitting member who succeeds in establishing Ms his riger I 1 do not believe it I 1 ia necess necessary arv in order to encourage men to assert their rights to a babin n this house that th this is promise of jeward reward sa s1 should be heid held out to them thorn jf a man has an honest case me if ho he believes bell beli eves evvs he has a right to a h beatin seat in the congress of the united states he will assert h his I 1 9 right t and take his chances of making good his claim in case he succeeds he receives his hia pay from the commencement of the congress mr sir SMITH of new york how hw much did your committee oil on elections allow during the last congressi congress mr mccrary the committee of which I 1 was chairman allowed a large sum eum according to the rules established by preceding congresses but we abolished the practice of paying contestants as far as we could possibly pos pes sibly do so mr maynard RD I 1 irise rise to oppose the amendment to theLmen the amendment dment for the purpose of saying that instead of embarrassing embar assing or limiting the contesting of elections we ought rather to td Nelli facilitate tate tato it it is the great grent means of keeping the ballot box ox pure of protecting the elective franchise if you lay down the rule ruie herd for all time to come cume that every man who contests a seat does BO so at his own cost coat yon yog you will find a great many men in the country who will be unable out of their own pockets to pay even 1000 to eay nothing of to carry on a contest for a seat here bere there will then be simply a of ous officers to and alid seat the man that jirlds at lt knowing that that will practically settle bettle the case and one can cau ap con test success successfully fulli with without out money to do so if we have a committee on el elections c that is worthy the name tha thi it t t has any title or claim to that high position in the house after they have heard the ln investigation they can tell whether the contest was made honestly and in good faith or whether it IV was a amere mere colorable pretext for the burp purpose ose of mak ing mon monek money while JD I have been beeb h here ere I 1 tave have known I 1 know nob not how many instances of the tho committie reporting that the tha contestant should not be paid and tie he wa was not baid paid and many have paid to this day mr SMITH denew of new york the committee on elections has ke reported resorted iq favor of only thirteen thir teen teed coni coil i te es tants out of thirty four there are aro perhaps two others othera that the committee will lier ller hereafter earter A the amendment to the tha amen amend ia r benl t was not dot agreed to i i mr of massachusetts move to strike out the thu six last words in order to bring to the attention of the committee A view of this matter which has ilas struck me as one worthy of their consider con cou sidera sidena 3 tion lion if the house shuts dewri en on upon paying the expenses af pf ainan a man who contests a seat then we will aud one more abre to the things which havo have a tendency to bring 1 only rich men into Con congress grew grem ri rich bich ch men can contest seats but bur poor cannot tile the por deser deserving ying man who is the choice of f ills his fellow citizens and it may berof the poorer li oon class of or his fellow citizens citizen who has been cheated by the rivalry a anu ana na corrupt practices of the rich man will not be able to get met the thel seat that to him bec because lle tie cannot pay the expenses he cannot get the money as us he can do now how for he ean can buor nor nom say tu ills his friends raise the money for foe me and I 1 shall have it reimbursed 1 too toj me by t the rouse house ouse fr nr I 1 h have a v Q a au U honet honest case caseyy elections to the other branch of bf congress cong re sa I 1 lave now become nothing more snore than the result of represent athe caucuses herm here are the representatives of the people and anything that keeps the tho ballot box free fred that puts the poor man on an equal footing with the rich so far as his rights are com cont berned that take takes away the advantage which the tile rich mau has iu in matters of election ought to be bis cherished in thi house however ll drever much mue MUL 11 the expense may be ien len osum m in my judgment can be better expended 11 I 1 call the attention of this side of the house heuse to tile the fact that hereafter afterpe aft erwe we may be contestants much mord often than we have been we are setting an example to theother the othen other side of the we house which when they come into power t hope they will vill not follow I 1 say again it seems ta to me that true democratic demo bratic republicanism rep ubil requires us to see to the poorest man if he has a a good case depase to bring before the house shall be sure to have an opportunity to present that case mr arr ran nAN RANDALL bandall DALL dald does the gentleman believe that his side of the house has done that during the last twelve years mr air of easme massachusetts h isetts we have mr air RANDALL KANDAL Tj does the gen tieman mean to say that bid hid side bide of the house has lias decided election cases upon its merits mr BUTLER of massachusetts 0 no I 1 nev never r saw an election contest decided on its merits anywhere RANDALL mr Afir RAND ALIj I 1 believe belleve you will see chatin the next house mr air BUTLER of massachusetts T blame ausetts hu I 1 have observed that the them democratic minority here always vote for the democratic democrat tle tie applicant fora forra seat while the republicans republic am being in a majority generally vote for the republican applicant except a few men who claim to be bo more cautious or more virtuous thaw than the rest I 1 think generally the vote such cases ea ba bai i been according to party predilections 4 the amendment of mr butler of massachusetts to the amend amond amend amond ment was not agreed to nir air HYNES icove to amend the amendment adding the fol owin i provided that nu no sitting m member who shall be unseated before the expiration of congress shall be been en i titled to the tiie betl beti benefit elit eilt of this tilis app appropriation to pria tion X I 1 offer this proviso to meet the objection which has haa been raised by the gen gentleman gentilman from r pennsylvania I 1 mr speer so the amendment amandine nt was was