Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1889 — WASHINGTON AFFAIRS. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON AFFAIRS.

Mr. Honk’s Flan for Bringing Congressional Elections Under Federal Sapervlsion. * the first Republican in the Fifty-first Con-, gress to come to the front with a proposed bill placing the control of. elections where Representatives to Congress are chosen in the hands of the federal government. This subject will undoubtedly create a great deal of agitation in Congress at the approaching session, and bring about the liveliest debates of any of the subjects which will be discussed. Judge Houk, be ing the oldest Republican member Lorn tho South, is prominertiy mentioned for the chairmanship of the committee on elections. His bill provides that the President shall appoint three qualified voters in each congressional district, to be known as the electoral board of the district, upon the petition of not less than one hundred qualified voters; certified by the clerk of the United States District Court, in which it is alleged that the petitioners do not believe a fair regis tration and election, or either of them, can be held in that district under State supervision. The board will appoint registrars for each precinct, to serve six years. The board shall have absolute control over the appointment of registrars,and may remove them at will for failure to discharge their duties faithfully. The electoral board may, instead of dividing the election district, provide two places for voting adjacent to each other, with two ballot-boxes, and appoint two sets of judges and clerks to receive and count the votes. The board is given instructions in the bill as to supervision, under clerks and judges for the casting and counting of votes, preventing intimidation and fraud, and in short, giving general supervision for a free ballot and a fair count. There is a provision for the canvass and recanvass of the returns and the ballots cast. The Attorney-gen-eral of the United States is instructed to prepare suitable books and blanks for the election officers. The bill is very lengthy, and gives specific instructions as to registrations and conduct of elections, and the returning of the result, so that there can D 6 no such question as conflict of State and federal authority. Civil Service Cammissioner Roosevelt has returned here and announces himself in hearty sympathy with the declarations of Commissioners Thompson and Lyman, that the persons who have been making collections for campaign purposes in the department* shall be prosecuted. He says that if the Virginia Club sends around a committee to the departments, Saturday, as has been threatened, for the purpose of collecting contributions, he will have them arrested and prosecuted. In the case of Richard Bruner, Company K., One Hundred and Thirty-third Ohio Volunteers, the Surgeon said he was prediposed to insanity when he enlisted and a pension Was refused. Now, Acting Secretary Bussey says that this is a valid ground, for if he hadn’t entered the army he might not have become insane. He will get $7,000 to $9,000 back pension. Of the $80,000,000 appropriated by the last Congress for the Pension Bureau, during the current fiscal year, over half has already been expended. An old treasury official said Thursday that the annual appropriation for pension deficiencies would this year probably amount to $25,000,000. The United States Senate, following a custom in vogue since the first meeting of that body, will decide by letting who of the Senators from the new States is elected for the long and for the short terms of service. President Harrison issued his proclamation, Saturday, declaring North Dakota and South Dakota admitted to the Union of States. The President, Friday, issued his proclamation fixing Thursday, Nov. 28, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer. Gen. Raum will personally examine all large pension claims.