Government for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1880, and for other purposes." Unable to concur with
Congress in that measure, on the 29th of May last I returned the bill
to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, without my
approval, for that further consideration for which the Constitution
provides. On reconsideration the bill was approved by less than
two-thirds of the House, and failed to become a law. The election laws
therefore remain valid enactments, and the supreme law of the land,
binding not only upon all private citizens, but also alike and equally
binding upon all who are charged with the duties and responsibilities
of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial departments of the
Government.

It is not sought by the bill before me to repeal the election laws.
Its object is to defeat their enforcement. The last clause of the
first section is as follows:

And no part of the money hereby appropriated is appropriated
to pay any salaries, compensation, fees, or expenses under
or in virtue of title 26 of the Revised Statutes, or of any
provision of said title.

Title 26 of the Revised Statutes, referred to in the foregoing clause,
relates to the elective franchise, and contains the laws now in force
regulating the Congressional elections.

The second section of the bill reaches much further. It is as follows:

SEC. 2. That the sums appropriated in this act for the persons
and public service embraced in its provisions are in full for
such persons and public service for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1880; and no Department or officer of the Government
shall during said fiscal year make any contract or incur any
liability for the future payment of money under any of the
provisions of title 26 of the Revised Statutes of the United
States authorizing the appointment or payment of general
or special deputy marshals for service in connection with
elections or on election day until an appropriation sufficient
to meet such contract or pay such liability shall have first
been made by law.

This section of the bill is intended to make an extensive and
essential change in the existing laws. The following are the
provisions of the statutes on the same subject which are now in force:

SEC. 3679. No Department of the Government shall expend in any
one fiscal year any sum in excess of appropriations made by
Congress for that fiscal year, or involve the Gove