Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1915 — THE ROBERTS IMPEACHMENT [ARTICLE]

THE ROBERTS IMPEACHMENT

Bv a vote of 7 to H the council ot Terre Haute voted that Roberts was guilty on thirteen charges, and removed him, from office. Councilman Monninger asked a Roberts attorney whether he thought that "a city of fid, oo, i inhabitants should be governe;! ,jy a man who is serving sentence in prison on conviction of a! felony," and said further, "we are' «*?t kicking Roberts out of. offieeJ tlie Caited district court didj that." The only question—and this is largely technical—is whether Tni-j peachment was necessary in order: to vacate the office. The. governor j of the state apparently thinks not, t; for Saturday he appointed a successor to Tommy Smith, late judge of! the Terre Haute city court, who has not been impeached. Governor Ralston is said to hold that as Smith was a municipal officer, his conviction in the federal court automatically removed him .from office. He certainly has, in appointing a successor, acted on that theory. Nevertheless, it is greatly to the credit of Terre Haute and its council that the Roberts case was so promptly dealt with. No community could submit to the shame of having its government administered from a prison cell. Not only that, hut it would not consent even to have it suspected that it approved such a thing. So the vote of the council of Terre Haute will do much to set the city and its people right with the world. Of course, Roberts was never fit "to be mayor. The evidence given

during the recent trial only served to show hoiv terribly unfit he was. But it should never be forgotten tHat the system of which he was the inspiration will always work out into substantially the same results.That must be utterly destroyed and rcoted out if we are ever in this country to have anything approaching decent municipal government. But for that system Roberts could not have maintained himself for twenty-four hours. Jt was that, indeed, that made it impossible to (leal wrh him in the local courts. Mid necessitated an appeal to the federal authority. But for Judge Anderson and District Attorney Dailey, Roberts would still, as far as any one can see, lie mayor of Terre Haute. But now, a- we have said before, the city has i s chance. It can clean itself up if it cares to do so. A UO> d beginning has been made in the impeachment of Roberts. The >.ew mayor promises well. We trust that he will live up to his promises, ■ nd that the people will sustain him. 7 lie ground has been cleared. It is for the people to say whether they will build thereon. It ’is possible low to make Terre Haute as decent as it lias heretofore been shameless. If is at least rid of Donii Roberts.— Indianapolis News.