Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1887 — THE RECENT LEGISLATURE. [ARTICLE]

THE RECENT LEGISLATURE.

The Crosby high-license bill j which lias passed the New York (Jeneral Assembly, applies to the cities of New York and Brooklyn, it provides for four grades of I’eense, ranging in price from £IOO $ £I,OOO. nr wnunar mum To oppose the prohibition party Is iiot to oppose the prohibition principle* by any manner •.;£ int ans.! In fact the reverse statement, that t-'-oppose the prohibition party is -.• > favor prohibition would be quite ■ '.;s near the .truth. The pn hibit ! ■ party has never'eeour; .1 a sin_’lu advanced ..temperance stslutcl hi any. state, and has Prove, tiled ; them in many way \ . . | -.■ . j • X; would he easy, for the Ecpub- :' rn party to do worse next year vkan to nominate John Sherman: and mighty hard for it to do better: ‘At lias been truly sail, he Would make a clean, wise j well advised and x>atriotie candidate. Ami after the experience of both Republican and Democratic parties taring the last 20 years, it is r.; rood deal in his favor that he is! 5 fefcperihient. Hikls .time tried and llxe-tystcvl; and the people know just what he is ami where to find him. I - The constitution of the siaie ; rovides that the pay of State Sonr. vkes no extra allowance to. Senators while they are. acting as PreshViii -of the Senate, >et Ctrcon S.r.ith. the usurper, issued and signed warrants in his. /own- favor, i ailing v- r eight dollars a day, for the whole session. The total amount thus sought to be stolen was. £l2O, but the Auditor of the State properly refused to pay more than Ee waa h entitled to. - , ■ P. T. Bamuin, the great showmac, always affirm and consistent advocate of feinperarfee, andbfahy laws which be bcdieves woatd : advance that, vital reform, was at one time an active advocate: of eiattrt :y prohibition;-but the practical workings of the law in Connecticut and other eastern states, kaveconyineed him that local option and high tax are the post practicable methods of dealing with the problem at present. Mr.' Banmm gives his opinion c£ the third party prohibition movement, in mimistaLable language. He says: .* TI go against it always. It does more Hurt than good. I have been asked to run for President by this party ‘more than once, but the #? ,e . movement meets my disapprobation. I- shall never give a penny to help the liquor-sellers through a politico-temp* ranee craani&ition. I think the honest temperance men who have it will yet live to see their mistake. j

Readme gif the. Salient Fea-* turcs of tlic Momcr;(b:o Session of 1887 ! 71c RejMi’vc P&skicns of the. Confe.:dm|r. Parties .ts Viay/od from the Stand- ;• ' * cf n Cor.3t : 'vt:a-.»i Lauytr. •l to : til..lit n BUC AN !.■; »| (•: . - -■ : ’ V ' ! Vi . it do 1 think of the- Legisht- i tuioV Well to begin with, it was h Democratic Legislature. That fact must nqt be forgotten. Jiy force of an infamous .gerrymander, and election frauds, the Democratic party seeured a majority of the-; iueiabtil'fl of thti General Assembly, i and by revoiutiouai y and bull- j doling methodic, it maiutained iliat j majority, during-the entire j So, de facto, it was a Democratic Le gislature, and it. acted like a Democratic Legislature might be expected to do under the. circumstances. The 1 1 ejiubIicaii asseiubTyrneu stood not only for the ltepubliean j party, but for the people of the State, and the people everywhere, who believe in the right of the people to govern tin Effselves. Tinreal question at the- bottom of the controversy is'one of the utmost 1 importance. It goes to the very ! e- re of our system of government. It is rot n personal question between 1 Licli huhiiit>.on and' flieen Simtlic If it were, it would be a question J of no great significance, and the ! people might well say in honed, indignation, ‘'a plague, on botli I your houses.” It is a question above and beyond all mere personal, or party considerations. It is question of the sovereignty of j the people; it is a question of the ; right, of the majority to rule. The j people didn't hold an election last : fall for Lieut. Governor just for fun. It \\ ms-for keeps. All parties j were agreed that there should be nmelection and ail parties put c:mdidateg m the fitdd. Lveryouo v\>led or limi the opportunity to vole for that qliice. C« rtainly every ' D.-mov vatic' judge, every Democratic assemblyman r.ud every iiemoen.lic'politician in the State vded ft r < Lier.tehi'.ut-Gpyernbr. UsiV, -L . v red 0 !. ■ l . Sett it i “s.tuiT.p'.c.i -and vote d fur theD. m- ] ocratic luuionee.. The eleet-ion yas • an open, public matter. It was! a fair and free election and ‘every j body had his “say” in it. The ] voice of the TJospio was heard in the result No one was harmed, or wronged by ih The office., of ■ I.ievtonan'.-Governor is an elective ■ cilice, and the person whom the people had elected at.the [.receding election, had vacated the oitieo, and S!i the peo[)}e at the call of all ]iolitteal'•parties elected Col. llobert*sou to til! the vacancy. . It is according to oar sysb m of government, that all vacancies in elective offices shall be filled by , eieclibJi'r.t.Uie 'fii-Trt-genera 1 elec tioii next.fv-llowing. it is of tire essence of our government, that the people shall choose their cflibefore the ikipreme C. Upon this subject matter, if has been held, that the question involved one, r.v d; o‘ut-itfe thc ; iy wi-thin. jthe; jur isdiction- of the I Legislature; that- being purely ft | political question, and upt at all a judicial one, it must be determin|cd by:the Legislature, - . tno poiiti- ! cal body nTarcet ' to and fresliest i from the people. The legislators i are the? repreeeiuut-ives of the peo- ;,])!•', - ehted'by them -to represent them. .The legislature is an orig.'U'.ie. co-ordinate part of the Shite g .v----ornment, sad it is scvcve'ga and *saprt.ine withm its own sphere. This peteciion, -ttre Supreme Court l.a - -said, i was eichisiydy within the jurisdiction l of the Legislature. The-people had J simken. They hntl elected a Ihi-atcn--1 ant guvofßep. The people made the fV.nstltuthui, and by this election they ex.rossed their censtnietioa of it as ' regards tte c-leetien of tdnutenasvgofercor. The people had in ctli ct said that under the constitution Lucre, wits ;an ejection for that office. It being a poh'.ii ai (juestioa, their construction is . entitled to thp caiisaitration. So it being a political question, the final determination of which is lodged in the Legislature, and the Legislature being | the reprgsectafive of the people, it was , tiie duty of the Legislature to re cog-ni.-’e. adopt, rind confirm the action and construction of tlio people As representatives of the peojde’ the legislators 1 had no right to question the right ot ; the people to elect a Lieutenaut-Gover-nor, the people having asserted and exercised that right- The people i:stitisr spoken, it was their duty to heed their voice. Toe p. epic havi; g sail should be an election, their represi-ivta-tivesin tfae Legislature Lad us right to call it in question. On such a quastion I the legislators are bound by the con--

stmetion and action of the people, in ' their sovereign capacity. Under the c aistitutiun the pqopfecsn ••ins'.n:-:." their .representatives. The | election in it»li was an instruction of the people to the Legislators upon the question :as- to. whether fibexo should j have boon an ejection.'. 14 It is a rule of thefronsttiueli ui t>f on- ! stHutlona wad .auiuie.i a hut t <>onteih-p->- - I raennus action, practice or cn.itmn. dor them is re -oguized, by the Courts, as a construction and interpretation of their intent nijjl raoaning, Tbp acUbn l of the people in holding the election is - constructionTiy llio people of the con-j stiunion-, on this subject matter, w'hich ; under all fho eircumstuncos, cannot j justly be ignored. - j It i* also a rule of construction, that j a law is not to bo declared hneonstiiu- ; tiooal uni Ss’it clearly and manifestly so appears. All doubts arc to bo resolved in favor of its conStflutioi) ality. i >'.'TMfTy'the p,cop!c should have the he a- 1 THTTOf th« of ties r,S3 Tim election .solemnly made by tJie peonle should not be set aside as uucbnstiUitfopkl unless it is manifestly’ so. All', dppbts must'be resolved in favor of the j peep!e ttm\ srHn favor of the | These rules would govern tho courts. If] tiie quosliou could be brought before them. but manifestly tiie Legislature had no right to doubt; or dally with the question. So far as that body was concerned. the question was settled The pro-' pic in thoir sovereign capacity had said theft.) should lie an election and had field it. Tbe-r representativei, in tho■Legislativo ak=omb*y, had - no riglifCJopen it. or consider it. It was their function to declare who was elected Lieutehaht-goFernor, but it was not within their functions to decide whether there should have been an election or not. As between the Legislature and the people, upon such a question, the people speak by aud with authority to the Legislature and as to such matters the Legislature is the servant of the people, not their judge. In ignoring that election the Demo, erotic party was billing with the .people. It is.playing with Sro. L is not the first lium that party has said.by its a'/Hons, that the >km >p-- bag an > vi ghte=4t is bound to li’xpe.d. The -ac.tior of the I'eiuoeratie party, io this mnttifj is in line with i.ts action in every st&to it controls. It is the Democrati:! of “rule or ruic.'-' It h imblinJ first elec-, -4tom-t4my hhve refu-t-f—Ho -a«bmit-Atr-But lLuirb 'ii li’;e i!toy never learn. To ■ tho. I)emoer atic: party,' there is - nothing sacred about an ehetion. To carry elections it has entered into an aiilanco with fraud, Imgcry ami force. In the solid South, where Democracy grows rank and abundant ns tropical weeds, there are no elections in fact—there are only elections in name. Of late years, ele tion frauds have occurred id the Northern States with alarming fre-quen cv. They are now ail around about us j and amongst us. Ciueiimati, Chicago, I Columbus and Indianapolis have fur- • nished the .most recent examples,. Tl- ; legal voting, fal-c counts, stuffing bal--1 a coming- common 'occurrence.-:-, and tno inevitable incidents of elections; ; They are coming io bo recognized Dcinj obi-alio methods. The Democratic par.ly mmopulizeZiiLLLii, ' au'-d holds tham” 1 under ietters-pattpt as thojr sole, orig- : inal and ibstanvyhlcr. 1. In lndiamA- Lbo. Tluuocratio^. Icaijers ■ states. Mere they have absolutely ig- | nored an election dub. hid and holden, and in which/they took part. Here ; they-deny, the right ot the- people-to i hold an ticc iou uL all. 1 The principle issue in the next can- <[ vas^M—- in this . state will | be, whether the people have any i rights which tic Democratic party is ■j b und to respect. Tire Ipeeplo of- this 1 country have got to defeat the Denimj cFatic party or it will dcst“oy our form ; ot government. It is a constant menace : to our institutions. : Uda.ui.es L. Uolstihx, j Indianapolis, March ”otb, 16‘-7. .

senator E. B. Sellers, of Monti- | cello, lias been appointed. U. S. j District Attorney, to succeed David Turpie, who resigned :in hopes tnat he could I yet be able to sneak into the seat j in the Senate, to which lie claims ;,to have been elected. It is a good ■ appointment; at least in comparij son with what that of Greaser G reen 'Smith, who was a candidate, would have been. Stoll, Prairie .tlange and Scratcltes of every kind cured ia JO Minutes ly tVootford's Sanitary ' Lotioit. Use no other. This uever ! fftiis, 80M by Emmet Kahnal, Lrujririat t wdlaniK' —“ ““ v: ■-r . .. all kinds, done promptly and in a ; ; workmanlike mannei /aud at reas- - onable Drives! SatLf,option- guarp.uteetl. Leave orders at IvamnA's or Meyer’s drug store, : ...

WM. LESTER.