The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-02-08

were responsible forputting such Booty
as Powers into the Executive office. they
would have occasion to be profoundly
inundated and scandalized by the paper
which he has sent to the Legislature
vetoIng the bill to reduce the price of the
New Code. Their consolation il in the
thought that they had no more agency
IN Infiletlng on the State such a nineom-
pooPand pest than in the production of
the insects that float on the air. or the
reptiles that crawl on the earth, or the
pestilence that walketh in darkness by
Providential judgment, the uses of which
are not penetrable by mortal ken. In
the current which arose in the Northern
slums and discharged its cargoes of i'm
pecunious adventures, there were many
strange specimens of humanity, each re-
markable in kind and execrable in quail
lty. Thus, by the evidence Of his own
partlzans, the incumbent of the Execu-
tive office of Louisiana has shown him
self to be so complete an expert in finan-
clering that he has become millionaire
III three years on a salary of Sc, 600.
And his exploit is even surpassed by
another member of his tribe in South
Carolina. Bullock of Georgia has saved
himself from the Penitentiary by timely
location over the Canada borders. Gov
ernor Davis Of Texas is under an indict-
ment by the Federal Grand jury, and is
| a candidate for the State prison with
every prospect of success. The belt of
champion knave is warmly contested by
these Knights of the Money Bag, with
| doubtful result. But to the inhabitant
of the Executive Office here in Mississippi
/ the prize of Champion Fool is accorded,
without peer or rival. On the emf
hence where he has impaled himself he
Is unapprOachable-'tgrand, gloomy and
peculiar" We will venture to say in the
perfect confidence that no one will have
the temerity to join issue with us, that no
such disgracefully stupid out-of-time
thing as this so-called message can lie
community. There is nothing lacking to
complete its proportions as a stupendous
fabric of foOlishness, to say nothing of its
malignity. No man has ever before been
known to disgrace the title of Governor,
however illegitimately acquired by sing
| ling out whole class of learned and use
full men for insult in an official paper as
he has done the bar of this State, or by
slangwhanging public journal, because
they happened not to concur with him
about the cost of book.
The stupidity of the assailment can
only be measured by its malevolence
By the Act requiring the publication of
! the Code, the Governor was authorized
to order the sale Of the copies which re-
manned after the distribution of certain
other copies as prescribed. In doing so
| he was required to regulate the price ''by
| the cost of the work or its value, having
reference to the price Of other law books,
of similar finish and dimensions pub
| lished elsewhere" OF course the terms
''cost of the work" had reference to its
mechanical execution, the printing and
binding, including materials employed in
! the same. 1t never entered the head of
anybody except the donkey Uranium of
/ the Booby Governor" himself that they
were designed to embrace the salaries of
the commissioners who coditied it. And
yet he actually takes in this item in
estimating it, cost With the same pro
prietv he ought to have included all the
Legislature expenses in preparing it; and
thus by the same reasoning he might have
as easily demonstrated that having had
reference to "'the cost of the work" the
price should have been fixed at from $50
to $50 per volume Why he included
/ the salaries of the codifers and omitted
the expenditures of the Legislature we
are at loss - determine, except that If
his reasoning had been carried to'its
| legitimate conclusion it would have over
done and spoiled his own case.
Now we affirm, and the statement can
| be verified, that the cost of the work
within the meaning of the law did not
exceed from three to four dollars. One
thing is certain, the State paid for the
Code of 1857, containing nearly two
hundred pages more than this new Code,
and executed in style as good, three
dollars per volume. It sold the work at
that price and saved money by the oper-
alton. And vet this carpet-bag tinancler
argues deliberately to prove that SO is
low price for the present volume, and
| actually presumes to override the Judg-
ment of the representatives of the people
that it ought to be sold at six dollars lie
assumes that it is "a proposition to tax
the whole people for the benefit Of the
bar" meaning, we suppose, that 1.-THE
bar" are the only '.people" who have need
to be informed of what the laws are.
Ignorant of them himself, he supposes
all others except the lawyers are content
to be his companions in darkness.
The truth is, the sale of the work was
never designed as speculation for the
State. 1t had better and higher aim,
which was to place within the reach OF
her citizens, high and low, rich and poor,
of every class and calling, knowledge OF
the laws,which govern them and which
are the protection of life, liberty and
nropertv. None but grovelling wor-