The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-02-01

mada and collect whole amount whether taken IRON the <
The eours. have refusing take newspaper
ps%..sis ssidsnes oi fraud -''
HLH0TIoM or SENATORS.
We are pleased to note Bemis Of
Buchanan county in the Senate, and
Duncombe Of Webster county in
the House, are agitating tho ques-
tion of memoralizing Congress to
press an amendment to the Federal
Constitution authorizing the election
of U. s. Senators, by vote Of the
people as opposed to their election
sby King Caucus.
We believe there is not one single
good reason why this should not be
done, while on the other hand there
:. are as we think, most cogent rea-
sons why such an amendment should
be adopted. In what we shall say
upon this subject We desire to be
distinctly understood, as not in any
{ manner making an example of the
recent Senatorial contest any more
than scores of others that have CO.
curred and are continually occurring
throughout the country.
Under our present system the
election of Senator is not the I'M
trammeled expression Of the wishes
of the people as announced at the
polls, but on the contrary partakes to
very alarming extent Of the seduc-
tive influences of . venal and manip-
ulating lobby, working. upon the
cupidity and overweaning ambition
OF the hundred or so members of
the Legislature belonging to the
dominant party. We might in.
stanoe in proof Of our position the
bitter. and intriguing Senatorial con-
Atsst which has for long time been
carried on in the State Of New
York. The really damaging ohsr4
s .cter of affairs existing in that
State upon this subject has been and
Z 10 very destructive to the best inter-
ests Of the Republican party, ar
raigning the Legislature into factions.
frequently members do not proper
xly reflect tho well known wishes
! Of their constituency, for reasons.
that are quite patent from the
influences brought to bear upon
thom.
The principal candidates for in
stance, select the principal rooms in
the chief hotel at the Capital. Each
one OF them is to be presided over by
some distinguished and we'll known
manlpulator. In the meantime the
unsophisticated member arrives, and
then commences the grand work of
King Caucus.
The poor member is taken through
head quarters, after head quarters
until he finally reaches the Throne,
then he is crawfished out through
tho back way SO perfectly obfasti-
GATED with appliances that he is in
doubt whether he is the man who
was elected to the Legislature or to
.r-Ahe lobby.
3 Then the same process is gone
through with at the various other
= head quarters until it ceases to be
either strange or remarkable that he
3hould finally cast his vote diametri-
oally opposite to his instructions.
And this is facetiously called Re-
publicanism and Democracy. We
call it the baldest FARGO of the age.
The remedy for this growing evil,
and gigantic scandal, is to nominate
Senators on the general ticket. Look
in upon one ofour glorious Republi
can State Conventions containing
six or seven hundred gallant and in.
tolligent Republicans just freshly
clothed with the panoply of instruc
tions from the people of their rcspec
tive counties. Do you think tha,
the lobby, with its potential ap
pliances, like the Irishman who sur
rounded and gobbled up the six Hes
slams, could get away with this largo
respectable and unpurchasable con
vention? The thought is preposter
our, and herein lies our refuge from
the unmixed scandal, corruption an
!. disgrace which attaches to the pres
ent system, as every man knows 70
himeelf who has witnessed it.
= !. By all means, Messrs. Senator
and Representatives at Des Moine
and Washington, let us elect ou
Senators and all other officers pra,
ticable, by the people, ,and thus take
forward step towards civil servie
reform Invested, of tomfoolery.
General amnesty has been md.