The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-10-02

Presidential electors: and the third in No
. veInber. 1873 for Governor. State officers
&c Aud IL asStturS in effect To set aside al
j those clauses OF the Constitution which com
!, nand that ALI elections shall be biennially,
: and practically directs that they shall b,
! held for naught, and that the system of an,
i nual campaigns, registrations aud election,
thus attempted, shall go on forever. Bu
n so far as il assumes tn do this, there car
{ be ne doubt that the act and the practice are
e subversive OF the Constitution, and utterly
null and void
But it may be said that under section :
of article w. the time of holding elections
t may be ALTERED by law" | reply that the
} mere date may be so altered The election
T law may be changed so as Uo hold general
elections in any convenient month, or daV
. OF the month, in every second year. But
the election itself must be general" and not
annual. The principles AS laid down by the
courts, is that every positive direction con
tains an implication against anything con-
rrAry to il or which would Illustrate or dis
appoint the purpose of that provision
Potter's Dwarris on Statutes, 81; 10 y. Y.
Rep. 1853
The act providing for elections in 1871,
1872 1873 and every succeeding year does
order annual general elections" instead OF
biennial general elections, is plain from its
whole tenor and especially from such pas
cages AS the following:
section 343. said Board of Commission
ers shall appoint said Board of Registrars on
/ or before tue first Tuesday in September
preced ng any general election, whether
! that election shall be annual or bienneal."
And that this enactment was passed either
IN ignorance OF the Constitution, on the one
| hand, or in contempt OF its provisions on
! the other, is most manifest from the follow
ihg provisions, which quote again;
| 'All general elections shall be by ballot
and shall commence and be holden every
/ two years; on the first Tuesday after the
| first Monday In November, until altered by
/ law" Sec. z, art. W. of State Constitution.
The political year of the State of Missis-
! sippi shall commence on the first Monday
| in January in each year, and the general
election shall be holden on the first Tues
day succeeding the first Mondoy in Novem-
Der, bienuially" Sec. !, art, XII.
The Governor and other State officers
under this Constitution were inaugurated
on the 10Th OF March, 1870, and the ConstI-
tuition requires them, like the Congressman
elected at the same time, to hold during the
tragmentary term which was passing at the
time of their installation, and also for the
next succeeding full term" Can the Legis-
lature for the sake of having annual cam
paignS and elections issue an uncouStitu-
tIOnal edict to dismiss these officers in less
than four years? They certainly cannot.
For the reasons have given, the District
Attorneys and county officers chosen in
1871, and the State officers installed i'm
1870 (oT where death, resignation or re
moval has occurred, their successors for the
unexpired full term. must of course hold
over till their successors shall be elected at
the Constitutional general election in No
veDber, 1874. The Legislature can, if ne
cessary, be convened in extraordinary ses-
sion in November or December, and then
hold over, in vacation, till their successors
shall be elected with the state and county
officers next fall
This course and no other, can and will
put an end now and forever, to the uncOn- |
stitutional system of annual elections upon
which We were about to enter by having "a |
general election this fall, and bring back |
our election system and practice 10 their
constitutional orbit.
1t has been urged in opposition to this |
view of the subject that we have now some |
very Objectionable State and county otli- I
GERS, Legislators, etc, and patriotic people /
throughout the State desire an opportunity /
10 exchange them for other and better /
[ reply that whether this argument be true /
o" false, it is an argument, If an argument 1
at all, drawn from mere political sentiment /
from personal inclination, taste or cOnVe- /
nience, and is not an argument drawn from |
the Constitution. Besides, ii an argument |
db iHcOnUeRieni is admissible i'm the inter /
probation and construction of the COnstitu- /
ton. there are opposing arguments OF a
hundred times greater weight. Think for \
a moment of the enormous, unnecessary /
and unconstitutional expense OF IL never |
ending system of annual registrations and |
elections, the registrars, inspectors, clerks, 1
special deputies, stationary, transportation, /
every man of the entire industrial popula- |
five, ten or twenty days every year, to par
ticipate in unconstitutional campaigns aud |
elections. And even these are rs but drop .
in the bucket when com pared with the per- |
petual aud neVer-ceasing storm of political |
excitement which this unconstitutional /
system of annual elections, would, if in
dulGed in, fasten upon the State. The
people of Mississippi are generally poor,
and yet an interval of one or two y ears OF
repose and friendship and business inter .
course, unmixed with politics, would be
well worth purchasing even at the cost of .
millions of money. But so far from costing
them anything, they can have it without
money and without price, by simply en-
forcing their Constitution, and i'll doing so
save millions of money every alternate
year. The money and time unconstitu
tiOnally expended to carry on their Illegal
annual canvasses, registrations and cleo
tionS, it saved would nearly, ii not quite,
pay all the official salaries and per diem
for the Legislative, Executive and Judicial
departments, relieve the public sentiment in
a larger degree of the poisonous influence
of demagogues, and at the same time secure
purer and more efficient administration
of the Government.
But it is contended that no judicial tribu-
nal has yet decided that the proposed gen
eral elections are unconstitutional. Though |
all the ablest jurists and statesmen In the |
State were to assert that such system is /
prohibited by the plainest mandates OF the
Constitution, and though everybody knew |
this TO be true, there would still be individ- |
uals who would demand that the usurpa-
ton should proceed and be upheld in its !
disastrous consequences, and endured and |
submitted to until the Judiciary should !
find occasion to stop it. L reply that |
the question, in its bearing upon the gov
eminent of the State at this time Is purely |
an executive question n, and as such is as far |
removed in its exercise from the judiciary /
as the veto or pardoning power. 1t is prac-
tically above and beyond the reach of any .
process, judgment or decree; it involves in |
calculable interest to the State now and /
hereafter; and it must be decided, ii at all, |
now, and solely by the Executive power,
guided as it always should be, by its re-
sponsbilities to the Constitution, which re-
QuireS the Executive to "see that the laws |
are faithfully executed"
Says Mr.. Justice Cooley In his celebrated |
treatise on Constitutional Limitations:
EVERY department of the government /
and every official of every department may /
at any time when duty is to be performed /
be required TO pass upon question Of con
stitutional construction. Sometimes the /
case will be such that the decision when /
made must, from the nature of things, be /
conclusive and subject TO no appeal or re- |
view. however erroneous it may be in the |
opinion of other departments but in other 4
cases the question may be required TO be /
passed upon again before the duty Is COM /
pietely performed. The first Of these |
classes is where, by the Constitution, a par /
ticular question is plainly addressed to the |
discretion or judgment of some one depart
ment officer, that the interference of /
any other department or officer with a /
view to the substitution of its own discre- /
ton or Judgment in the place of that to /
which the Constitution has eOnfided the de- |
cision would be mpertinent and intrusive. /
Under every constitution cases of this de- |
scription are TO be met with and though |
it will sometimes be found difficult TO cIas-
eho fhaF n.