Omaha daily bee., 1874-03-30

being accused of selfishness and
partiality.
General vifquain Returns to the
Charge.
AT HOME, SALINE Co.,
March 26, 1874.
EDITOR OMAHA BEE:
Inasmuch that / have failed in
convincing you of the propriety to
have an extra session of the Legis-
lature called las 1 see In your yester-
days daily for the purpose to re-
apportion and re-district the State,
sometime this summer, 81 as to
allow the west to elect members for
the next Legislature at the next
October general election, 1 am,
sir, compelled to claim once again
the favor of your columns, for the
purpose to show you that if you
object to my proposition upon the
simple ground of technicalities, l
car give you a precedent to go by.
1 do so reluctantly; because 1 am
somewhat ashamed to make so
many appeals To the sense ofthe pub
lie, of you and others to remedy an
injustice, aye, a fragrant outrage
upon a portion Of our fellow
citizens.
Precedents, are i'm matter of law,
held very often as final in the de-
cisions Of our judges, even if such
precedents upset more or less the
present mode of affairs; and a law
yer's talent is, ] presume, in pro
portion to the depth he has to dig
to find precedents-so that a prece-
dent o two or three hundred years
standing, based upon the
wants of that day Is, L suppose,
better than a plain fact based upon
the wants of the people at this day;
for this reason, sir, / am somewhat
down on precedents. Besides if
precedents III necessary, or may
be So, for certain decisions upon
statute laws, it is a matter of doubt
with me, if they are so absolutely
necessary upon constitutional law
as you and others do infer. Being
simply a farmer, i hope you will
excuse my poor knowledge of the
law, lift isnotin full accord with the
spirit of the law. / have thus far
only founded my personal basis of
such a knowledge upon my. most
earnest desires to remain a law
abiding citizen, and none for the
precedent.
Will you please look over the
laws of the Legislative Assembly of
the Territory of Nebraska for the
year 1864, and you will find on
pages 1sS-l90, the apportionment of
our then Territory. Then, sir, you
will please look upon the laws of
the State of Nebraska for the year
1867, and on pages 61-62 you will
find another apportionment and
districting of our State, which does
not correspond with the one of 1864.
Now, sir, if you look upon Sec. IA
of the schedule of our present con-
stitution you will, / presume, come
to the conclusion that the law pass
ed and approved June 10, 1867, was
dreadfully unconstitutional.
BY your Interpretation of Sec. 8
Art. 2 of the constitution it Is not
constitutional to re-apportion and
redistrict the State except in 1870
and 1875; will you then tell me how
it was done in 1867, more than one
year after the adoption of our pres
ent constitution aud organization as
a State i'm this Union?
i am informed by reliable author
ity, sir, that when the law of June,
1867, was under discussion its un-
constitutionality was discussed by
the opponents of the law, and they
only submitted, if / do well under
stand the facts, after having con-
suited Judge Jameson, who Is l
believe authority on constitutional
law; and lift was authority in June,
1867, will you please tell me why 1t
should not be authority in June,
1874, especially when the wants of
the people demand it a great deal
more?
And as to your comments upon
my proposition, allow me to tell you
that your parallel between the
redistricting of the Judiciary of our
State, and that of our Legislature is
not a fair one. In common with
many others L think our judiciary
system unsound, but nevertheless
We all suffer equally from the evil,
and in the whole, there are no favors
shown by it to the eastern portion
of the Stale, which we can not pro-
cure equally in the western part.
My friends, Miller, Wakely and
Woolworth, as well as the Hon.
John Taffe, may tell you that in the
main l am correct as to the facts;
and in Nebraska you well know
'-the oldest settler, and so forth" is
somewhat of a notorious authority,
and 1t plainly shows wherefrom the
the wind blew i'm 1867, and whereat
it does not blow in 1874.
We hope much from a new
constitution, but we would like
mighty well to attend that consti-
tutionai convention In proportion to
b population, and not to to be left
at the tender mercies of sectional
feeling.
Senator Grigys may.tell you what
trouble We had in securing an every
two years census for the next ten
years, and now that "the cat is out
cf'he bag" we might, perhaps, in
our new constitution, second edi-
ton, go short that wise provision,
provided the appointment of dele
gates Is the same as il was in 1871,
And now, sir, if 1 am correct IN
my above statements, 1 see no
reason why you should not coincide
with our views of the matter. We
an appeal to the State, un.
divided by east or west, north or
DESTROYS to obtain our rights
upon. the simple ground of justice,
30 that we may not be met by the