New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-02-12
PUJREpy I ijIS


The Connecticut Legislature has lately voted
down by very large majority a proposed
amendment TO the State Constitution proyid
ing that members of the Legislature and all
executive and judicial officers shall. on entering
upon their duties, take oath that they have
neither directly nor indirectly contributed any
money or valuable thing for the purpose of
dcfIaying the expenses OF the election at which
they were chosen TO Office, and making any per
son convicted Of having taken such oath
falsely liable to tile pains and penalties OF per-
irry The chief argument OF the opponents OF
the measure was thlt it WAS too sweeping i'll
its character; that the prohibition of the use
of money in elections was too inilscrlInlnatc
and general, forbidding it even where it might
be used properly and with no detriment to
public morals or the purity of the ballot. II
was urged that there were legitimate and
proper uses to which money might y applied
in conducting elections, and that the proposed
law recognized no distinction between these
legitimate uses and open bribery. 1t was upon
this ground chiefly that the amendment was
rejected
Ii strikes us there is Il much broader ground
of opposition to this and all similar cnactmcnts,
10 wit, that it would be impossible to enforce
it, and so being habitually either eyadcd on
defed, would work great harm to public
morals by flmiliarizing the minds of people
with violations of law. Imperative laws are
OF all phases of excessive legislation the most
mischievous. They dIssipate and destroy that
proper and becoming reverence for the written
law which is the essential condition of all we'll
ordered communities and the best sign of pros
pcrity in a State The attempt to prevent
bribery, and so purify the ballot in some
measure by compelling members of the Legis-
lature to make oath that they have not used
money to secure an election. is an experiment
which it may not he generally known is now
on trial in this State. At the meeting of the
Legislature in January, 1875, an oath similar
in terms, if not III the precise language to that
proposed in Connecticut, was for the first time
administered to members of the New-YOrk
legislature. OF those who knew Of the exist
cncc of the requirement at the time of the
election, it is safe to say that not one
was deferred by it from using money as they
and almost all politicians had been in the
habit of using it, legtimately or corruptly as
the case might be- without scruple of con-
science or regard for consequences. Twenty
four hours before the meeting of the Legisla
ture there was little playful discussion of
the subject among members, but that was all.
few availed themselves of tue privilege re-
served in the law for the Legislature OF that
year and declined to subscribe to the new oath,
taking the old one instead But most of them
stood up and took it like men, meantime
thrusting their tongues in their checks and
winking at each other as though it was an
excellent joke. The members of the Senate and
Assembly that came in last year, and of the
present Assembly, took it without hesitation
or question. But does any one suppose the
necessity for taking such an oath deferred any
of them from using m0ney-just as they have
been III the habit Of using it Not in the
least. The practical effect was only to add
perjury to bribery nothing more nor less.
The Connecticut people certainly have good
reason for desiring some remedy for the evils
of bribery and the corrupt use of money in
elections. If the story of their State elections
for the past ten or fifteen years were not sulli.
cient proof of that there is Mr.. Barnum in
the Senate and we need go no further. IL is
not unnatural that honest voters should be
eroping about for some way OF escape from
his methods. But the plan proposed would
never have answered the purpose, and the
Legislature was wise in rejecting 1t. The ex-
pertinent is a failure in New York, and will be
wherever it is tried. No candidate IS hlndered
from using money to secure his own election