Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-02-07


side have no more chance to see whether he is
good man to take into permanent service, or bad
man to be hereafter rejected And there Is this
disadvantage. that with the desire which exists for
office, the legislator Of every other year will have
less than half the chance Of ever getting back to
give the public the benefit of the experience he
has acquired.
| While the old arguments in favor of biennial
elections thus not to be applicable to BIZ
ennal sessions 1t is still the fact that the OLD Cd
jections hold against both. One thing TO be guard
ed against in every form of government Is bribery
| of the representative. While 1t may not be true
that every man has his price yet it is true that
| some men have So far as they are concerned
| the only question is, anybody afford to pay
the price fla legislature can pass law which
| will last two years it Is obviously worth more to
interested parties than one for the continuance of
| which they have got to fight next year. SO on 8
biennial basis they can pay more for a vote or for
"nhuence;" and if the bribed legislators constit-
| uents suspect him they must endure him for two
years at least and while he may not sit at another
| regular session, yet if any exigency arises on the
| of year the bribed and unworthy member Will
still represent unwilling constituency. In a
| few words the two year rule renders the member
more liable TO be brbed and less liable to be pun
| ished for it, The constituent is, by one-half, de-
| prIyed OF the power TO put out bad and lncompe-
| tent men both as a preventive against future be-
| tray ais and As a punishment for past treasons.
This matter OF bribery has hitherto been OF little
| consequence but as the wealth of the State in
| creases and becomes more concentrated, we shall
| find ourselves needing all our safeguards. since
| eighteen hundred and seventy years OF christian
| civilization have not prevented VIM. Nj. Tweed
| aud have left Oakley Hall unpunished, we would
do well not to act as II we considered corruption
| lost art. Biennial sessions also render it more
difficult for the people to improve their Legisa-
ture by choosing men to their liking, men who
have shown themselves more fit, according to the
constituents idea of fitness, which is the ulti nate
| standard. This is in ad ltion to the difficulty OF
| removing bad men already spoken Of Biennia al
sessions also prevent the grievances of people from
being listened to and, if need be, redressed often
er than once 10 two years. On this point, howev-
| er, more hereafter. So extensive were the evils
| our ancestors foresaw in any departure from an
nual elections, and they condensed into one sem
tence their aversion and fear, and held for max
| i'm that "tghefe annual elections end tyranny be-
gins" We have lived so long under republican
| Government with no tyranny but the tyranny OF
| the majority, that we almost reckon oppression
| and systematic plumber of the public property
among things the possibility of which we have
got beyond. We think in spite of the fact
already alluded to, that within the last decade the
| metropolis OF the country was for years IN the
power OF as utterly unprncipled band Of ban
ditti as ever laid walled town under tribute IN
| the middle ages-and in New York city the cleo
| tons were al least biennial.
| Ii would be rash indeed to ascrbe the condition
| of Louisiana to lis departure from sound princl-
pies in the matter of annual elections, but 1t does
seem that length of office, both the part of the
Governor and of the Legislature, contributes to
the disgracefu state of affairs in that State. The
| ruin began with Warmoth. In four years man
| like Warmoth, active, INSCRIPTIONS. determined,
and with genius for politics, could do and did do
what he might not have dared TO attempt under
| annual scrutiny and annual risk OF disaster. Such
| men as Wsrm 9TH and Aaron Burr are always pos
| sible in a republic and always to be guarded
against But while the old objections to biennial
sessions are not answered and the old reasons are
not applicable, it is not to be supposed that the
change is advocated without some argument in Its
| favor.
SO far as it is possible TO get at the new argu-
ment it proceeds upon the assumption that the
Legislature is an evil, necessary EVIL to be sure,
| but evil which we do well not to iuilict upon
ourselves any oitener than is needful. This may
| be an Objectionable way of stating the argument
but really it comes to just that. The specifications
emphasize the idea. 1t is said that every winter,
the legislature passes many foolish laws, and pub
| lie and private interests are constantly IN jeopardy
| as long as the session lasts. Besides what the
Legislature actually passes, its time is taken up
with thousand foolish things which it does not
| pass. For instance, member last winter stood
up IN his place and proposed to have record kept
| of every mans entrance and exit from every town
in the State, in order that there should be no dig
! putes about his settlement if he became paupei
| To these specifications it is added that biennial
sessions would cut Oft great deal Of useless talk
| and useless expense.
The answer to these things is not difficult. Ii is
| charged that the Legislature passes many foolish
laws. Who is to judge of that To say that some
acts are not the wi'est is only to say that demo-
cratic government is fsllbe and that the average
sense of mankind as found in the Legislature is
not absolute wisdom; but to say that a great or
considerable portion of the laws made are unwise
is probably not true. The bulk of the public acts
90 through the hands Of the Judiciary Committee
which every year is composed of men far above
| the average Of intelligence of the State. The
probability is that they who have heard all the
facts and arguments are better judges of the
needs of the people than their critics. If any pub
lie or private interests are put in jeopardy by the
session of the Legislature, who knows but they
ought to be put in jeopardy. If they in dan
ger, 1t Is because other and opposite interests are
pushing through, and why should not the oppos-
ing Interests have hearing before the proper tr-
bunals 1t might be urged also that if Legis-
lature which meets every year passes foolish acts
| a Legislature which meets every other wear will
| do the same thing with the additional disadvan-
tage that the foolshness of the latter will last two
years and that of the former only one
| 1t is charged that much Of the time of the Leg
stature is taken up by matters which are finally
rejected, some of them too absurd even for
discussion. This is true. And many a man has
sat and listened to the Speaker read off report af
ter report, Legislation inexpedient," Bill ought
| not to pass, ''Leave to withdraw" and thought
that If the wisdom Of the Legislatures is exhibit
ed IN Its negative as well as in its positive
| decisions, they should have a higher respect for
their representatives than they have now. But
however absurd request may be made to the
Legislature, the people who make it have right
to be heard. How shall the Legislature know it
to be absurd until it has been heard Are courtsto
be SHUT up because men get non-suitedi Every
now and then We make ourselves merry over some
special fight in tue Legislature like the fight over
the porgy. To us IT is fun. But there are men to
whom the contest means bread and butter, and
| others to whom II means business and fortune, and
so year after year it is fought over until the right
basis is found and the dispute is ended The fact
IS that the Legislature is not only the law making
| body, but the Great and General Court The pow
ers delegated to ordinary courts being general in
their nature do not always do justice in all the
unforeseen emergencies which arise, and body pos
sessing plenary authority is absolutely needed to
provide for such emergencies and to keep pace
with exigencies as they present themselves. How
ever events are so various that laws need continu-
al amendment to meet them, and do even the lin
| tied justice which gets DONE
The question of expense appears to be hardly
| worth consideration. 1t is worth much more than
the the sum expended to instruct hundred and
eighty men in the public business, what it is and
how TO conduct it. Every man who goes there
/ comes back more of a man and il of more nae IN