The Leavenworth weekly times., 1878-08-08
THE GOVERNORS LAWRENCE
SPEECH

Ex-Governor Charles Robingon coutrib-
utss to the Lawrence I. iBn.e the following
sarcastic review of George Is Lawrence
speech
EDITOR TRIBCNE The great Governor
has been with us, was courteously received,
and has gone. His mission seemed TO be to
notify us that he was the greatest and best
Governor Kansas could possibly elect. He
evidently fears that his excellencies will
never be discovered unless he points them
out, and in that he may be right. lie re-
ferred 10 various matters and his comments
were startling to persons somewhat famil-
lar with our land. For instance, he refer
red to the terrible condition Of our school
lands, saying that no one knew within hun
dred of thousands OF acres how many the
fault is not so much in the law as in the
execution. Ii existing laws are faithfully
executed the condition Of every acre of land
belonging to the State can be ascertained at
once. and it is remarkable that Governor
who makes such haste to execute the laws
against strikes, not even the life Of a preach
er or sny one else hindering him for a mo-
ment, should not give some attention TO the
execution OF the school land laws.
Our Governor would take from the
Judges of the courts all discretion and fix
the exact time Of punishment for every
crime. All guilty Of grand larceny should
serve out the same tim. whether the steal
ing was by father to keep his family from
perishing with cold and hunger, or by a
gambler wLo stole to get money 10 bet at
monte or some other game. Also he would
have board Of pardon. This power is too
great to be exercised by one man. He
could not resist women and children when
they asked for the pardon Of their friends.
His heart is evidently too soft to be Gov
ernor with such power, and shall he be re-
elected some change must be made in the
constitution.
But the most earnest and eloquent part
of the speech was his vindicatiOn Of him
self from the charges of some unnamed per-
sou. oi hostility to the debtor class, especial
ly the deLsvrs Of Douglas county. He vetoed
a bill 10 limit the levy OF taxes in Douglas
county, because it was unconstitutional and
the validity of contracts. True,
similar Law was passed the year before in
the ;nterest of LeavenwOrth county, and no
such law in Kansas has been decided un-
constitutional by our courts, bet Illinois
passed some Law upon the subject and that
law has been decided unconstitutional.
His logic seemed to be conclusive to him
self and must have coniounded the fellow
who had complained Of his veto. He
claimed that fOr the county to refuse to
levy and pay the Interest on its bonds, i'm |
paired the contract, and the legislature had
no right to be party to such proceed Ags |
He evidently thinks that 10 fail to enforce |
The fulfillment Of 4 contract impain the |
validity Of it, yet it is done continually in
other States and by Congress.
The bankrupt lax enables any man BY |
certain proceeding to evade his contracts,
and the creditor has no remedy. Maasa-
chuseits chartered some savings banks ON
The condition that all the deposits should |
be paid when due; yet it has pass
ID another Law providing that only ten
per cent. can be collected every six
months. Ii it could pass such Law, it
,ould p.ss one providing that only one per
.snt. could be collected in thousand years.
The Bank Of England was chartered With
he requirement. that it should at all times
edeem its bills with coin on demand. This
as the contract with the people, yet Par.
iament passed another Law providing that
10 court should enforce that contract and
hat The bank ned not redeem its bills for !