Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-03-18

prosperity, and liable to be mere political
adventures, with no character at home and
with nothing TO recommend them favorably
to the people they are to govern aud con-
troll.
With a delegate who ID not . representa-.
tive with = governor who may be a polit.
ical tramp without character or ability, OF
the demented relative of some man Of in
~fluence, imported from the states and i'm.
poeed upon the people against their will
and protest with Judges often incompetent
and entirely unacquainted with the prac-
tice in the courts where they are sent
to administer the Law, aud NOT Of the peo-
Plies choosing; with district attorneys seat
to the territories to learn the first rudiments
of the law, in which undertaking they al.
ways fail; with marshals forwarded from
the east because they have failed to earn q
living at home; and with no voice in the
election Of presidential electors, it can not
be said with any propriety that the people
Of the territories enjoy the right which is
supposed to belong to every American citi-
zen-that Of voting for and helping to elect
their own local officers.
3. Forbidden representation in congress
and the right to choose their own rulers,
they are likewise denied the privilege of
making their own laws. The result Of the
territorial system is, that the people of the
states make the laws and furnish the officers
for the people of the territories. The theory
of territorial inferiority and dependence,
and that the people thereof are incapable
of self-government, is fully carried out in
practice. They are granted the gracious
privilege of electing a legislature that can
not make laws. Congress exercises supreme
control over the legislation ofthe territories.
1t may annul any territorial enactment.
In the smallest matters Of local and police
regulations its voice is all-powerful. 1t
may, as it has done, declare void the entire
enactmenls of a territorial legislature. Thus
it becomes responsible for the system OTTER
%ritorial laws. The enactments of the legis-
lature are as the merest chaff before the
breath Of Its master. They represent in
mere mockery the shadow of self-govern-
ment. Thus congress shapes the public
policy of the territories, and dictates what
rights the people shall enjoy and what they
shall be deprived of. If they are refused
the right of self.government, congress must
answe for it: If they canno elect their
officers or make their own laws, and are
thereby reduced to a position of vassalage
and dependence, the people of the states
through their representatives In congress
are alone responsible for this condition of
things.
1t follows, therefore, that congress has
all power and authority to bestow upon
the people of the territories those common
rights of self government that pertain to
every American citizen.
Not only has congress supreme power
| nvor tho 1oriclotiCn IF tho forrjtnrSoo hat q
may even abolish a territorial government
altogether and blot out its existence forever.
1t nay divide one territory into several. 1t
may annex one to another. After one has
acquired sufficient population to be admit
ted as a state it may divide aud subdlvide it
so as to keep 1t in the condition of a terri
tory for an indefinite period. Generation
after generation may thus pass away before
the people emerge from this condition of
servitude and inftriority, to enjoy the full
rights aod privileges of citizenship.
Is there any valid reason why this condi-
ton of things should longer exist? Why
should not the governors. judges. and other
officers of the territories be elected by the
people? Are they not as capable of doing
so as the people Of the states? Aud are
they not, like them, citizens, clothed with
the right of self.government? Why should
citizen when he goes to re-
side IN a territory, become an exile Ia the
land of his birth? Why should he become
a mere foreigner for every purpose save
that of taxation.
The effect Of this system upon the peo-
pie of the territories may readily be i'm
agined. 1t engenders a went of confidence,
and this leads to lawlessness and democrat
ization. 1t begets q feeling of hostility
among the people. They can not under
stand why they should not elect their own
officers, and enjoy the same privileges as
their fellow-citizsns of the states. They
know that congress has the right to give
them local self-government, and the re-
tusal to do so as interpreted into q desire
to exercise power for the mere sake Of pow
er. or into a feeling Of neglect and want of
interest in the territories. They know that
for the purposes of taxation they are equal
to the most favored citizens, and they can
not understand why they should be stamp
ed with inferiority in other respects. A
sense of degradation and wounded pride is
the result.
The tenure of Office is another fault of the
territorial system. The duration of the
official life depends upon the will of one
man, and he thousands of miles removed
from the officer himself. Good officers are
often removed without cause or provocation
to make room for others whose claims are
thought to be superior by reason of their
services to the party in power, or whose i'm.
portunity becomes uncomfortable, or whom
some one wishes to Danish to make room
for himself or others, or who are supported
by influences that can not be disregarded.
A swarm of ofice.seekers beslege the white
house, supported by a thousand and one
pretended claims and influences; charges
are made against the distant officer, and he
is removed without notice or warning; and
the result is that federal officials are con-
stantly arriving in the territories, and de-
from them until the term %"pilgrim"
and 'carpet-bagger," by which they are
generally known and designated among the
people, become natural and appropriate.
This feeble official tenure invites attacks
from other sources. In every territory
there are ambitious, enterprising men, who
think with good reason that they are capa.
BILE Of filling the Offices, and that if they can
not be elected they ought to be appointed
These men are the natural enc