Daily Kennebec journal., 1880-01-07
From the New York World Dem
Governor GarcclOn and the Green
hackers.

| The opinions expressed by the Maine
supreme Court Judges, in reply 10 the
! twelve inquiries addressed to them, in
spite of the opposition of Cipher alley and
of his greenbaek councillors. by Governor
! Garcelon. sustain at every point, rs our
readers cannot but see. the advice given
| at the outset of this business to the demoe-
racy of Maine by The World II there be
! one shade of difference between the views
Of the Judges and those of the World as to
any aspect of the ease it is only in respect
| to the relation which the law of 1877 bears
| TO the constitution of Maine: and in re-
/ speet to that we are inclined to think that
the reasoning of the Judges is sound and
/ in the interest of fair elections. Upon all
the other points discussed Governor Garce-
lon never should have been in doubt, and
| it may he fairly inferred from the qucs-
tions submitted by Governor Garcelon To
the Court that upon a careful examination
/ of his course he satisfied himself that his
greenback councillors and his Cipher alley
advisers had led him into false position.
Governor Garcelon. it must be remem-
hcred. was not educated as q lawyer. but
rs a physician. and it was natural that on
points of law he should have deferred TO
lawyers who enjoyed his political conf
denee. until the uproar excited by his
I course compelled him to investigate the
matter for himself and apply to it his own
honest Judgment. When he did this the
result was the inquiries which he addressed
! to the Judges. inquiries which. as the
World has already said, went directly to
the roots of the controversy.
The decisions or rulings of Governor
Garcelon's Council on the disputed points,
or to speak more exactly. on the points
which were put in dispute by the Council.
were more sharp. than sensible or honest.
hut in this they were OF a piece with green
back contentious everywhere. Where
they were not tainted by the methods of
sharpers they were of a sort to appeal to
that essentially stupid partisanship which
counts everything in politics to be right
which enables one party or one faction TO
secure momentary triumph over its op-
ponent. II is 10 be hoped that Gov Garcelon
may hereafter give his greenback allies
- wide berth" II will be still better for
him. il he means TO be constitutional
democrat. to decline to share any berth at
all with them. wide or narrow.
The Keynote of the opinions expressed
hv the World and affirmed by the Judg-
es is the declaration that the constitution
docs not aim at depriving the people of
pile of their right of suffrage
land of their right of representation for
trivial errors But this maniiestly
sound theory is qualified and supplement-
ed by the reply given TO Governor Garcc-
Ions sixth inquiry This reply runs al
most in the very words of the contention
upon which the World has throughout in
sisted We repeat the sixth question and
answer in full. because they are most inn
important to a correc; appreciation of all
sound electoral methods:
"Nf. Have the Governor and Council a
right 10 reject the returns of the election of
members Of the Legislature required br the
same section freu the officers Of tu~ns which
were not made. signed and sealed up in an
open town meeting:
The Governor and Council must act upon
the returns forwarded to the Secretary Of
State. Ii they purport to be made signed |
srd seslcd MP in an open plantation or town |
meeting. they constitute the basis Of action |
Of the Canvassins Beard. No provision is |
found in the constitution or in any statute of |
this State hy virtue of which they would be |
authorized TO receive evidences to negative /
facts therein set forth. They therefore have
no such power. The statement Of the munic-
ipai officers is in THAI respect conclusive
The general views of the whole subject