Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-01-09
"A Sort Of Mildew .

A Sort of Mildew,"
DIR. Alonzo Garcelon is the present
Governor of Maine by virtue of having
been third on the list of candidates vo-
ted for at the election in 1873, and
having been selected by Republican
State Senate as a choice of evils be-
tween himself and Mr.. Smith, the
Greenback candidate. One cannot help
wondering what sort of a man Smith
must be, that Garcelon should have
been preferred to him. Doubtless
Garcelon has developed his capacity
since the choice was made. Holding
an office for which only pitiful minor
ity of the voters of Maine supported
him, it is not strange perhaps that he
should hold majorities in something
like contempt Being Governor in spite
of them, why, he reasons, should he
not continue SOP Or if not he, some
other representative of beaten minor
| ityP And if the people of Maine have
! submitted for year to the rule OF a
minority Governor, why should they
not submit to the counting in of a mi
nority Legislature, the election of mi
nority State officers and minority
| United States SenatorP So Garcelon
and his co-conspirators have counted
out the Republican majority in the Leg
islature and made their arrangements
to steal the State. All within the forms
of law, of course, and upon technicali-
ties which, with rolling eyes and hands
upon their hearts, they solemnly vow
they cannot conscientiously disregard.
That a Republican Legislature was
elected they do not deny, but there are
Us not dotted and Us not crossed in the
returns, which they say makes them by
the Constitution /" fatally defective"
/" We could not trample on the Consti-
tuition, you KNOW say they with a
leer. And when their attention is
called to statute law which meets the
case and empowers them to amend the
technical defects, they answer at once,
go, that law is unconstitutional.
1t is an old habit of those people to
use the letter of the Constitution to
stab the State. They tried it on a large
scale in 1861, when they clamored that
the Federal Constitution not only did
not contain the principle of self-prc-
servation, but that it actually offered
shield and defense TO its assailants.
But even under this claim OF q consti-
tutional right to defeat the will of the
! majority, it is not believed that they
can sustain themselves. The whole
business has been characterized by such
indubitable signs of a rascally plot on
the part of the Governor and Council
: to steal the State; they all point so
clearly to premeditated purpose and
prepared plan; and the condolences
are so striking and significant, that
even upon their technical defense they
feel that the weight of public opinion is
overwhelmingly against them. They
! have been especially called upon to eX-
l plain the remarkable fact that the re-
: turns have been found fatally defective
2 only in such cases as would result in
the defeat of Republican candidates.
l The latest effort in this direction is in Il
5 letter from Governor Garcelon, pub
} lished Yesterday, in which he says:
l Every year there have been defective
3 returns rejected is, not counted
s for non. compliance with constitutional
g or legal provisions" He neglects to
c state the fact that this is the first time
Q in the history of the State that a legally
S and fairly elected majority in the Legis-
$ lature has been reversed upon such tech
D nicalities; perhaps because it is so well
known. "But this year." he adds, "in
: addition to the usual occurrences in
n this direction, a sort of mildew or epi-
@ demic seems to have infected several of
s our large cities" GA sort of mildewm
s Well, we should say so. And he might
@ have added that it was " sort of mil
: dew'' that was engendered in the filth
s of the Office of Eben +. Pillsbury, the
n chief functionary of the Maine DemOc-
t racy, and its expectant candidate for
United States Senator. 1t was sent out
n from there like the yellow fever germs
r which another Democrat, now Cover
! nor of a State, undertook to distribute
9 throughout the North during the war. 1t
i went in the form of blanks for returns,
1t printed under Pillsbury's directions, in
q manner purpOsely intended to mis-
~ lead returning officers, so that there
le should be Just these technical defects
al upon which this gang of eonspirators
i could defeat the will of the majority
X and steal the State.
" 1t was Garcelon and Pillsbury and
& the rest of the gang who used the OPP
m portunities of their official positions,
N who set these traps and put ou them
= the seal of the State. And now that
II they think they have sprung them and
caught their victims, when anybody
le comments upon the singular circum-
id stance that all these defects turn to the
ly advantage of the fellows who discov.
10 cred them, and asks an explanation,
10 this man Garcelon looks up a moment
g. from the grand larceny he is trying to
IN consummate, and says: so, it's sorl
9, of mildewr' Maybe it is; but it is = Z
IL sort of mildewn that is much mort
50 likely to rot the party that invented Il
O. than to damage those whom it was in
es tended to infect. m Y. Tribune.