The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-01-03

cations and responsibilities OF his official sta
ton and oath of office. Nobody has right TO
interfere with him thereafter, or any right to
| the custody or possession of the papers thus
| attested by the selectmen. He is the legal and
| exclusive custodian of it until he causes it TO
| be delivered into the Secretary OF States
| office.
Now what acts of the selectnien can the
| alderman do? He cannot receive the votes.
He cannot sort and count the votes. He can
| not declare them He cannot attest to how
| they were received or how they were assorted
and counted or how they were declared.
| None of the duties which devolve upon the
selectmen can he perform.
| All the duties required of selectmen are re-
| quired of wardens, and the duties of town
clerks are required of ward clerks, and let it be
| notified that such important duties are not de-
| volved upon them, by saying "in the same
manner as selectmen and town clerks are re-
| quired to do;' but they specifically enumer-
| ated. Their duties do not arise by implication,
nor are they determined by comparison; they
are specifically and fully declared; and were it
| possible and designed that the aldermen should
| perform any of these duties, there would have
| been as much propriety and necessity OF their
enumeration as in the case of the wardens and
ward clerks.
| 1t is clear the Aldermen can do no such acts
| as are required of the selectmen.
Now what are they required to do specifically
and Eo nominee
The answer to this question settles the issue
upon this p<iEt
| l.. They are to meet "in session" within
twenty-four hours after the close of the polls.
2. In that session they are to open, ex-
anime and compare the copies OF the lists OF
| votes given in the several wards.
These are the duties enumerated in the Con-
stitution for them to perform. They may then
| adjourn. Their whole duty has been done ac-
! cording to the letter of the constitution. 1t
| then becomes the duty of the city clerk to
make a record of the copies thus examined. 1t
| will be noticed that he is not required to make
10 In
| Of the Aldermen. He may make 1t at any
| time before it is necessary to forward his re-
turn, and it is record of lists made in writing
which remain in his office and not OF ballots
like that of town clerks.
If the Alderman has more to do, when and
| where shall he do it? Shall he do it out of
session? The duties enumerated by the con-
stitution are required to be done I'm session."
| The constitution pointed out what the select
men must do in session and what the aldermen
must do in session.
There can, it seems to me, be no pretence
that anything more can be required of the al
dermen when in session. They have no power
of rejection of returns from the wards, they
are simply the parties who were to open them
in public. They cannot cross a t or dot an in
them.
If they had other duties to perform while Sin
session." and subsequent to the record being
made, the inquiry arises why the record here
was not required to be made in open meeting
and the other acts enumerated, and to be done
| in open meeting.
The fact that the city clerk is not required to
make his record in open meeting is important
as showing that the aldermen are not charged
with duties even similar to those of selectmen.
The record in the case of selectmen must not
| only be made in open town meeting, but in the
| presence of the selectmen. In the city there
| is no requirement of the presence of the alder
men when the record is made.
| The aldermen hold the same relation to the
| ward returns that the Governor and Council
L IL 49, xnty oh Tn
anime and compare, and prior to 1865 they is
| sued the summons to the Representatives, in
| stead of the Governor and Council.
The city clerk having made his record at his
convenience, return thereof is to be made.
By whom is this to be done?
Here we strike the inapt language of the
constitution in its reference to the duties OF Sc
lectmen of towns.
AS before remarked, theI selectmen have no
duty to perform concerning the returning OF
| the copies into the Secretary of States office.
| Their duties are at an end when they have at
| tested those copies in open town meeting. Ihey
| are not even required to to see them sealed up.
AS to the person who is to make return OF
| this record into the Secretary of States office
l think there can be no doubt that it devolves
| upon the city clerk and fair rendering OF the
| sentence is that the return is to be made into
| the Secretary of States office within the same
| time and may be done in the same manner
| that clerks of towns are required to do.
| An important inquiry is what does manner
| refer to?
A verbal criticism may aid in this matter.
| The language is not make up a return in the
same manner, but the language is return OF the
| record shall be made into the Secretary Of
| States office in same manner, &c. There was
no occasion for saying hoac the return should
| be made up or anything as to the manner OF
| making up, or as to the form or substance OF
| this return; becaase the return thereof is
| evidently the return of the record" viz.,a
| copy of the record. There tcaS occasion for
fau& &ta. Of stC 6nIt or
transmission, and the time Of delivery or trans
mission.
This, as to town clerks, is fixed by both con-
| Stitutional and statutory provisions. 1t must,
by the constitution, be delivered thirty days
| before the first Wednesday of January, and,
by statute, within thirty days after election, or
| sent by mail within fourteen days after such
meeting. (Rev. Stat. chap. 4, sec. 33).
If the return was to be made from ballots ly
| ing before them to be sorted and counted then
| there would be necessity for some uniform
mode of making the return such as is specih-
| cally provided in relation to selectmen and
wardens
manner" must, think, refer to the officer
| transmitting and the time and mode of trans
| mitting.
After the clerk had made his record and
l made copy of it and verified it by his official
| signature and the seal of the corporation any
| one or more of the aldermen could have at
| tested that il was true copy of the record,
| but it would have been as idle a ceremony and
| as devoid of legal force as the attestation OF
| the overseers of the poor or the the board OF
| health, unless there is some provision of law
| requiring it to be done as legal act giving
force to the instrument they attest:
| There is nothing in all the contribution and
statutes of the State that gives any countenance
| to such an idea except the words found in the
last line of the section of the constitution re-
| ferred to; and the countenance sought there is
| attempted from the most remote inference.
Are such serious consequences to be visited
| oil of fOrrO of q cities
Of this State from not following out such an IN
ference to its EXTREMIST point of tension? Have
| officers been charged with the performance OF
| such responsible duties through the medium OF
such uncertain expression?
| think they have not and when they have
| substantially complied with the clear letter of
| the constitution their constituents may we IL
| claim at the hands of each department. of gov
| ernment protection against any and all who
| seek Willingly or unwittingly, to defraud
| them of the legitimate facts of their elective
| franchise.
| "Giving the constitution the strict construc-
| tion contended for it by the canvsssing board
| officers, (and use this term because the Su-
| preme Judicial Court have so pronounced them
| as their opinion found in the GA volume OF
the reports of the deciSion,) where is then any
| authority for an alderman to do anything more
| than open, examine and compare the list sent
in from the wards None can be found.
That duty is specifically required of them, no
other duty is specifically required or necessari-
| ly 1nclQent 10 tnat
| To disfranchise these cities, some blind un-
| certain inference, must be given the power OF
| substantial, clearly expressed prerequisites and
| indispensable in character.
| I understand this canvassing board claim
that it requires the signatures of four alder
men, because, they aver, we have seven in all.
| Without stopping to inquire how they extract
any such fact from the return, we say if such
| be the case, four constitute a quorum for busi-
| ness, and the constitution specifically requires
that all the business they do in relation to ward
| returns shall be done sin session." There be-
| ing quorum present for business, may not any
| three of the four by concurrent action do all
| the business required of them and pass any
| votes required at any such meeting?
| If the aldermen had any other business to do
in that meeting other than open examine and
| compare the lists, might they not do it by a
| major vote of a quorum? Where is the pro
| vision of the constitution requiring unani-
| nous action of the board when sin session."
Mark, what they do, must beidone Gin session."
| Out of session these acts have in this matter
| no more efficiency than that of any other citi-
| zen. Those absent cannot attest to acts done
| in their absence if they would; but the consti-
/ tion cloeae this line Of reasoning becausp ii