Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-06-22
THE BAD WORK or GOOD
MEN

lMlniul Servants, hs lnueeu ~ II not
the habit Of our Legislature to do but
this one was quite exceptional in its
ability to do It's work well, and il is
especially disappointing to find that
men who were capable of being good
Legislators could make no better rec
ord for themselves than their prede-
cossors from whom nothing very good
could have been reasonably expected.
The lesson is that we must look be-
yond the mental capacity OF men to
discover proper material for our law
makers, What that body as a whole
especially seemed to need was common
sense A great deal has been charged
against the honesty of its members,
but very little has been proven, and
in this particular they will probably
compare iavorably enough with the
usual class of our legislators. Good
measures were defeated and bad ones
were adopted, and corrupt influence
doubtless had much sway neverthe.
less, we are persuaded that the men,
bers with fewer exceptions than usual,
were honest. But, certainly, they
were a very twisty lot Good men
acted as though they were possessed
of devil, and apparently did unwise
things for the special purpose of being
considered to be fools.
There, at the head of the list was
Speaker Hewitt, a man OF fine intelli.
genoe and capacity, with good rec
ord for honesty, who turned about and
jumped about and leaped Jim Grow in
such fantastic fashion as to leave peo-
pie generally in serious doubt whether
he was fool or knave; when in very
truth he was neither; he only made
himself appear so because he lacked
good judgment and common sense.
And there too, on the other hand, was
Mr.. Wolfe with reputation for i'm.
pregnable honesty so well earned that
nothing could shake it. HIS champion.
ship of reform was not effective be.
cause he was unable to work out his
aims with calm good judgment. The
Speaker and he came into the Assem-.
bly, close friends, but shortly fell to
quarreling in public IN a very unedify.
ing way, and very unnecessarily If
they had been equal to the occasion
they would probably have been able
to work together for the good OF the
State, as both, perhaps, aimed to do.
The evil reputation this Legislature
leaves behind il does not come alone
from its evil members, but is largely
chargeable to the inielicitous efforts OF
its intelligent and wellmeaning ones.
Take this salary business as an illus
tration. We find the members max.
ing common cause in an effort to COM
| pei the State to pay them 81 800 when
the State Treasurer, Attorney General
and Governor construe the law to give
them but $1,000. They dispute the
correctness of such construction of the
law. Yet IL is a construction which
is sustained by the sense of the people
and their can be no question but that
the popular judgment is strongly
against both the right and the pro.
priety of this legislative demand. Sup.
pose the right was otherwise, and that
the members are entitled to their ex.
ira compensation can there be any
possibility of a doubt of the unbecom.
ingness of their insistence upon il in
the way they have done2 They have
abused, in a wholly unwarranted way,
through the report of committee
which could neither write English, de.
fine law or state facts, the State Treas.
urer and the Attorney General, whose
clear duty it was not to permit this
money to be paid if they believed it to
be an unlawful payment Their judg-
ment of the law may have been prop.
erly questioned, but certainly their
motive, could not be decently chal.
lenged without sustaining evidence.
And the consequence is that those re.
Iputable legislators, good, honest. and
intelligent as many Of them are, are
held in contempt by the people for
what appears to be an unworthy, un.
dignifed and altogether small at
tempt at treasury grab. And they
have added to the feeling against them
by their impudent attempt to get this
money by inserting CLAUSE in the ap-
preparation bill directing the Treasurer
to pay it TO them, well knowing that
if the existing laws did not give it to
them they were powerlcss thus to leg
islatc it into their own pockets, in the
face Of the constitutional prohibition
Of such grab, 1t was most un.
seemly attempt, and the Treasurer is
wholly sustained by public sentiment
in refusing to pay the money.-Ldn.
caster Inteiligeneer.
"TIT FOR TAT."-This is the view
the New York Sun takes Of the Conk.