The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1881-07-30

goncy clause,do not take Eject or 90 into OPP
Grafton until the first day Of July next after
their passage. The legislature might have
passed law providing that on and after
July lst 1890, all persons convicted Of
rape, robbery or arson, should suffer death.
Yet it could not be claimed that such a
law would operate as repeal OF the laws
now in force for the punishment of these
several crimes The same may be said
with reference to the amendment to the
constitution. It might have provided for
the election of the officers named in 1899,
instead of 1884, and in such an event it
would hardly be claimed that the incum-
bent could hold over until that time.
The trouble with Judge Leland and with
all those who take the opposite view is that
they indulge in intendment or speculation
as to the intention which the legislature
had in view when it submitted the proposed
amendment to the people. Constitutional
provisions should not be enlarged by in
tendments"
The editor of the Register admits that
sit is true, as a matter OF law, that when
the votes were canvassed the amendment to
the constitution was adopted" "But," he
continues;"a law or constitution MAY ne
operative either in the present or in the
future" and suggests that the laws of the
Legislature do not go into effect until the
first of July next, after their passage. The
editors admission that the amendment was
adopted when the vote was canvassed is
fatal to his argument, for he might as well
| admit that the amendment has been
in force from that moment. He does not
seem to recognize any difference between a
law passed by legislative body in pursu-
ance of the will of the sovereign people as
expressed in the constitution and the con
| stitution itself. He ignores the fact that
there is law which expressly declares that
| all legislative acts passed by the legisture
of Illinois SHALL NOT 60 inte effect until the
first of July next after the passage Of such
act, that there is NO SUCH LAW governing
a constitutional amendment, adopted by
| the highest authority in the state j. e. the
people, and that the amendment itself con-
tains nothing whatever that could be inter
preted into such a meaning. He seems
also TO have lost sight Of the fact that the
| constitution was declared to be
changed by the same ballots
which placed Governor Cullom,
Attorney General Mccartney, Secretary of
State Dement, and the other state officers in
Office and the editor will hardly dare to
doubt that the declaration of the ballots, so
| far as it concerned these men, went into eff
feet at the time the result of the vote was
| declared. Where is the law under the au-
thority of which the ballots cast by the
people of Illinois can be, in effect, torn into
fragments, and portion Of them, contain
ing an important declaration, be consigned
to the state waste basket for whole year
The editor of the Register cannot find it,
for there is no such law.
But the editor of the Register and all
who believe as he does, Attorney General
Mccartney included, make another fatal
admission when they say that the new
amendment DOES take effect in 1882; for il
the new amendment goes into effect in
1882, and an election for the county officers
affected by it must be held in that year,
then no legal election can be held in No
vember, 1881. In support OF this position
we will quote Attorney General Mozart
ney's own argument, namely, that "the old
provision OF the constitution is annulled
the moment it comes in conflict with the
new" the question being only, "when does
this take place, in 1881 or in 1892
Attorney.General Mccartney asserted that
it does not take place in 1882; and thasAn
election must therefore be held under the
| old provisions next November; but he is
either not sincere in this assertion, or he
is very obtuse, or he has been very thought
less and opened his mouth before he had
a good mental grip upon the subject. We
will grant, for the sake of argument, that
| this position be the correct one. The old
provision of sthe constitution, under which
Mr.. Mccartney proposes that
the election shall be held, requires
that the county Judge, treasurer and clerk,
shall be elected, not for one, but for four
and two years. 1t does not permit the
election of either of these officers for only
one year, and there is no law under which
the governor could issue commissions for
only one year TO officers that had been cleo.
ted for two, The officers elected under the
old provision would be entitled to hold
their Offices for two and four years, or until
1883 and 1885, and would not that conflict
with the new provision, which, according
Mr.. Mccartney, is to go into effect in 1892
Most certainly 1t is plain therefore that,