The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-06-04

had been answered in the discussion by
other legal gentlemen he did not attempt
TO maintain his suggested position, and
we are left TO infer by bis silence and the
subsequent action Of the House that his
doubts were removed, or certainly that
they got no Judgment in the minds Of the
members OF the House very generally.
II contemporsneous Interpretation, &C.
quleseence, and long-continued practice
Tor nearly century, with an unvArying
line OF numerous and uniform preced-
entE IN election cases in this House,
amount to anything as evidence. upon
the proper construction to be put upon
the Constitution, we have them all hers
in marked degree. They are very
potent, and Il will take bold lawyer to
gAinsay the doctrine which they indicate.
But besides. and in addition to all
these, we have decisions Of the Supreme
Court of the United States which lead 10
the same result in legal effect. 1t cannot
now be denied that Congress has q sup
reno power over the territories, both
those which existed at the time when the
Constitution was adopted and also those
subsequently acquired. That DO wer was
conferred expressly by or inheres in the
Constitution, and has no restriction save
that wisdom and good faith imposed and
Of which Congress itself is the sole Judge.
II is best stated in the opinion of Chief
Justice Waite in National Bank u.s.
County Of Tsnktcn, I01 United States
Reports, 1873. It must bs apparent to all
that unless the acts Of Congress impose
upon the House q reciprocal obligation
to receive the delegate and give him q
seat. they can in noWise be said to secure
TO territories the right OF representation.
The representative principle is embodied
and inheres in the very theory of this
government, and to assert ct this late
day that it cannot be granted by Con-
grees and secured to the people of the
territories in the limited and qualified
form appearing in the original ordinance
of July Is, 1887, and in all the organic
acts Elnce, is to predicate what will or
should get little credence or favor.
When it Is asserted that q delegate ex-
lists &c gTGtiG only, it is belittling the
Office, unless We add that it 10 by the
grace of Congress and not Of the House
alone. II is hardly just or fair to call it
grace when we consider what this coun-
VI Ni6 0A4A emu 0OOAb bnO AlSnh VI lCPlC-
seItstiOn when they were themselves
embodied its principles in the very spirit
and letter of the Constitution, and have
acted them out ever since, and it is too
late now TO go back on them in reference
to our territories, which are part or the
dominion Of this country. That this
House has heretofore regarded the status
fixing the qualifications of delegates as
binding upon them is apparent when we
look st the various attempts which have
been made al different times to change
them SO as to disquslify q polygsmist,
and ali without success until the
present session. Even now, if the doc
trine of the msjo;ityis sound, the present
act obtained after so long q struggle, and
hailed with 60 much joy throughout the
country and which does that thing, is
nugatorY as law and not binding as a
rule of the House. It was wholly IN
necessary for the purposes of this contest.
It will come up to plague the friends of
this act in the future and serve TO hoist
them, as by their own petsrd, in the pos
sible event Of q change occurring In the
complexion OF the majority.
beg leave to notice one other phase of
the views Of the maj ority; for they do not
agree altogether among themselves. Some
of them concede all that have claimed
in regard to the power of Congress and
that this House in judging ofthe election,
returns, and qualifications of Delegates
are acting under the clause of the Consti-
tation relating to members. In order to
reach their result they have resorted to
an apparent popular idea as to what
''iudging of the Qualifications" means, to
wit, that the House has right In each
case to ssy what they shall be and
abridge or enlarge those prescribed By
the Constitution or the statutes. While tie
main report does not assent to this doc
tribe so far as members are concerned,
but admits that the House cannot add
or take from the qualifications fixed by
the Constitution fer them, yet he con-
tends that the statutes fixing the quail
iicAtions for Delegates are not obligatory
upon the House and 8 different rule OF
law prevails.
Now, sir, 1 am not ready for one 10
contravene aud reverse the doctrine as
laid down by Story, Kent, and other
eminent iurists and the long line Of
uniform precedents found in the history
Of Congress and say, IS is written on
page % Of the report, that they are
chiefly valuable on account OF their age
and uniformity and that this House
should, if it could, reverse them and hold
to the contrary.
II anything cAa be said to be settled on
principle and authority it is this.
When we come 30 the statutes pre-
scribing the qualifications for Delegates
we find that Congress attempted and
to do as to them just what the
Constitution had done in that regard for
to-wit, adopt the Represent
alive principle, FIX the qualifications
deemed to be primarily essential, and
leave all else to the electors and allow
them to select their own Representative.
Congress does this very thing, only it
allows the legislative assem- blies to add
others, subject to its approval.
The Constitution and laws of the
United States, except go far as locally
are extended by statute
over the Territory.
If these statutes ara valid they must be
interpreted according to their intention.
If the purpose is manifest TO enumerate
the qualifications prescribed; and to
exclude sll others by implication, and
to leave the rest to the electors or to the
Assembly to determine, they
must be so interpreted just as the Con-
was, because the rule OF con-
struction under which this was done ap-
plies to statutes as well as to the Consti' |
tuition. (Sedgewick on Con. OF Statutes
DC, page 81, note.)
Such was the intention Of Congress
most nnaniFastlv. It is apparent from the |