Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-08-23
.Aancaster fntflligerrer.
EVENING, AUG. % 1888.
What Answer.

nat AnSWcr.
J.B. Miles, the Republican candidate
for auditor general in the present state
campaign, and the exponent for his party
of the issues which are to enter into its
discussions is not only upon record in
the session OF 1881 as to the cOnstitu-
tiOnal obligation of the Legislature TO
pass the appointments, but he is of a
later date upon record in favor of the
Democratic doctrine that in making the
congressional districts, due regard being
had to equality and contiguity, the re-
spective parties of the state should have
a fair proportion of these districts &C,
according to their total vote as expressed
at the last presidential election. Such
distribution, il made " without cutting
and gerrymandering for political il
terests," Mr.. Niles said, would give the
Democrats twelve and the Republicans
sixteen congressman. He admitted
frankly upon the same occasion that ''if
we had just as many votes as you we
would be entitled to just as many cor.
gressmen - this is a pretty plain state
ment of the proposition, and one upon
which all of us, Republicans and Demo
Gratis. will agree" For their $1,000 ma-
jority Niles asked only majority OF
four congressman, that is, that the dis
tricts should be sixteen to twelve. This
the Democrats have repeatedly offered
to take they have even agreed to ac-
cept eleven. What excuse has Niles for
not urging upon his party that this offer
be accepted? How can he reconcile his
present position of acquiescing in their
denial Of Justice with his former attitude
expressed III the speech we have quoted?
A SPECIAL telegram informs the In
TELLIGENCER of the sudden death, at
his home in Chambersburg this morning,
of James MacDowell Sharpe, member Of
the LEGISLATURE, and one of the foremost
lawyers of the state. He was a native
of Cumberland county and was in the
fifty third year of his age. Graduated
from jefferson college, he studied law in
Carlisle, but has practiced in Cham
bersburg since 1851. He was a
member of the House of Repre-
sentatives in 1861 and 1865 and again of
the present House, having been elected
last fall; he was also 4 member of the c. H.
s.itutiOnal convention of 1873, and in all
his public service was distinguished for
great legal acumeD, fOrcible expression
and courtesy of manner. In the present
Assembly he was chairman of the judi
ciary general committee and protested
with all his elOquence and zeal against
the passage of the judicial apportionment
bill which finally became a law. In this
as we'll as in many other respects i'll
which his counsel was not needed, his
party colleagues would have done better
to follow his leadership. which was
always honest and nearly always wise.
His deafness, delicacy of temperament
and an extremely nervous organization
somewhat lnterfered with his parlia'
mentary leadership, but he was always
listened to with the most profound re
specL when he spoke and he silenced the
opposition while he persuaded his OWL
side. At the bar he ranked very high
and his opinions were remarkable f0l
cOgency and clearness. He was a warm
personal friend and admirer of Judge
Black, whom he has SO soon followed
across the dark waters.
MEN toll increasingly in the pursuit OF
the mighty dollar, and after years OF
untiring labor some are fortunate enough
to amass colossal fortunes. What to d(
with these acquisitions of life time i:
very often perplexiDg question. FOl
those who are cursed with relatives who
wUlf-like impatiently await the time
when they can feast upon the carcasse:
of the dead, charitable bequests at once
suggest themselves as a way out of tn
dilemma. Yet so often do these fall int
the hands of unscrupu'Ous or Inefficient
trustees, as in the case of James Lick
the California millionaire, that testatOr
have become possessed of considerable
distrust of this method of disposition O
their estates. J. 3. Gardner, wealth,
citizen of Boston, recently deceased, has
taken the bull by the horns, by turning
over to the United States treasury, to III
used in helping to pay the national debt
his entire fortune, aggregating 1921 800
The United States, judging from th'
premium which its three and one-hal