The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-03-27
PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLA
TURE BEING CANDIDATES FOR
UNITED STATES SENATOR.

vations, T. w. Davenport, Senator from
Marion county, in the late legislature makes
some very appropriate remarks on that pro-
vision of our state constitution which pro
hibits members of the legislature being can
didates for any Office the election Of which
is vestel in the legislative assembly. The
following is his words ON the subject to-wit:
] Mr.. Hirsch, being mem Der of the legis-
lature, was therefore ineligible, under our
constitution, to the Office of U. S. Senator
There is no more doubt that the const1tu
tion means what it says, and that the franz
ers of that instrument mad the office of the
United States Senator especially iu view,
than there is of any other declaration
couched i'll language and addressed to plain
people No man can misunderstood it, and
no one until recently had the hardihood to
try to explain it away. There Is nothing
in the Inhibition contrary or hostile to the
constitution of the United States; there is
nothing in it which does not conserve the
best interest of the people of this state.
am aware that the senate of the United
States admits to seats within that body
members elected in defiance of the state con-
stitutions, such as ours or the state of Ill
inois, and this practice was held as a sufi-
cient reason, by nearly all the members of
our last legislative assembly, for ignoring
the clause of the constitution rendering
them ineligible. q
1 do not wish to indulge in harsh Judge
nents or set my self up as standard in this
particular, but do insist that the practice
Of the last two sessions shall be discontin-
ued, and that we go back and stand upon
our own constitution.
If there were any doubts in the minds of
any as to the wisdom of the inhibition, Ger.
tainly the scenes of the last session would
remove them. The trainers of OUT constitu-
tion were wiser than the present. for they
foresaw what we have now learned from a
dear experience. I put it as the prin,"
reason for our late failure to elect senator
that we did not observe in good faith the
constitution of our state. If there had been
no legislative candidates we could have |
agreed in less than two weeks: l know we !
could. The prejudice of the country againt |
the metropolis could not have hindered it. |
The votes show that the prejudice was i'm
potent to prevent all electi N. The main
trouble lay in the fact that members who |
are candidates are striving to prevent an
agreement upon one of their own number /
or upon any one outside of the assembly. |
The principal tendency of such contest
I 81
equal aspirants is to stir up disagreemsnts
and animosities which in the nature of |
things must grow stronger instead of weaker
to the end of the session. And can any
one think that legislation. under such cir
cumstances, would proceed in that orderly,
careful, iudlcious manner which is the chief
protection against bad laws? The election
Of United States Senator is bad enough ut
best, and always more or less corrupting to
legislation, but is it not doubly so where
those who are the instruments by which
legislation is affected also enter the arena of
conflict where the great senatorial honors
are to be won? It must be so while human
nature is human nature. do not wish to
be understood as even limiting that the
of the last legislature were not
good men, or even superior men, for think
as whole it was an earnest, honest, hard
working assembly, fuller of IDEAS and pur-
poses than any of its predecessors, but it /
was composed of human beings who were
lctuoted by human impulses, that is ALL
In charity for ourselves let us adopt the
Irish verdict, ''Not guilty, but don't you do t
it again. +"
Let us learn by the past and reafirm the
clause of our organic law. Let
is have no more legislative candidates for
;he United States senate, an.i if possible let y
is remove the question practically from the :
legislature by asking the people to nomi-
late the senator.
r W. DAVENPORT. +