The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-05-21
The Constitutional Convention.
MCMEEKIN, FLA, May 18th 1885.


The convention to fra NE constitu-
tion for the State of Florida is soon to
meet in the city of Tallahassee.
The opinion of citizens in relation
TO this important matter are now in
order. The change of most importance,
which it is proposed to make in our pres
ent organic law, is to restore to the peo
pie the right to elect their county officers.
1t is surprising how. an intelligent and
liberty loving people could so long allow
this right to be Withheld from them. One
of the unfortunate conditions, consequent
on the termination of the great civil war
may account for the tardiness of the peo-
pie in demanding the restoration of this
important right 1t has been the fear of
many good, wise and patriotic citizens
of this state, that in those counties which
have majority of citizens of African
descent, that unprincipled and shrewd
men taking advantage of their ignorance
of public affairs, would get into Office
through their votes and work incalcula-
ble injury to the citizens of said coun-
ties, and hence thought it better to toler-
ate the suspension of the right of elect
ing these officers rather than have the
risk of having some counties ruined by
the bad and inefficient ones secured by an
ignorant majority.
Whether this fear was or was not well
founded, it is now believed that the time
has arrived to demand a change and
give to the people this essential condition
| to Evepublican form of government.
| And yetevery safeguard consonant with
equity and public rights should be
! thrown around the exercise of this fran
chise to secure the election only of men
of integrity and efficiency.
/ To require a bond of every county of
| ficer of a sum sufficient to cover the full
responsibility and importance of the Of
| flee, and said bond to be of such charac-
! ter that it could not be evaded by the
| bondsmen, would go far to secure reliable
and proper men for the offices. 1t Oc-
! ours to the writer that a bond, something
after this style would do this: That A
/ is elected to office, A signs the bond, and
/ signifies in it the sum he is responsible
/ for and also describes the real estate
/ lying in the county of the office, which
real estate must be ample at the asses
sOrs valuation, to cover the sum he men
tions as his personal liability, and said
real estate shall be held liable for such
sum, now his bOndmen, b. c. D. and E.
| shall do each the same, mention the
sum, that each is liable for, and pledge
the real estate for the redemption of that
amount, and they to be as binding on
that real estate as a mortgage. The
number of bondsmen should be limited
to some reasonable number so as not to
have their construment too prolix and
tedious. The aggregate sum of all the
bodsmen should be sufficient to cover
the full responsibility of the office, and
each bondsman to be held responsible
for the sum only mentioned, and secur-
ed by the real estate described. Also let
it be made a felony for any one to make
false statement in a bond, in relation
to the ownership or encumbrance of the
real estate mentioned or described as Sc
curity.
1t would be hard for one to give a
bond of this character unless he was re
/ liable and worthy, and if all officers are
reliable and worthy, it does not matter
so much as to what political party they
come from. Should any one elected fail
/ to give the required bond then let the
governor fill the office by appointment
of one who could give the bond. While
of course, some will find objections to a
: bond of this character, it is certainly in
line with the management of our private
business. If an individual requires a
) bond of another, he insists that the bond
be secured, by lien on property. This
: is the rule, then what is unreasonable
: about all the individuals in the county
acting through their laws. and officers
requiring the same thing. That such q
bond is fair, practicable and would have
= a tendency to secure good officers is the
opinion of at least one
= C'TrTzr->-