Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-07-24

fully discharge the duties of his position
and thereby aid to secure peaceful and
honest elections. And to this day, even
not charge of any kind has ever beer
made against any one of these Boards oil
against any member of any such Board
On the contrary, their record constitutes
without exception, one of the brightest
and most creditable chapters in the
political history of this State Consid-
eriug, therefore, the necessity for their
creation, and considering that both
parties were equally and satisfactorily
represented in their membership, and
considering that the whole State has an
interest in the election in every city and
in every precinct, there was never any
excuse for such a complaint, and the
making of it was, as have said, but a
false pretense.
But what has been the result? Have
they practiced their doctrine of home
rule? Yes, they have. They commenced
on
THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.
No man was ever more honestly or
more certainly elected Lieutenant Gov
ernor of this State than was Elbert l..
LampSon, but it was thought that his
presence in the chair of the presiding
officer of the Senate would be hindrance
to the schemes of devillry that were
contemplated, and, therefore, it was
decreed that he should go-and go he
did. Not by the forms of law; not as
the result of proceedings duly had; not
in accordance with evidence taken; not
because of conclusions properly reached; !;
but by brute force, as it were; by brazen
outrage, by disregard of right, by defiance
of law, by abuse of decency, by over
throwing the expressed will of the people
And while this was occurring in our own
Senate they were writing another chapter
for
THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
For six years we have borne a deep
humiliation. Through the mishaps of
1888, Henry B. Payne got the seat, by
purchase, which, had we carried the
General Assembly that year, would have
been given, without money and without
price, to Charles Foster. During all this
time, in consequence, we have been
represented by one Senator and one
vacancy. The Senator, a leader of
leaders, his voice heard and his judg-
ment respected by the men of all parties
upon every important question. We
hoped we might last year give him
Republican colleague, but when we
found that privilege denied us, we then
hoped that the Democratic party, profit
ing by past experience, would rise above
mere plutocracy, and confer the honor
upon some one of the many able, worthy
and distinguished leaders who have
fought their battles for the past genera
tion; some one who could fitingly rep
resent our great State; some one whose
intellectual attainments would be such
that we could all, without regard to
party, have in some measure, at least,
of pride; some one who could worthily
speak for our four millions of people,
our five thousand millions of wealth, our
varied resources and our multiplied in
dustries. But it was a vain hope.
Henry y. Payne has been succeeded by
Calvin S. Brice. What single qualiica-
ton for that high Office is he even reputed
to have? What are his views concerning
any of the political questions of his
time? Nobody knows. He never ex-
pressed any. He had no record. You
will search in vain for any speech on
any subject. 1t was not views; it was
not principles; it was not oratory; it
was not craftsmanship that commended
him to Democratic favor. He never |
anything; he never defended
he never represented any cause.
He did not even live in Ohio. But he
had attributes that outweighed all these
deficiencies. He was graduate of Wall
street, five times millionaire, with a |
for never squandering any of
his wealth for taxes, and that was
enough. He was chosen, and thus va
cancy was added to vacancy.
How much longer are we to endure
such experiences?
X X r.