Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-12-03
IT WON'T work.
TOO Late to Remedy ths Mistakes
of Collins Candid ICY.
r"iiticai Schemes TO Rec esm a Lost
seat In the Lesislasurs That WIN
Not be Tolerated. Democrats VIII
ssana BY wilson.

Inc linton seems 10 think that because
II mas found out at last that w. c. Col
Inns has placed in the hands Of Governor
rifer a paper which he term his resisna>
'ion as member of the lef islature, that
that settles the matter and eli the renub :
iicans have to do now is to 90 ahead and
elect man in Collins place The action
on the part of Collins attaches no sig>
nihcance whatever beyond Il mere confess
sion OF his ineiigibility to III . Office. The
step. unpleasant as it was Tor Collins To
take. and forced as he was by Long jones
and the little bosses here to make il. does
not in the least effect the fact mat vii.
son and not Collins ia the legally entitled
memoer-elect of the legislature from this
county. The illegality of he ballots cast
Tor Collins in this county alone gives
wilson a majority of the votes-and the
election. Collins therefor resigned
something that he did not have. Wilson
is the member>elect and democrats will
therefore refrain from participating in
any superfluous special election dodge
that the republicans may spring on sn
unsuspecting public.
There is. therefore. no vacancy in the
office of representative of the Twenty
hrst district. The law pro vides that each
senatorial district is entitled to three rep.
resentatives, and that theY shall be cleo
ted at the general November election. At
the recent general election there were five
candidates. viz: Two democrats, two
republicans and ne prohibition. Upon
the returns the governor as issued certifi.
Gates to Geo. Vinten. L F Beals and w.
Z. Collins. These certific ates are prima
facia evidence only of the holder to his
seat in the house. To hold that
a man can resign so as to cause vacancy
In the office, to which ne has only a
prima facia title. would only be another
way OF defeating the choice of the voters.
While it may appear on the face
of. the. returns that ". C. Collins Is
entitled TO the Office, any qualified voter
OF this district may contest his seat BY
serving notice within dirty days after
the result of the election.
Upon the contestitis plainly the duty Of
the house of representa- yes to determine
whether or not Mr. Collins was duly
elected. If the house should find that be
did not receive the greatest number of
legal votes, which is a fact, because the
ballots cast in this county for him were
not in compliance with section SO of the
election laws which is mandatory with
reference TO the space between
the names and as follows:
1.-THE ballot shall be printed or written
or partly printed and partly written upon
plain paper, with the name of each cam
didate voted for and he title of the
office. when the ballot is printed; the
same shall be printed upon plain paper,
in plain type, in straight lines with 9
blank space below each name of width
OF not less than equal 10 the width of the
line In which the uamt is printed"--or
that he is not qualified by reason of bis
not being resident of the state for five
years or for any other reason. the house
shall so find aud declare that MIR. Collins
is not entitled to the Office. and no, that
there Is vacancy the house shall also
bnd that the certificate issued to Mr..
Collins was void from the beginning,
and should have been issued TO the per.
son legally elected which is John A.
Wilson.