The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-05-28

IOr perlOu OF Unlrty years back there is no
instance in this state where the lieutenant
governor has been elected to the Office of
governor, and only one instance where he
has received the nomination for governor.
Previous to the year 1880 there was gem
eral feeling that an election to the office of
lieutenantgovernor ended mans political
career but there is no such feeling now
Truly yours K. j. DIVER,
Clerk Of Secretdry's Office.
OHIO.
Editor Of Workmanship office of lieuten-.
ant-governor was created by the constitu-
ton of 1851 in this state, and / proceed to
give you the facts where the lieutenant-gov-
ernor became governor in Ohio. Under our
constitution the first instance was that
of Charles Anderson, who became gov
ernor upon the death of John Brough,
in 1864. When r. B. Hayes took his seat as
president of the United States, in 1876,
Thomas i. Young, lieutenant-governor be-
came governor. Since then there has been
no accession from the position of lieuten-
ant-governor to governor. / am very re-
spectfully yours, DANIEL j. RYAN
Secretary Of State.
ILLINOIS.
Editor Of Watchman:-Answerin your
letter of the 18th instant upon the subject of
the promotion of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS di-
rectly to the Office of governor, without the
intervention of an election, | have to say that
the rule, inasmuch as that of the eighteen
lieutenant-goverHors who have been NOM
mated and elected to the Office in the state
of Illinois not one has been promoted, di-
rectly or indirectly, to the Office of gov
ernor, except by the Intervention of death
or the election Of the governor to congress
and then only for the uneXpired term. No
one, believe, of the lieutenant-governor
OF this state has ever received the nomna-
ton of his party for the Office of governor,
| T1rrh oil 4 .
the nominating convention. Judging the
future by the past, the promotion of the
Acknowledgements directly to the office Of
governor is not likely to become the rule of
practice in Illinois Very respectfully,
l. n. PEARSON Secretary Of State.
MISSOURI.
| Editor Of Waterman :-Replying to your let
ter of inquiry: 1t has never been the custom
of the people of Missouri to promote the lieu
tenant-governor directly to the Office of gov
ernor. There have been but two instances
of such promotion in the history of the
state one in 1928 and the other in 1886 AT
| that time the state government was new
the state itself sparsely populated; our pub
| lie men were untried and il was difficult
matter to secure the services of men willing
and competent to perform the arduous
| duties incumbent upon the gubernatorial
| function. In both the instances cited the
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS promoted to the gov
| tIuOISulB were t1udily prominent before
the people, equally strong in their intel
lectual powers and supposed to be equally
competent to perform the duties of governor
But this kind of promotion ceased with the
second instance. The rule of promotion,
| scarcely established was Immediately dis
established. And of the seventeen gov
ernors OF Missouri, since elected, not one had
served as ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS or been a
candidate for that office. There have been
several instances wherein the lieutenant
| governor OF Missouri has offered himself as
| candidate for nomination as governor,
but in no case have his claims met with
recognition. just why his party or his peo-
| pie denied the promotion sought can not
undertake to say, especially when it has
sometimes appeared that such candidate
was perhaps the equal in intellectual at
tainments and mental power of his success
full rival. Yours respectfully,
A. A. LEsUEUR, Secretary Of state.
In eleven states of the Union-in-
GLIDING. in New England, Maine and
New mpshire-the office of lieuten-
ant-governor does not exist, the presi-
dent of the senate succeeding to the
Office of governor, in case of death or
disability, till new election has been
made. If any voter has been led, by
the jargon and special pleading of the
| papers of the promotion combine, to
question the wisdom of the action of
the convention of 1886, let him be re-
assured by the evidence presented from
other states which are among the most
eminent for the intelligence of their
people and the wholesome character of
their customs and institutions. Yer
mont was led, by the ready tact and
! shrewdness of Colonel Hooker, to break
up custom against which press and
people had been loudly declaiming; and
| she followed his leadership with rush
and sweep that showed how intolerable
the custom had become and how eagerly
she seized the opportunity to trample
it under foot. In this connection it is
pertinent to publish another, which is
type of many, of the answers the
WATCHMAN received from its circular
of last August:
Editor Of Waterman Il was member Of
the convention at the time Lieutenant
! governor Fuller was nominated. l APP
plauded as loudly as anybody the remarks
| of Colonel Hooker, and rejoiced that the
convention was possessed OF sufficient back
bone to break up the pernicious practice of
making governors by yUie. Unless the ring,
which seems TO run the politics of Vermont,
is broken, l fear the democratic vote in the
state will be largely increased at the next
election.
The answers to the WATCHMAN cir
cular showed that representative citi-
zens in all parts of the state were OPP
posed, three TO one, to return to the
custom of Immediately promoting the
acknowledgements to the governor
ship. The developments of the canvass
sustain the " consensus" Non-pro-
motion is the established practice of
the states of the Union. The rule is
about the only wholesome one of the
many that dominate political action in