Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-03-04
THE G%ERRYMANDER CASE.
sPooNER.s GREAT ARouMEN1
ON THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE.

SPOONER'S GREAT ARGUMENT
ON THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE.
Republican Reciprocity-Glorious Facts
and F~igures-Blaine Not = Candidate
Wool and Revenue-A Study In Tin
Plate Prices.
Col. %spooner's Masterly Argument.
Probably one of the ablest arguments
aver made before the supreme court of
Wisconsin was that of ex-senator
Spooner's in the gerrymander case,
which came up for argument on the 9th
instant. sit iully," says the State Jour-
nal, Sustained the high reputation of
that learned advocate, and gave renewed
evidence of his right to the title of one
ofthe ablest constitutional lawyers Wis
consin has produced, as he is recog-
nized among the leading lawyers of the
country" On the .proportionate
d dfipssssnta ii ls s2su's COL in s sns . n GEs
remarks are well worth a careful study:
"What utter folly to argue in this day in
the highest court of the state upon
which our constitution confers original
jurisdiction'in matters pu6iici jiuris, that
in the passage of an superintendent bill
or any other bill involving the exercise
of legislative power the limitations of
the constitution are ropes of sand, and
that the legislature is a constitution I'M
to itself. This court took original juris-
diction of injunction infthe case OF the
Acknowledgement Va. Eau Claire, to
protect the sovereignty of the state and
under an unconstitutional enactment
by that city of the navigation of the
Chippewa River at a point where it had
never been navigable except for the
floating of logs, and where its waters
had never been veXed by the
keel of any craft larger than
the canoe of the Indian or the
batteau of the lumberman, mainly
upon the ground that by the ordinance
of 1857 engrafted upon the constitution,
the state held that river under a trustto
the general government, and under COM
pact, to maintain it forever free. 1t has
sight and wisdom the great ordinance
of 1857 is to be ranked With the consti-
tuition of the United States. 1t was
drawn and enacted by menimbued with
the spirit of the revolution, who thor
understood and appreciated the value of
personal and religious liberty, the inn
portance of popular education and the
principle that government should be of
laws, not of men By article 4 of that
great charter, upon which was based the
government of the territory of the
Northwest, from which has sprung go
many great commonwealth, it is pro-
vided:
".The inhabitants of the said territory
shall always be entitled to the benefits
of the writ of habeas corpus and of the
trial by jury, of q proportionate repre-.
sentation of the people in the legisla-
true, and of judicial proceedings accord-
ing to the course of Vie common law
These men, fresh from the revolution.
conscious of the injustice of taxation
without representation, stipulated in
this great charter compact as solemn
as any ever signed by man, that along
side Of the writ of liberty ana the right
of trial by ones peers and of judic-
ial proceedings according to the
course of the common law, which
they had been taught to believe
was the perfection of human wis
maintained for this people, that other
jewel, a 'p.oportionate representation
of the people in the legislature So
that when the architects of our consti-
tuition drafted the provisions relating to
apportionmentan representation, they
wrought not simply under the impulse
and duty to preserve and protect and
perpetuate this essential element. of
representative and republican govern
ment, but they obeyed the obligation of
a solemn compact. This provision of
the ordinance of l7S7 stands unrepealed
in its obligations; the trainers of the
best to secure it to the people forever.
The question now is whether the cove
.nant can be broken and dishonored
without redress. That the supreme
court of this state in the exer-
else of its original jurisdiction
will use the %prerogative writ of
injunction to protect the sovereignty of
the state, tn enable it to keep it's COM
pact to maintain free the navigation by
logs of a rocky and rushing river, but
has no jurisdiction to protect the sover-
eighty of the state in the great trust
which is born of the same ordinance,
care in the same constitution, the right
of pro%porlionate representation of the
people in the legislature, is the height
of absurdity. To declare that the court
has no jurisdiction of the subject matter
of this case is to thwart the anxious eff
forts and care of the founders of the
constitution, to obliterate the safe
guards which they threw around the
great right Of representation and self
government, and to abdicate the judi
cial power to the legislature, and leave
that body to be forever a court of first
and LAST resort upon this great ques-
ton"
These are some illustrations of the
reckless violation of the great charter
pointed out by Col. Spooner that de-
mand attention a,.d study: The unit of
representation OF the Assembly dis
tricts is 1866, and of the Senate dis
tricts 81, liz. The Ninth Senatorial Dis
trict was made with all the crooks and
turns possible, lob miles long, with a
population OF 57:449, while the district
adjoining it has less by 10000. Senate
District No. % has $500 inhabitants,
which is 1900 less than No. IS. The
La Crosse district has a population of
3S,S0l, but IN adjoining district has S.
3222, and still another district contains
6S,601. Here in Milwaukee, the differ
ence between the districts Is fully as