Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-23

Public is far greater HAN the most foolish
bill can cause.
Foreign wars, pestilence and disaster
unite and strengthen a people, but no gov
fnenee t of general co1$up6on. The far Of
the apple to the ground is not more sure
than is the ruin Of thhC naiicn which ceases
to care whether its rulers are honest"
What the Citizen Can Do.
The remedy for the, condition described.
according to Mr.. STOREY. Hes in the citizen
himself.
There are" he said, "three possible
points Of attack-the men who receive the
money, the methods by which it is paid
and the men who pay it. You must raise
the character OF your Legislators. You
must strip bribery Of every comfortable
cloak. You must make men realize that
they are themselves disgraced when they
corrupt their fellows.
Our self-constituted political leaders,"
the speaker said, talk much about the
public, but they fear nothing as much as
the expression Of its real opinion. Hence
they resort to every device which can pre-
and packed conventions, false returns of
votes and stuffed ballot boxes are familiar
expedients, and the last, at least, have
been made more difficult by recent laws.
There Is, however, one ancient wrong, ma
tive, I regret to say, in Massachusetts,, but
readily adopted elsewhere, which seems to
grow with our growth and strengthen with
our strength. 1 refer to the practice known
as 'gerrymandering.'
Gan political parties are guilty Of this
practice, or, to put 1t more accurately, GER
tain men in each for personal or party ends
perpetrate this wrong. and their associates
acQuiesce. When several persons are ten
ants in common Of land and wish it divid-
ed, the court will appoint commissioners to
n axe partition, and when they report their
conclusion to the court all parties interested
are heard on the question whether the
division Is fair.
when the question is how to divide a
state into districts or reasonably adjacent
territory and nearly equal population. is
cess should not be applied? The question
in itself is simple. The division can easily
be made by any fair man with the map and
the census. In such a case why should not
the supreme court Of the state, on the mo-
ton Of the attorney general, appoint three
commissioners, distributed properly among
the political parties, to do the work and
make report to the court, which should
general and counsel representing each po-
litical party, to confirm, alter or recommit
the report. Gerrymandering cannot live in
the atmosphere OF court room or survive
public argument before q judicial tri-
bunal."
Campaign Contributions.
The subject of campaign contributions
also came up for consideration as an ele-
ment Of legislative corruption. When a
man makes such contribution basis for
a claim for office, when on the strength of
1t he asks for legislative favors, he per-
haps refuses to see the connection between
the payment and the equivalent But while
some men deceive themselves. more go d.
rectly to their end and knew exactly what
they pay for. The campaign fund of to-
day not only furnishes the means of cor
rupting voters, but supplies a fair-seeming
cloak for the more dangerous purchase Of
legislation.
The enormous expenditure which we now
tolerate must be stopped, and perhaps no
more efficient way can be devised than the
English system, which fofbids any improper
payment by candidateuor in his interest,
and in aggravated cases DISTINGUISHES the
corrupted constituency. The execution of
this law has been cdtiided to the English
courts with signal suecess. and they have
administered it with great strictness
The manner in which Contested elections
have been decided in otr legislature is a
standing reproach, and there is no remedy
except to have these cases tried by judges.
While We cannot, without constitutional
amendment, take from our legislatures the
right to decide ultimately as to the cleo
tons and qualifications of their members,
we can, by proper legislation. make the
Judgment OF court prifna facie title to a
seat, as well as the certificate of a return
Ing board, and such a judgment, after pub
lie trial, would with difnculty be reversed.
The 'Referendum."
AS a means of procuring an Ineligible
expression of the public will upon the va
rious questions at issue from time to time,
Mr.. Storey favors the separation Of ma
tional from state and of state from mu-
nicipal elections. The so-called "referen-
dum," he said, may also become necessary
as our political life becomes more and more
complex.
Mr.. Storey took up again the relinquish-
ment of its functions by the national House
of Representatives to its Speaker, even to
the appointment of committees. The
Speaker of the House, he said, should have
no power to deprive even a single member
of his equal rights to take part in the pro-
ceedings of the House; far less should he be
able, as now, to defeat the will Of the ma
jority. He should be powerless to keep the
real leaders of the majority from their
proper positions of influence by appointing
to chairmanships inferior men as a reward
for support in the speakership contest.
The force Of public opinion must be
brough to bear upon the work of reforming
the legislatures. The public must realize
the truth that the man who knowingly
employs dishonest agent, gives him
money to accomplish an object and closes
his eyes to everything but the result is
just as guilty Of every corrupt act which
Is no whit more really respectable than the
man whom he employs.
Mr.. Storey said In conclusion: THE fees
which are paid for very slight legislative
services are large. Their size often stigma
tizes the employment. The temptation is
great; but We, who are the interpreters,
and to a great extent the makers of the
law; we, whose conscences are educated
in courts of justice; we, who should lead
the community up, and who know that
upon respect for the law rests our whole
system Of government-we certainly cannot
escape the gravest condemnation II, through
any act advice or acQuiescence of ours,
the fountains of the law are polluted. The
honor Of our profession, the future Of our
country, are at stake. The law is in our
keeping. and our hands must never weaken
their hold upon the people,"
Reports of Committees.
The reports Of the standing committees
were submitted. Reports were also re-
ceived from the special committees on uni
form state laws; on expression and CLASH
fcation of the law, and on the federal code
of criminal procedure.
Before the section on legal education
this afternoon papers were read by Simon
E. Baldwin of Yale University, on school
Libraries and How to Use Them" by Wood
row Wilson Of Princeton College, on
Legal Training for Undergraduates" and
by John Henry Wigmore of the Northwest
ern University, Evanston, ILL.,, on "Ortho-