Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-06-06

the Senate" seems clearly to imply the
temporary nature of the tenure, and the
further fact that he acts as Governor by
virtue of his office of Speaker.
One Of two presumptions is conclu.
sive. Either the members of the con-
vention did not anticipate such a con.
dition as now confronts us or they did
anticipate it and applied the remedy
in our present Constitution as above
construed. And the reason for such
provision does not require US to go far
to find. Delaware, the second smallest
State in the Union in the extent of its
territory, has always been one OF the
smallest in the number of its inhabi.
tants. In fact, Immediately after adopt
ing the Constitution Of 1909 and again
after the Constitution of 1882, the popu-
lation of our little commonwealth was
so insignificant that the people thought
the financial burdens necessary to sus-
tain separate government too great
and on each of these occasions serious
attempts were made either 10 induce
Maryland to cede to Delaware her
counties embraced in our Peninsula or
that Delaware should annex herself to
one of her bigger neighbors.
$4,000 people, and being largely of an
agricultural class, was not wealthy.
Consequently, economy has been the
watchword in every government we
have established and considerations Of
economy entered largely into the dis.
cussion of every question considered in
the Constitution of 1882. Our Consti.
tuition makers must have known, of
course, of the provision of Lieutenant
Governors in the Constitutions of our
larger and more populous and
wealthy neighbors; also of the pro-
vision of Vice. President in our Federal
Constitution. These officials, as is we'll
known, are elected by the people for
the very purpose of succeeding and
filling ont the term of the chief execu.
tive if that Office should become vacant
by any means. But, in framing our
Constitution, the trainers thereof never
for one moment seemed to consider the
proprety of creating such an Office as
i'll our little commonwealth such an
officials chief, and perhaps only, duty
would have been to await the contin-
| gency of the Governors death, removal,
resignation or inability. A Lieutenant
| Governor always fills out the unexpired
term of deceased Governor, but it will
be noted that our Speaker of the Senate
shall only exercise tho office until u
Governor elected by the people shall be
duly qualified"
Furthermore, it will be remembered
that under the Constitutions of 1776
| and 1909, elections were annual and
| under any circumstances the interval
| elapsing between vacancy in the
| Governurship and new election by the
people must have been less than one
year, during which brief interval the
| Speaker of the Senate OBLIGATED as
| Governor. The Constitution of 1889
made elections biennial, chiefly in
order to save every other year the
| $4,000 which session of the Legisla.
ture then cost, but there was not word
changed showing that the Speaker of
the Senate officiating as Governor pro
tempore, was other than he had been
under the Constitutions of 1776 and
1893.
In 1882, the provisions Of section IA of
article were ampliied so as to prevent
an interregnum in every contingency
conceivable. Not daring to create such a
sineoure as the office of lieutenant COVER
nor, the trainers of our Constitution
looked about among the offices already
created for some one to fill the Governors
chair temporarily and in every Consti-
tuition that Delaware has had, the
| Speaker of our chief legislative body
has been selected for the position until
the people could elect new Governor.
| The idea forces itself upon us that the
only Governor whom our Constitution
intended should fully exercise the
functions of the Office was Governor
who was elected by the people.
Furthermore, we have the ovcrwhelm.
ing force of the precedent established
by Acting.GoyernOr Polk. Mr.. Polk
presided over the Constitutional Con.
vention of 1882, and soon after the
adoption of that Constitution succeeded
to the office of Governor by virtue of
being Speaker of the Senate, and after
a Governor had been elected by the PEG.
| Pile, he resumed his scat in the Senate
and finished out his term. If Acting
Gov. Watson, as is commended, has lost
his seat In the Senate because he will
\ Exercise the office" of Governor for
the next two years, then he would also
have lost his seat il he had "cxercised
the office" one day. Assume, for ex-
ample, that Acting. Gov. Watson, had
| just begun his four years senatorial
term in January last while Gov. Mar
wills term was just about to expire, and
assume further, that Mr.. Watson had
been elected Speaker Of the Senate a
day before the expiration of Gov. Mar.
wills term and that the latter had died
on that same day. According to the
| n rut gf
would have been acting Governor for
one day, and although he had Just "come
fresh from the people," he @sAld have
lost his seat in the Senate, 1t might be
urged that such circumstances are i'm
| probable, but was not the present con,
dition considered improbable until II
happened? Experience has taught us
that it is the unexpected that often hap
pens. This argument, it strikes ME
leads TO u reduction ad absurdum.
Added to this preponderance Of
evidence going to show the temporary
character Of the present acting Cover.
nor's position, there is a further reason
which seems to me to conclude the matter
II Acting. Governor Watson has lost
his seat in the Senate, then we are con.
STRUNG the Constitution so as to deprive
the people of Kent county of one
third of their representation in that
body for the time being. Would any
such violent wrenching of tho funda-
mental principles underlying oul
whole form of Government be fair and
reasonable Interpretation of the Consti-
tuition : That instrument guarantees
to Kent county the right to elect three
Senators and to have her wishes voiced
by those three Senators and no mere
technical Interpretation of language can