The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-15
A PROPER RESIGNATION.

A PROPER RESIGNATION.
Mr.. c. N. Bell, who announced to
the public through a morning paper
on Friday that he would accept the
craftsmanship of the new charter COM
mission, if it should be rendered to him,
filed his resignation as a member OF
hat commission on Saturday. The
resignation is accompanied by a COM
munication of such vast length as
seems to indicate in Mr.. Bells mind
an exaggerated opinion of the impor-
lance of the event. What the reasons
are for a change of heart so sudden
it is neither proper nor important TO
inquire. We venture to think That
they are not wholly contained in the
voluminous document submitted by
Mr.. Bell, because some of those set
down there are such exceedingly poor
ones that we should dislike to make
the reflection implied upon his ability
as a lawyer by taking these as the
sum total of his inspiration. Probably
he feels as he did in 1880, when he,
resigning his seat in the common coun-
Gil, exhibited the inordinate self-con-
ceit that still distinguishes him
by saying, 81 can no longer afford the
luxury of serving the public"
Mr.. Bell says that only the SUI
preme court can finally settle what
per cent Of the vote cast at the
next election can adopt the new char
ter. The law is explicit. 1t says: eff
fou%r-sevenths of the qualified voters
voting upon it's adoption at such cleo
ton shall ratify the same, it shall, at
the end of thirty days thereafter, be-
come the charter of such city" The
term "four-sevenths of the qualified
voters voting upon it's adoption" does
not seem to require any judicial in
depreciation. Again, he assumes that
a question may be raised Is to the
charter petition; when every third-rate
lawyer ever knows that the law abso-
lutely validates the act of the court in
any event, since 1t confers upon the
judges the power to appoint without
any petition whatever. The hint that
another petition may be necessary to
fill the chasm caused by his retire
ment, in view of this, becomes too
| foolish for a man of Mr.. Bells position
to indulge in. The remainder of his
letter consists of objections to the
home rule law, which are not in point
at present; of assurances that nothing
but a charter framed by Mr.. Bell or a
| general law drawn by him can posi-
bly, serve the people; and an advertise
ment of his place of business, where
clients are invited to call, the latter
being offered to the newspapers, we
suppose, at the usual space rate for
pur reading matter.
This gentleman having done m
thing to deserve public respect
in the past, we prefer to be-
lieve that this mass of I'M
digested folly, bearing all the marks
of haste and inaccuracy, assigned by
him as a reason for his resignation, is
meant really co cover a wise and prop
er act. Mr.. Bell has found, upon com
munion with himself, that, by reason
of his devotion to the document hat
bears his name. n his fixed faith, as
expressly stated in his letter, that it
deserves to ra1k with the ten com
mandments in unchangeableness, and
in the wisdom and respect of it's au-
thor, he is not a proper person to serve
on the charter commission. In this
we entirely agree with him, as will
the general public. His appointment
was a mere formal courtesy imposed
by an imagined necessity. But every
one ha appreciated from h begin
ming the awkwardness of the situation.
Mr.. Bell would not wish to be eternaIly
s%quabbling with his associates; yet he
would regard the alteration of a line
or letter of the present charter as no
less than sacrilege, and it is notorious
that when the present charter was
framed it was possible for others to
keep peace with him only by resigning
to him the credit for a work that was
really theirs. He has, therefore,
spared himself humiliation and his
friends embarrassment, while great
ly facilitating the work of the COM
mission, by Eesigning. We congratu-
late him upon his fine sense of pro-
priety in this particular; though we
could have wished that it might be
accompanied by evidences of keener le-
gal acumen and of a greater degree
of good taste than distinguish the
manuscript volume which he has be-
queathed to the archives Of the dis
- y
trict court