The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-04-17
THE MUNICIPAL ELECTION.


night canvassed the votes for alder
men in the municipal election and
found R. G.. Vaughan, James Mat
thews and Jonathan McAssey elect
ed alderman in first, second, and
third wards respectively. No OBJ
struction was found to issuing GER
tifcates of election to these, except
in second ward, where Isaac Mayer
had filed a protest against Mat
thews, as the HERALD announced
last week, but the council easily
rode over this little document and
declared Matthews winner. 1t
would not be amiss in this connect
ion to print the sections, 1852 and
4753 of the political code, which re-
late to eligibility of municipal off
GERS:
4752. No person is eligible to
any municipal Office, elective OIL ap-
pointive, who is not a citizen of the
United States, and who has not re-
sided in the town or city for at least
two years Immediately proceeding
his election or appointment, and is
not a qualified elector thereof.
S 4753. No person shall be eli
gible to the office of alderman un-
less he shall be a tax paying free
holder within the limits of the city
and a resident of the ward so elect
ing him for at least one year pre-
ceeding such election.
The reader will observe that the
two years residence, s4752, is made
an absolute qualification. In the
present instance the winning candi-
date, Matthews has not resided in
the town fol the required time. 1t
was upon this ground that the con-
test was filed, and the case when
taken to the district court will nee
essarily be reversed. In onversa
ton with Mr.. Mayer he expressed
his positive intention of carrying the
case to court.
Some have unwittingly remarked,
when debating this question, that to
debar Matthews from taking his
seat is to create a vacancy in the
city council which will necessitate
another election, or an appointment
by the city council. This c%onclu-
sion is so superficial as to demand
little comment, but is is not true.
AS we'll might we say that if a citi-
zen of Great Britain were on the
ticket, and should receive the high
est number of votes, no one would
be elected. AS we'll might we say
that no man could be elected to off.
ice whose opponent happens to be
ineligible to the office. Why should
the law make Mayer responsible 70,
the ineligibility of his opponent
The obvious rule in such case.
would be hat when the one secur
ing the highest number of votes il
not eligible, the eligible candidate
receiving the highest number o
votes would be elected, even though
he received not more than one vote
We should like to learn tn
source of the Miners legal opinion
on this subject, as the author Ger
tainly deserves a colored lithograpI
of a bunch of rosettes.
The special attention of all candi
dates for marshal is invited to tn
terms of S 4752 above quoted wh'
will readily see that there are no
many Barkises eligible even to tina
office.
The purpose in view of publishin
S4753 is to show wherein the quest
ioh of owning real estate arise'
Anyone acquainted with the fac
knows that the town of Neihart hs
never had a council whose entiI
membership conformed to thes
qualifications. And we suggest tn,
it is high time the rising youn
town would come down to commc
sense and elect its officers fro
among those who come within Il
statutory limitations. We are gls
to see Mr.. Mayer proposes to carr
his oase to court. We are please
to see the noble stand taken by M
McAssey upon this question. F
above all prejudices, and partisan
personal differences, we stand f
the letter of the law and would s,
no iot OIL title of it broken.
Struck with unusual mathemati