The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-01-28
DAY lIlNSEATED
The Senate Finally Decided Frank Day
Had Vacated His Seat When .
He Went Up.
The Constitutional Lawyers Have.
Their Inning and Exhaust Their
Legal ocabularies.

Special Gorresponden
Institutional lawyers are now en-
gagged in a spirited discussion as to
whether or not the validity Of the
Anderson bill for the taxation Of un-
used railroad lands will be in any way
Affected by the unseating of Frank A.
Day. BY whose deciding vote the bill
was passed. One of the great consti-
tutlpnal lawyers Of the senate gravely
and earnestly informed that body that
to Declare that when Day became
iente nant governor he vacated the
seat of. senator would be to
declare invalid every law passed by
his deciding vote. And he quoted
three cords and q half OF authorities to
to Sustain him. The next great con-
stitn tional lawyer who happened de-
clared with equal gravity and earnest
ness, with superior clog and with
an adj itional cord and three-quarters
ofsau thorities, that no court on earth
had ever failed to hold that the
actions of q de facto official were valid.
I By facto'' he meant an acting of
fetal whose standing had not yet been
questioned, and am at a loss to know
why he did not say it in English in
stead of German. These lawyers
there are about 20 Of them sat there
fora whole day and listened to two
other lawyer exhaust their vocab ulary
OF legal phraseol ogy and pig Latin, let
them pound the Morocco covering off
OF the State law books and quote Black
stone, Byron and Brian Boru until
they were black, in the face. and then
they took a hand. To hear them you
would have imagined that each indi-
lvidnal senator had just been closeted
in executive session with the Delphic
oracle and that he carried around in
his person the wisdom, learning and
sagacity essential to the proper con
duct Of q dog fight. But it is a mis-
take. Listening to these miniatures
Iof pfmosthenes and Cicero involun-
Lag Led the the old
Negro who at the conclusion of a joint
debate between two candidates for Of
fee, said: IF bofe OBJ dem men am
tellin' de trufe what a dam liar dey
boie isl
I. 81.
| Not one dollar will ever be paid under
the operation of the Anderson taxation
bill. It is probable that no tax would
ever have been paid anyhow, but this
action of the senate will furnish to the
corporate interests the only instrument
lacking with which to fight that bill
before the courts. If Day ceased to be
Iasenator on the 31st of January, 1895,
as the senate has now declared, then
he was not a senator, and was not en-
titled to a vote as such at any time af-
ter he became lieutenant governor.
The theory that his acts as de facto
senators will be sustained by the courts
is based upon rulings in cases where
there was question as to the original
title Of the sitting member and not
upon question of a vacation of his
rights. The courts of this State are
not noted for any illfeeling toward the
corporations, and when case comes
before them they will, as the senate
did, give the corporations the benefit
of the doubt. is all we'll enough to
say that the courts cannot recognize an
act of this kind by the senate, but it
will be found when they come to re-
view the different phases of the Ander-
son bill that they will take into con-
|sideration a decision of the senate
which carries with it the refutation of
acts inimical to corporation interests.
i. i.
The disappointed candidates for APP
pointive offices, as usual, are out for
the scalps of their successful rivals,
and as usual the legislature will be
asked to ayenge the private. grievances
of these people by abolishing or cur
failing the emoluments of the offices
involved. Having previously com
mented upon the atrocity OF some of
the appointments I feel now justified
in saying that the disappointed candi-
dates, some of whom favored, have
furnished Gov. Clough the opportunity
to say 4 told you so, 8 and to convince
me that he was less wrong than I