The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-01-27


pass will not obllgate the legislator or
state official to the railway company in |
any way.
Many of the railway companies, |
while claiming a desire to get rid Of |
the pass system, are really retaining |
its most Objectionable features. One |
company in particular, whose mana
gers are loud in their denunciations of !
the practice of granting passes to state
officials, is now confining its favors
strictly to those legislators and state
officials whose votes may Offset them
favorably or unfavorably in very
material way. The author of the bill
claims for it that it will do away with
the evils of system that no legisla-
tion has been able abolish. While rec
ognizing the pass system, 1t will make
the recipient of the pass feel entirely
Independent of the giver of it.
A Retaliatory Measure.
The element of the general assembly
that desires full and fair investiga>
tion Of the charges of bribery against
Senator Hanna is largely in the ma
jority, and the great corporations,
whose agents are stubbornly refusing
to give the evidence desired by the
investigating committee, and whose
operations are regulated by state laws,
may feel the resentment of this ma
| jority later on, in new laws affecting
them. A bill is now proposed against
| the Western Union and Postal tele-
graph companies, which will reduce
the rate chargeable for the ordinary
2O-word message between points in the
state from 25 to Is cents.
Senator sullivan's Mistake.
Senator Sullivan of Trumbull coun-
ty, who has been very ofIicious as
defender of Senator Hanna ever since
the bribery charges were made, seems
to have made a bad break in appear
ing before the investigating commit
tee and announcing himself as the at
torney of Mr.. Hollenbeck-a particeps
criminis in the case. Senator Sulliv-
an, being a lawyer, would hardly claim
the right to act as attorney and judge
or jury in the same case, and so it
would be highly improper for him, as
a member of the senate, to vote in the
case. Senator Finck will protest
against his vote when the report of
the committee comes to the senate for
action. 1t has been made part of
the record that Senator Sullivan an
nounced himself an attorney for the
defense in the case.
A Righteous Bill.
Senator Pugh of Franklin has intro
duced bill of righteous character,
which will no doubt be attacked by
the Republican forces in the legisla-
ture with all their strength. 1t is in
tended to prevent the insertion on the
Australian ballot of tickets nominated
by parties whose proportions are not
much larger than an oldfashioned
husking bee. The ease with which the
little side-issue parties have been able
to get their tickets on the ballots, and
the difficulty they have frequently had
in getting them off when they wished
to withdraw them, have helped the
Republican party in several recent po-
litical campaigns. A convenient law
like this, which can be made to work
fast and loose by the secretary of state,
as party eEigencics demand is too
good thing TO let go, and it is not
to be expected that the Republicans
will let it he repealed or amended
without protest.
Senator Pugh's bill, in short, pro
vides that the signature Of voter to
petition to insert certain ticket on
the Australian ballot, shall pledge him
to support it when there. Evidence
that he has assisted in nominating an
other ticket, either by convention or
ticket, makes him ineligible as sign
er Of another petition, and his sigma
ture can not be counted as one of the
number necessary to secure the inser-
tion of the ticket.
A Long Session.
The senatorial election and the in
vestigation that has followed it, to-
gether with uncertainty about the sta
bility of the house organization, has
greatly delayed the work of the legis-
lature. In fact, the body has not fairly
begun its work yet Few Of the i'm
portant measures have yet been intro
duced, and those that have been have
just reached the hands of the proper
committees. With a series of scraps"
between the Hanna and anti-Hanna
men in prospect, all through the ses-
sion, 1t is likely to be long drawn out,
whether there be two sessions or only
single one of this legislature.
Contest or Protest.
The Republicans are asking what
Mayor McKisson expects to accomplish
by contest in the senatorial election.
If Senator Hanna is proven to have Sc
cured votes by improper methods, they
say, that does not elect McKisson. Ger
tainly not, but If the evidence adduced
Is sufficient towarrant the senate in re-
fusing to permit Senator Hanna to re-
tain the seat new election will be
necessary and that might result diff
ferently. Perhaps the proceeding
should be called a protest rather than
a contest.
]. II. GALBRAITH.