The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-05
Lindsay Hits Hard.

Those who saw with regret the name
Of Senator Lindsay, of Kentucky, in
the list of those voting for the Teller
resolution will be glad to know that
this does not mean a weakening of
conviction on his part as to the main
issue involved Mr.. Lindsay took oc-
casion yesterday to explain in the sen
ate his attitude on the question of the
free coinage of silver at the ratio of
is to l. He had been requested, by
joint resolution of the Legislature of
Kentucky, to resign his seat in the sem
ate as the price of his devotion to the
cause of sound money and his belief
that the gold and silver coin of the
country should be kept at a parity.
His reply is not only a forcible vindi-
cation of his own action, but 1t ar
raigns his accusers in their turn and
proves the charges against them
All that Senator Lindsay needs to
say in his own behalf is that he stands
today where he always stood, where he
stood when he was chosen senator. and
where a majority Of the voters of Ken
lucky have stood whenever the money
question was submitted to their deci-
sion. After voting in the extra session
of 1893 against every proposition for
the free coinage of silver at the pres
ent ratio, he was the unanimous
choice Of his party for senator. If
&c +Loi,
q since then, the responsibility for con-
sequences does not rest on him. Thus
the present majority in the Kentucky
legislature is convicted not only of
abandoning a principle held by the
party. but of asking an honorable man
either to violate his solemn pledge to
the people or to abandon the trust that
they have reposed in him.
He then turns With Irresistible logic
and calm scorn upon the revolutionary
position of the legislature that has
presumed to attempt to dictate terms
unknown to the constitution Of the
country and to its uniform custom.
senator, as he points out, is the repre-
sentative of the whole people of a state
The function of the office is shown
clearly by the method of election laid
down in She constitution. He is not
the creature Of the hour, subject to the
changing whims Of popular caprice or
the accidents of chance conventions
and platforms. The idea that a. Iegis-
lature can direct the actions of the
states senators would overturn the
constitutional theory completely. 1t
would make the United States senate a
body whose members hold their places
only by changing and uncertain
tenure. 1t would deny totally the right
of private judgment and the exercise
of individual independence. Senators
from each state would come and go
at frequent and irregular intervals.
Fer, if a member elected as a sound
money man must lay down his Office
when the legislature of his state con-
tanned a majority thereafter of advo-
Gates Of siXteen-to-oneness, then a
member elected as a Democrat or O
Republican must, by the same reason.
resign if, in a subsequent legislature,
the majority party become a minority.
The federal senate would become the
mere creature Of state legislatures in
a condition OF constant lux and transit
ton.
The position of Mr. Lindsay is as
logical as it is impregnable, and he has
placed his assaiiants in a sorry light.
In common with some of his associates,
who were Influenced rather by petty
technical arguments than by the broad
question of the general good, or by
the stern law that when the battle
RACES you must take part wholly with
one side or the other, he cast the other
day enc of his few votes on the wrong
side of an important issue 1t is good
to know that he has not lifted his
anchor, and that he has the courage Of