The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1899-04-05

~ ucoornhao Ao,n sDyrd 30 the
oGlco e DID1<ict AttoGney FOR the
10I1 judlcla1 DiDlzict. I rcpsat That
charge. he Governor in the
printed copy Of his spooch
did not allude to- this charge,
but I took the precaution (followine
tho example which the Governor
he's ut n,e) OF having his speech
geographically reported. When
delivered my speech at Meridian
saw . shorthand reporter taking IL
down. and was informed that il
~ being done ct the instance of tho
Governor. wrote to this gentle
man, for a copy of my speech az re-
ported by him, and finding It cor.
rect made an arrangement with
him to report the Governor speech.
Therofore, there ara two versions Of
the speech in existancs, the print
cd version given out by the Govern
or and the other the stenographic
report. Az I have said, the printed
copy Of the Governors speech con-
tains no answer to this charge, and
/ think that you will agree with
me when / give you the stsnographic
report of what the Governor said
in answer to this charge, that IL is
well for the Governors reputation
~ 9 lawyer that he did not give
wide spread circulation to his an
gwer to this charge. Here ID what
he said at Meridian:
'But they say I violated the Con-
stitution in the appointment Of
Judge Byrd here a. district attor-
ney. Well now, gentlemen every de-
partment of the state government is
equal. Tho executive, the legislative
the judicial. Each must judge the
G Constitution for itself. I did not be-
lieve then and do not believe now
that there was anything unconstitu-
tional in the appointment Of Mr..
Byrd. Some very eminent lawyers
differ with me ON that. One lawyer
differed with me and he shook my
opinion in it and I went and exam
med it. / went and reconsidered IL
because of the opinion of that great
lawyer. / came to the conclusion
that there was nothing unconstitu-
tional in his appointment and be-
lieve now that I was right. I may
have been wrong, but if I was wrong
it was an error of Judgment that
gave the district an excellent dis
trict attorney"
In the face Of the plain, explicit
provisions Of the Constitution, so
plain that it did not need the con-
Of the supreme court and
IN the face Of the decision of our
court distinctly constituting
this section of the Constitution, the
governor has t1e boldness to assert
hat in his opinion there was moth
Ing in the Constitution forbidding
Mr.. Adam Byrd's appointment. Let
ne quote to you this provision Of
The Constitution, to-wit, Section As:
No senator or representative
Turing the term for which he was
,lected shall be eligible to any Office
IF profit, which shall have been Gre
ated or the emoluments Of which
nave been increased during the time
such senator or representative was
"a Office, except to such Office as may
be filled by election Of the people"
But for the last clause In this sec-
lion no senator or representative
would have been eligible at all to
such Office during the time such sem
ator or representative was in Office,
but this last clause is added so that
L tho people sec fit to elect q sena-
Tor or representative to an Office
which was created during his term
If Office, then he shall be eligible to
,lection. In no other way can he
be eligible to this Office. This is an
of the only way to rem
Ter him eligible to the Office and
4 is well known rule of law,
md the governor is familiar with
his rule, because he has quoted it.
that the depression of one is the
exclusion of another" The word
eligible is defined in the Century
dictionary as follows: Qualified
10 be chosen; Legally qualified for
,lsction or appointment" In other
words the Constitution plainly says
that mo senator or representative
shall be legally qualified for APP
pointment to any Office Of profit
Or trust, which shall have been
or the emoluments of
which have been increased during
the time such senator or repre-
sentative was in Office
I have said that it needed no in
on tho part of our SUI
preme court to convey the meaning
If the Constitution assembled in
this Section As, but the supreme
court Of our state in almost an iden-
tical case has construed this section,
and I will now give you full citation
from that case. In the case of Brady
vs.. West, 80 Miss, these were the
facts:
The County Of Tate had been Gre
ated. West was q member of the
at the time that this
county of Tate was created. He
was appointed by the Governor Of
the state to the Office of Chancery
Clerk but before he was appointed
he had resigned from the legisla-
ture. An election took place for the
Office Of Chancery Clerk subs squent-
" to the appointment of Mr.. West,
and q man by the name of McC Crack