Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1900-08-18

Usneeessary 20 ses Forth . Party
Principle.

Principle.
The question has been raised in Eare'
ks within the past few days a. to whesh'
err in signing the nominating petition OF
. candidate The signers must be OF the
same political faith - the candidate, and
- . result oil the discussion . radical
differences Of opinion seems TO exist.
and both candidates snd signers are
wondering "where they are a."
The provisions Of the State law gov
erning the nominating Of candidates are
auoted below:
SEC. 1896. The certificate OF nomina-
ton, which must be in writing. shall con-
tain the rame Of each person nominated.
his residence and the Office for which be Is
nominated, and shall designate the party
CT p~rincinle which such convention repre-
sentz. 1t shall be signed by the Chairman
and Secretary of such convention, who
shall add to their signatures their respective
places Of residence, md make oath, before
an officer authorized to administer tie
same, that the matters stated in such GER
tifcate are true to the best of their knowl-
edge and belief, and ; certificate Of the
said oath shall be annexed TO said certih-
cate of nomination
SEC. 1896. A candidate for public Office
may be nominated otherwise than by q
convention in the manner following. A
certificate Of nomination containing the
name Of the candidate to be nominated,
with the other information required to be
given in the certificate provided for in sec
ton three of this Act, shall be signed by
electors residing within the district or po-
litical division for which candidates are to
be presented equal in number to at least
ten per cent Of the entire vote cast at the
last preceding election In the State, dis
trict or political division for which the
nomination Is to be made; prorided, that
such certificate shall not be valid unless
signed by five voters. Said signatures need
not all be appended to one paper, but each
signer shall add to his signature his place
of residence. One Of the signers of each
such certificate shall swear that the state
ments therein made are true TO the best of
his knowledge and belief, and q certificate
Of such oath shall be annexed. Such GER
ti6cate Of nomination shall have the same
effect as the certificate of nomination made
by . party convention.
The first section relates to nominations
by convention. and the entire election
law sppssrs to have been framed under
The assumption that nominations will be
30 made. Indeed, - far - the higher
Offices are concerned this assumption is
justified, for il 10 difficult to understand
how . man can run for . State or Ma
tional Office without standing as the ex
ponent Of . definite principle. or set Of
principles. aud il 10 essential that in his
certificate of nomination those principles
should be plainly set forth. il for no
other reason than that be may be prop
erly designated on the official ballot as
the representative Of those principles for
the information Of voters.
This 10 true also, to . certain degree.
with regard to Legislative candidates.
but . candidate for the State Legislature
may believe in the free coinsge Of silver
and still be . firm defender Of . high
protective tariff. He may at the same
time be . Prohibitioniss, (which. we id.
nit. is not 1t all likely and be an ad-
mirer to . certain extent of the Socialis-
tic theory, and be afflicted with certain
other political vagsries to which ell men
are subject and often embrace for . sea-
500. He may be the champion of all
these ct the same time and still have the
support Of . majority Of the voters 10
his district, and no one should question
his right to run. not even if be ignores all
the Issues Of all the platforms. and asks
to be sent to the Legislature TO act ao-
cording TO his best judgment for the beat
interests of his constituents.
Further. no pledge that . Legislative
candidate may make prior to election
binds hiu after he takes his seat, any
further than he may consider himself
bound in honor. He may be elected on
a issue and vote directly against il
when the question comes up. and the
people who elected him have no redress.
With regard to local Offices . voter
may cast his ballot for . Democrat for
one Office. for . Silver Party man for
another. for . RepublicaL for . third. and
90 on down the line. No one can ques-
tion bis right 10 90 vote; neither can
any one question HE right to vote 10 put
those candidates 10 nomination by Pc
tition.
II is clear that the object which the
lawmakers had in view when the SEQ
tiou providing for ''nominstioes other
than by convention" was enacted was 10
for independent candidates. for
Il this were not done the people would
oftea find themselves ct the mercy Of .