The Portland daily press., 1900-02-02
CURRENT COMMENT.
GOkBKLA
(Bosten Transcript }

He shed . mans blood Whsn lew years
ago he pistolled Coionsl Sanford In the
went insane through grisf. and is now or
was quite recsntly . hopeieta maniac
In an asylum. ft may be that In this
case Goebel only fred firsk for accounts
differ, but the fnot that the killing has
besn bitterly treasured up against him
In q State so tolerant OF hoinioide sug-
gssts that 10 shocked By Its uircum-
stances the oslloussd sentiment Of the
community. IL may be therefore that
the man who shot Goebel yesterday was
Influenced both by personal as well rs
a political hostility. Kentucky Is stu
"the dark and bloody ground"
The political contest In which this
tragedy Is such . terrible episode IL one
of whoss neroeness and fury We OF more
| temperate northern blood can scarcely
| form an adequate conception. 9oehel, Ii
must he remem bsrtd, Is hateful to thou
sands Of Democrats who would have tao
| lilly aoquiesced in ths nomination Of any
other man ~ the standard bearer OF their
party. Twelve thousand Democrats
voted for Brown, the Indspsndept DEM
ocrnt nominated BY the boilers. The Bit
terest opposition, the most caustic denun-
clstions Of Goebel oams from these bolt
ep. Several Of their speakers denounced
him as . "liar" and nm assassin" and
the stoiy Of the killing OF Sanford wns
told over and over again. When the
VOTES of the state were counted IL was
found that lay lor had a plurality Of 2Ss3
over Goebel, and that while the lasser
had received the suffrages Of Iei, 33l KEN
| tuoEi ans, the aggregate Of all votcs OF all
parties opposed to him was 2ll, 7iS. Then
followed GosbePs attempts to steal tbs
governship through the legislature, after
his own state returning board had re-
jected his clairs that he had been elected
by the people. II the contest that ended
at the polls was fierce, that which has
been carrisd on In the Legislature has
been furious. Goebsl. himself . hold
over Senator, dominated Democratic ma
jority and drove them to mad extrornes.
Many thrPats have been made against
him. One senator whom Sosbsl desired
to have unseatsd told him within q few
days that he would,ki himS (GoeSel) II
his seat was declared vaoans.
| In such an atmosphere tragedy turks
| at every corner Goebel may have besp
shot by a man who worked hmself up 20
believe that he WAS saving the stats from
disgrace, or on the other hand he may
have been simply q victim Of ''the Ken
| tucky pistol habit " In q Community
| In which lite is taken without even the
| consideration that attended the prelimi
nariss OF the old-tashioned duel. tho
shooting Of q hated politician may readi-
Iy have seemed but the natural conolu-
sions Of a long continued feud.
POPULAR ELECTION OF SENA-
TORS.
(Boston rranscript)
The New York Herald has besn can
vassing official public opinion In various
| parts OF the country with respect to the
proposal now pending In Congress- 70
| amend the constitution SO as to uuthorizs
the election Of United states Senators
| by direct vote OF the people and In Its
| Sunday issus IL gave the results of this
service to date. 9hs proposition has come
| to the surface from time TO time for n
good many years. bot IL has seemed to
assume much larger proportions and
| or two tbsn ever before. In certain
Southern States, notably South Carolina,
this method 10 now employed to all intsuts
and purposes. Irue tns legisiatg gre still
| goes through the fern uf choosing SenR-
| tore, but the cbaratte Of that Legislature
Is practically determined at the primaries
| and its members are virtually pledged to
| certain candidates as a condition Of elec.
| ton. 1t Is hardly more 10 be expected
that II e nSer will change his declared
| pre- -als ction position on Senatorial oaudi-
| dates, than Il is that IA pr sidential cleo
tor viii vote for another man In the col
| lege than the one with WHOSE name his
own has been associated on the electoral
| ticket.
The present significant indication OF n
| widespread desire for u change Is not due
entirely to q love OF novelty. The present
| plan Of ohoosing senators has NOT seemed
TO work smoothly in. all casss. Psnnsyl-
vanis, California, Utah ard Delawars
have cnly one senator each. A year ago
this N onth one branch Of the Minnesota
Legislature passed by unanimous vote
| a resolution in favor o! such an amend
ment ss Is row offered. Year BY year
deaGlt oks have increased In the several
lsgislaturss. until during the year just
past they weie SO numerous as to serious
iy feet ths equality of States In the
tupper branch of Congross
The governors of the Southern and
Western states favor ths amendent by q
considerable Insjority. The governor Of
Iowa prefers the present system on the
| ground tnat &c Is ensier to purchase .
convention than 1t 10 . Legislature. but
the governor of Ohio. while Withholding
his own opinion on tba question, or per
hsps, not having definitely formed any,
yet says that As now advised majority
Of the people in that State favor the new
| idea. Governor LouESoury Of Connect
ont heariiy approves the proposed change.
but he tesms to be the only New England
executive who has expressed himself on
that sids. The governors OF Maine and
New Hampshire DO not desire change,
| and there IL perhaps resson why this
section should bs more conservative than
some others, because 1t has not had the
numilistfn9 experiences with the old
plan that have lately been 80 com mon In
the West.
Sfill, no matter what the preponder-
aEce Of popular sentiment may prove to
be at the present time, there Is NO tmms-
diats chance for the amendment, for the
Senate itself IL thought to Ls opposed to
IL. and u majority Of the Senate Com
| mittee On Privileges and Elections Ger
| taialy 10. senator burrows Of kichigan,
the only Republican who signed the ma.
jority report against seating Quay, says,
II 1t is to be decided that the governor ..of
a State hns rig to appoint the seaa-
tor Whenever there Ia u vacancy for any
cause, 1t is my bslief that the people will
rise in their might and demand that thu
right to elect be given back 10 them. "
1t is expected that senator Lodge. Ike
Senator HoAr. will vote to seat QUAY !;
but 1t is said that he 10 much ooncsrnsd
over that rs well as the Clark bribery
case, fearing that they will give great
strength TO the movement for popular
slsctions. The lower branch OF Congress
has passed o similar amendment num-
Der Of times. and over = SCORE OF stAtss
have memoriAlized Congrsss In favor Of