The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-23

UdBE CONSTITUTION JuILGU
States mean just what the constitution
of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania
says: In case of a vacancy in the office
of United States senator in a recess be-
tween sessions or does it mean that
the vacancy must be one which comes
by chance, so that it does not apply at
all to the case of a. vacancy at the be-
ginning of a term, which does not come
by chance but is foreseen and inevi
table?"
This question is answered as follows:
If the words have the former mean
ing, then all distinctions between cases
where legislature has been in session
and those wheresa legislature has not
been in session between vacancies at
the beginning of a term and vacan-
cies beginning after the term itself has
begun and the office for that term once
filed, are without Importance. We
think that the former is the true mean
ing of the constitution. We think that
it was the intent of the constitution to
provide, as far as possible, that every
state should have two senators.
First The constitutional convention
hesitated between comforting the power
of appointing senators upon the execu-
tive and the legislature of the state in
the beginning. Like the legislature, the
executive of the state was supposed to
represent the will of the people. Under
the constitutional arrangements then
existing he appointed all state officers
and appointed judges, who held their
office for life So there is no reason to
suppose that they considered the execu-
tive an unfit instrument for such ap-
pointment. And they settled the queS-
tion by giving the power of permanent
appointment to the legislature and of
temporary appointment to the execu-
tive.
"Second-We can conceive no reason
likely to have Influenced the trainers Of
the constitution for making distinc-
ton between cases of vacancy occur
ring in one way or at one time and va
cancies occurring in any other way or
at any other time. The office of Sena-
tor may be at any time of infinite i'm
portance to the interests of a, state Up
on q single vote may often depend and
sometimes has depended the fate of
measures which would bring prosperity
or misery into every workshop and al
most every family in Pennsylvania. We
do not believe that when the constitu-
ton was enacted it would have occur
red to anybody that if a senator died
within a week of the adjournment of
the legislature, or at q time when there
were three parties in the legislature
who could not agree, or at time when
the two houses who formerly made an
election by concurrent vote were of
ways of thinking in politics so different
that they could not be reconciled, that
the state must remain unrepreSented
until new legislature should be cho-
sen.
They meant, as we believe, that for
the interest of the state and the inter-
est of the whole country the senate
should always be full, so far as they
could devise a constitutional mechan-
ism to accomplish that purpose
They say further that "the language
of the very clause in question cannot be
construed as the opponents of Mr.. Quay
would construe it, or in any other way
than the undersigned construe it, with
out destroying it's own purpose. If
there be no power in the executive of
Pennsylvania to appoint a success or to
Mr.. Quay under this clause of the con-
stitution, there is no power in the 1egis-
lature to choose such successor until
the end of the term; and in every case
where a senator dies or resigns, where
the legislature is not in session, or
where, after such death or resignation.
the legislature has met and adjourned
without q choice, or wherever, at the
beginning of a term, the vacancy re-
mains untitled, it must remain untitled
until the end of the six years, according
to the logic of the majority of the
committee"
On another point the minority say:
1T is said that if the legislature has
been in session after vacancy and has
failed to fill it the state is in fault; that
the legislature has neglected its duty,
and so it is not unjust that the state
should suffer. There are two answers
to this argument. First, that it is for
the interest of the whole people that
every state should be fully represented;
and, second, that there is no fault to be
imputed to the legislature of a state
or to the people, where a majority vote
is required, if there be a failure to elect.
Will anybody claim that the case of a
failure to elect a president for want of
a constitutional majority. a case pro-
vided for by comforting a power upon
the house of representa- ativeS voting by
states. is the case of fault or negligence
on the part of the people"
The minority then give considerable
attention to the various cases and con-
cludeS as follows:
1.-The case of Allen of Washington,
was decided with the Lee Mantle case
and without argument, a decision to
which Mr.. Beckwith of Wyoming, sub
mitted without further contest. At that
time there was an earnest division IN
the senate on an important question
relating to the currency which created
for the time being more earnest differ
ences of opinion than those existing be-
other questions. 1t was a time not IA
vorable to a dispassionate, non-partisan
judgment. We prefer the authority of
the New Hampshire cases, which was
acted on also in the case of Mr.. Pasco
of Florida, and we think that a. decis-
ion which must inevitably deprive
states in the Union for long periods of
time of their rightful representation
under the constitution will not be per-
mitted long to stand. and that no set
tlement of the question in derogation of
the rights of the states and, as we con-
ceive, in violation of the intent of the
trainers of the constitution should be
acquiesced in