The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-06-25

USy OAO IuAt VApTtSSly QTOV1U0U LOr
by the constitution and the statute.
Or, to put it into another form, the
consent Of the electors must be OBJ
tanned before Indebtedness in the
shape Of a loan beyond a certain
limit can be created. The consent
of the people may be obtained either
by ar open expression or by silence.
This question has never been passed
upon by the supreme court Of the
state of Montana, and for that rea-
son this office is obliged to investi-
gate the holding of other courts of
the country to determine what the
rule of law is on this question. The
courts of the different states have
put different constructions upon sim
liar provisions in the constitutions
of their respective states and in the
laws su~pplementing the constitution
and enforcing like provisions, and
there is no uniformity on this ques-
ton.
1T would seem from an examina-
ton of the decisions that there is
but n conclusion to arrive at upon
the question submitted by the com
missioners of F1athead county.
Section 42s7 provides, There
must be written or printed on the
ballot the words, for the loan" and
against the loan" and in voting
the elector must vote for the PROPOSE
ton he prefers by making an X OPP
posite the proposition
IF this constitutional provision
meant that the loan should receive
a majority of all the votes cast at
a general election for other than the
proposition herein mentioned it
would not be necessary to have a bal
lot SO written or so provided as is
indicated in section 4273. If it meant
that silence upon the loan was a
vote against the loan and counted
against the loan, there would not. be
any necessity to enact such, as that
would require an elector before he
could give an expression that would
be of any force, either directly or
or indirectly upon the proposition to
be voted for, to write upon his ballot,
for the loan and against the loan
"This section precludes the thought
that there is any other way for an
elector to express himself or to do
anything that would influence the re-
suit of the vote, except by a written
expression IN the ballot
There is another suggestion
which, perhaps, ought to be taken
into consideration; it is this, that
as is well said by the different
courts, the purpose of this constitu-
tional provision and statutory enact
ment is, first, to give the elector the
privilege of expressing his judgment
en- the Indebtedness, il he chooses
to do SO. II he neglects to vote upon
the proposition and manifests no in.
terest, and remains silent, that ST.
lence ought not to defeat the express
purpose of the constitution and the
statutes in ~furtherance Of public In.
terest.
For the foregoing reasons and
suggestions, it is my Judgment that
the loan carries in your county"
The last paragraph of the opinion
must appeal strongly to everybody
reading it. The indifference or care
lessness of voters in marking their
ballots should not be permitted to
defeat public interest 1t is a well
known fact to everybody who has
ever participated in a general cleo
ton at which some special proposi-
ton has been submitted that q COM
p%aratively few voters vote either for
or against the proposition. AS a rule
men enter the booths h%urriedly and
try to get out as quickly as possible
or in the excitement of marking their
ballots forget all about the little ap-
pendix to the poster which consti
tutes the official ballot in this state
and "a to mark as soon as the
last name of the list of candidates is
reached. Some even do not do that,
but overlook many names, or else are
SO little interested in the minor can.
didates that they drop their pencil
and fold up their ballot as soon as
the head Of the ticket has received
their vote and hand it to the judges.
All of these reasons conspire to give
the usually light vote cast for special
propositions, nc matter how great
their importance. This was notice
able last fall when a constitutional
amendment was submitted to the
electorate of the state. Notwith-
standing that the proposition did not