Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-02-08
ElEGIInNseBY The PEOPLE.

,uonld he well to know hew they staho
on certain great State issues. we may
have many good men, men calculated
tn frame an excellent constitution vi
their lines, but those lines may diner
very widely from the lines wnlch az
present the people wish followed
The recent scramble for the supreme
Court Judgeship, admonlshes us tna'
elections by the Legislature are open
to many objections. it they are ho' ~
be greatly deplored. tits easy 10 see
how there might have been deaoiocA'
and the Governors appolntee naso
held this high position almost lnoen
nitely, understand we make no opJeo-
lion to the appointee, but to the Id"
We do not understand now and never
have understood the wisdom OF 1ne
Legislature electing high onceIs. w
are not one who believes that a Y hlVeo
States Senator ought to be chosen Ny
a legislative body, and we hall the oay
with gladness when the constleution
of our country will allow them 10 NC
otherwise chosen.
We see no public end subserveo ny
our Legislature choosing Judges anu
other high officials that is above Tue
end accomplished when the people
choose them. Without any disrespect
to those gentlemen we ask, and we ASK
il that public attention may be caileo
to the question: What peculiar ao-
yantages do Capt. Opie, our ota'e
Senator. and Messrs. J. W. Churchman
and John w. Todd, our members VI
the Legislature, possess in choosing
iudges for the people Is their WISDOM
above the wisdom of the average cltl
zen? Are they endowed because o.
their having been elected to the Leg
islature with any prescience, or pecu
liar elective ability not possessed pl
any other good and worthy person
We do not believe they claim it, no
do we believe any community woui'
accord it to them, though their purlt
of motive none might question, lhel
why cannot this work be done by tn
neople? A representative from
county with one delegate controls Tn
county iudgeship, hence such electlo
is no more nor less than the vote U
one man. Often this choice OF I'd
dele gate is at utter variance with I'd
wishes of the people of the county
In the election of the Supreme Coul
Judge last week there was a foretast
of what such elections may be. liner
was log-rolling, jockeying and semen
ing. which could not possibly occu
To greater degree in a convention
The opportunities for bribery and co
rnption in q legislative body are Il
more numerous than in conventlo'
convention is usually body OF pc
sons not well known to each otne
Tbey have met and are paying the
own expenses, and their meetin
limit is short. They are there II
business, and they will choosea tlcke
They carry with them just as muc
brains as legislative body and al
generally, as free from corruption,
patriotic, and as full of desire TO
what is right. When they announ'
their candidates, then the election 10
lows and there is and can be no dea'
lock. somebody will get the offices.
fine neople in convention can nominal
a president, who is there to declal
them unfit to nominate any othe
officer? But we have had several e.
amples recently of great States lie
Pennsylvania being unrepresented
the Senate of the United States say
by but one Senator. on account
legislative deadlocks, and we can col
ceiye of a case under the present moo
of eIecting them by the legislature
in which States would have no Senat'
at all When elections are given
the people no deadlock is eyer like
to occur.
Take the counties of Augusta al
Highland. Why may not the Peep
at the polls elect their Judge WI
NAV not the city of Staunton elect l
Judge? Why may not this Judicl
circuit elect it's judge? Can any OF
give good and sufficient reason, u
less it be to deny the people the Int
Hgence TO vote on such exalted que
tions We think it would be as ea'
to elect the Judge direct as to elect
man to elect judge, as we now q
If then our voters could be trusted
elect these judicial officers, why MI
not the whole list of officers nc
elected by the Legislature be elect
by the people? The May COME
ence'' which caused some commOtl
few years ago had it not had ds
ger hidden it's sleeve would have be
popular. 1t purported to be a meetll
to advocate nomination by the pc
ple of a u. s. Senator, which shou
be binding on the members OF tn
party in the Legislature, but It's II
object was not that, but to nomlna
man then and there, and this havl
leaked out, brought the meeting IL
more or less contempt. But we |
lieve, the more we study the questl(
the more we will come to the conc
sion that all officers ought to be ele'
ed by the people. We think NJ
York does it, and so, we believe,
most of the great States, and while
have not sought the names OF mai
States to adopt this rule, we think
exists otherwise only in those Coz
monwealths which hold strongest
tradition, and the customs OF the
ancestors. 1t is time we broke ava
<>f ancestor