Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-02-02

Least it viii hardly be taken up right
away Most persons viii say that we
have tried 10 fix up the constitution and
f,have botched the job and il would be
just as Well To lei the constitution rr
| main as IL Is for a time. They Will be
| slowssto approve any change now. The.
! tsbiennal election idea, aitho 1t is right,
| ii not one around which can be gain
cred much enthusiasm. and any move
lment in that direction now Will hardly
| be received with favor by the people
Hon. w 3. Martin. secretary of state
There will be disappointed men in the
Estate over this decision. a great many
officials had settled down 10 acceptance
iof the amendment az "A fixed fact and
! wera confidently counting on holding
Ioye,-, but now they will discover their
lpIana have been all wrong, Then there
is the larger number of voters of the
state who wanted biennial elections be-
Ecaus'e they believed it was right and
they wanted to do away with the politi-
I'cal turmoil every ysar AS understand
lit a larger number Of voters indprsed
the Titus amendment than any other
amendment eyer proposed 10 the con-
Isttution. They We're deeply interested
| in it and had their hopes, set upon IL
They Will be deeply disappointed be-
cause of the fatal defects.
Hon Carroll Wright. attorney-It is
what / expected. The ecurt could not
have done otherwise. l think the law
yers generally expected il, Some time
lago Senator Titus wrote me on another
matter ard incidentally enclosed the
| new spaper article he prepared on the
subject and asked me- for my opinion on
|it. | replied that While ] had not stud
led the matter thoroughly thought the
supreme court would copstrue the word
"entered 10 mean entered. Ii has done
Eso
Hon. Melvin H. Byers. adjutant gen
leral--Now there VIII be a host OF candi-
dates Tor governor and other Positions
i do not know who wil be the candi-.
dates. but there Will be enough to make
LIT interesting
The notorious Edward r. Hunter, ex-
postmaster think the people general
Ily Will be satisfied with the decision.
There was no great demand for the
amendment. A great many people
We're Indifferent for they did not see
| how it could affect them. Then among
thoss who really wanted biennial cleo
tons there had grown up marked in
difference due to the blunders which.
had been made and which We're being
disclosed. They had about reached the
lconclusion that 1t would be better to
wipe the amendment out and begin over
again. The job Was not done right The
people do not want patchwork There
will be little complaining about what
1.-the supreme court has just done
Hon. John Cownie, member Of board
lof control-I don't see What else the
court could have done. To have said
lthat the amendment was legally adopt
ed With all its defects might have been
a precedent to have caused trouble ait
some other time. And II would have
lcaused lots of trouble and litigation in
the state right away No harm can
come from declaring the amendment not
adopted: the other kind of a decision
might have done much harm.
Hon. G. w. Mulian, attorney general
The decision is what | expected. 1 did
not see how the court could do other
wise. The attorneys of the state will
generally accept the decision az one in
Tine with the preeedents and the only
enc possible from the Iowa court at
this time. The court has been consist
ent with itself.
Hon. Gilbert S. Gilbertson. treasurer
of state-l would have been letter
pleased if the decision had been the 9th
er way. for | am in favor OF biennial
elections.
Judge Clifford S. Robinson. member
board of controA-I am glad the court
held to the rule of the former decision.
To have done otherwise would have
opened the door to many complications
and would have been a bad precedent.