The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1906-07-13
ENTITLED TO A VOTE
OLD SOLDIERS IN HOMES IN MIS-
SOURI,.
Supreme Court Of the State So De.
eided In al Opinion Written
BY Justice Lamm.

Evans, in the contested election case
OF Hale VS.. Stimson, in Phelps county.
The circuit court decided that soldiers
In state homes could not vote, and the
votes of those at the st. James fed.
eral soldiers home we're thrown out,
and Hale declared elected collector
of Phelps county.
In his opinion Judge Lamm saws In
part:
seen that the person must be kent Mt a
poofhouse or other asylum at public ex-
PtSnse, Can II be said, broadly and nobly,
pensey The determination Of this case
uoes not require an answer to this olea-
m nSl, GSs' ob in Leaving It, matters and
slgnihcance. In the first place, n consid-
Grafton was paid the state on the part
o. the Woman' Relief corps of the Grand
ing the st. James soldiers home a state
institution. In the second place. n con-
siatration was paid the state by an asso-
ing the confederate home at Higginsyilie.
under the act making that home a state
,Msrl'u tnHa Their lands and properties
state under those contracts. The state
or Missouri made the contracts through
a motive OF patriotic duty and along lines
"a, tabty II STATE OF
Missouri has shown no disposition TO re-
g,ret the contracts or repudiate them by
tne tlthe of a hair, and who shall, except
under the prick and goad Of unques-
toned constitutional mandate, dam the
current OF its authority or put bounds to
us disposition to be imperial in its az
WITH goldsmith's scales, the Widows mite
that passed into the public chest and in
return Lv for which the state of Missouri,
tain its soldiers, broken. by misfortune
In purse and health. ana at the same
tlme permit them to vote? II that thing
done In a case and upon issues where
the parties to that contract are present
IN court and may be heard. either as lit
giants or amici curia. and will not be
county office in Phelps county. The
question of public expense must, further
privilege of a home in the evening of
their days, a hearthstone, of a chimney
corner and the eight to vote vas bought
inmates and their comrades in arms,
who, at this late day, in q piping TIM
OF peace, will measure that price or care
formula? The men and their comrades
In arms, stalwart men, marched and
counter-marched. mined and counter
and fought through four years of civil
war under Lee, Johnson and Stonewaii
JaGkson; under Grant, sherman and Lo-
pau SoiiS W tleiE SDInTdQpS De1lSneU
in battle, on the lone picket, on the long
march, OF wounds, of prisons, by burn
Ing fever, by sickness of soul. or by dead
It is written: And as they bound
Him with thongs, Paul said to the CEN
turlon That stood by, Is 1t lawful for you
uncondemned? When the centurion
heard that he went and told the chief
captain, saying, Take heed what thou
the Cntet Cantain came. and said tInto
him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? Hs
said, Yes; And the chief captain an.
swered, With a great sum obtained this
freedom. And auI said, But l was free
born"
Whether freedom for a soldier to vot,
incident of being free born, in the case
at bar, matters little. Suffice 1t to say
that while the elective franchise may be
it has beef regulated by statute. and
that regulation should command obedi-
ence. Nor do we care to split hairs over
the question of which cause the inmates
of these homes fought for. Because II
was written in the book of fate that the
civil war had to come. Was the union
contract between independent states te
be. severed for cause? Did a citizen owe
primary allegiance to his state, or to this
national government? There were giants
In those days, and some of them said
yea and some said nay. etwee these
opposing theories and the schools OF
ptdtcSIilSIl uuNoCdllHS tutUl, IL great gun
was fixed. Compromise proved a delu-
sion, Cancellation proved vain. Reason
Was at an end. we can talk Of Il now
tive, to speak of it with justice. It is
not necessary to blame any one. The
people were not to blame-the irrecon.
cilable, clashing, ~antagonistic notions
upon policies interviewer with the very
fbers of this government we're alone tc
blame. The wedge hat split this nation
in two for a time as forged and ham
mpred home nv mowers hpyOn6 COntrnl
We had a d~istrust originating in ig-
norance of each other. There was a
were born, and the question had to be
settled-not by argument, not in court,
nor by ways OF peace. The Missourian.
lucky. Illinois or Maryland, from Caro-
lima, Alabama or Georgia, from Tennes-
see or Indiana, from Germany. Ireland.
shrine Of, Calhoun. Clay, Webster. OF
Gov. Jackson. When the war cloud
Gratz Brown and Gamble. Hail and Hen.
derson, Broadhead and Dyer, to tell him
that the union Of the states could not
the Union, de facto and de jure. There
were Johnson and Vest, Reynolds and
Jackson. Polk and Green. Price and Clark
and ties OF blood TO his brethren of The
Verify, our MlssourIan did not stand on
tne oTuer OF MS 0oln9, OUT went unuer
two flass-Doth ways-went at once. In
the smoke OF war you. see him riding
and fighting in gray with Shelby or Mar
tin Green, or marching and fighting with
Price and Cockrell, with Parsons and
Marmaduke, with Bowen, Little anS
Gates; or you see him in blue, marching
and fighting with Blair, Phillips, Critten-
den and Osterhaus. with Lyon, Sigel,
Guitar, Hale. When he came HON from
the war his mighty mother, the state Of
Missouri, with a great heart, claimed
him as her son, proud Of his deeds, res
olute to cherish his memory magnant-
nous to forget his quarrel, tender OF both
uniforms, and mourning over the dead
or ,war,worn and desolate confederate
and federal.
In this condition of things we are told
that the constitutional convention OF 1875
30 wrote the fundamental law that IL the
state found any OF these old soldiers at
the foot of the hill Of life, stranded In
health and empty Of pocket, 1t could no
give them q home or a hreside except
at one and the same time 1t took from
them a freeman's precious right to vote.
In a free state, sustained by no over
awning standing army, where Its love
must grow and its protection must rest
In the hearts of the people, patriotism
.to,,II 10 not,rtchaI DC a ordipal xtrtto