Mexico Missouri message., 1906-07-12
ENTITLED TO A VOTE
OLD SOLDIERS IN HOMES IN MIS-.
SOURI,.
Supreme Court Of the state So De
cided In an Opinion Written
BY Justice Lanm.

sion handed down by Circuit Judge
Evans. I'm 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 were thrown out,
and Hale declared elected collector
of Phelps county.
In his opinion Judge Lamm says IN
part:
In this connection Il will be
| seen that the person must be kept at .
poofhouse or other asylum at public eN-
pense. Can 4 be said, broadly and nobly,
that old soldiers are kept at public eX-
pense? The determination OF this case
does not require an answer to this ques-
ton. but, in leaving IT, matters and
memories obtrude themselves Of no light
Significance. In the first place, a consid-
eration was paid the state on the part
Of the Womans Relief corps OF the Grand
Army OF the Republic under the act maxi
ing the st. James soldiers home q state
/ lnsututlOn. In the second place, a con-
sideration was paid the state by an assoc
citation OF gentlemen owning or controll-
ing the confederate home at Higginsville,
under the act making that home a state
i i Their lands and properties
state under those contracts. The state
of Missouri made the contracts through
motive OF patriotic duty and along lines
OF sentimental beauty. The state OF
Missouri has shown no disposition to re-
gret the contracts or repudiate them By
the 1.-THE OF hair, and who shall, except
/ toned constitutional mandate, dam the
. current Of its authority or put bounds to
IT'S disposition to be imperial In its af-
! fection? Who shall weigh, as It were,
with goldsmith's scales, the Widows mite
that passed into the public chest and in
/ return for which the state OF Missouri,
by public act, so!emnly agreed to main
tain its soldiers, broken by misfortune
In purse and health, and at the same
time permit them to vote2 II that thing
is to be done, or can be done, IL must be
done In a case and upon issues where
the parties to that contract are present
in court and may be heard, either as lit
igants or amici curla, and will not be
done In Hale VS.. Stimson, contestlng a
county cffice in Phelps county The
question of public expense must, further
more, be viewed in the light that tho
privilege Of a home in the evening OF
their days, a hearthstOne, of a chimney
corner and the right to vote was bought
and paid for with great price by the
inmates and their comrades in arms
Who, at this late day, In a piping time
OF peace, VIII measure that price or care
to bring 1t within the precision of a legal
formula? The men and their comrades
in arms, stalwart men, marched and
eounter-marched, mined and counter.
mined, dug, starved, fro8e planned, dared
! and fought through four years of civil
war under Lee, johnson and Stonewall
JdNhSpn, unQef Grant, sherman ana Los
gan. Some Of their comrades persisted
! In battle, on the lone picket, on the iona
march, Of wounds, of prisons, by burn
| Ing fever, by sickness OF soul, or by dead
II is written: "And as they bound
| Him with thongs, Paul said to the CEN
tSTSn that stood by ybt Is i lawful for yOs
uncondsmned7 When the centurion
heard that he went and told the chief
| captain, saying, Take heed what thou
| ig a
the chief captain came, and said unto
him, Tell me, art thou a Roman2 He
| said, Yes. And the chief captain an
swered, With great sum obtained / this
born"
Whether freedom for a soldier to vote
was obtained at a great price or was an
| incident Of being free born, in the case
at bar, matters little. SUFFICE 1t to say
| that while the elective franchise may be
regulated by the state, yet in this case
1t has been 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
Of the states indissoluble, or was it q
contract between Independent states tC
be severed for cause? Did a citizen owe
primary allegiance to his state, or to the
national government? There were giants
in those days, and some of them said
yea and some said nay. Between thesS
statesmen advocating them, great gull
was fixed. Compromise proved a delu.
sion, Cancellation proved vain. Reason
kindly, 1t is possible. now, in perspec
tive, to speak of 1t with justice. 1t II
not necessary TO blame any one. Th'
people We're not to blame-the irrecon
cilable, olashing, antagonistic notioni
upon policies interviewer with the veTI
fibers OF this government we're alone L
blame The wedge that split this natiol
. in two, for a time as forged and ham
mered home by powers beyond control
We had a dlstrust originating in ig
J growth Of evil seeds planted before W
were born, and the question had to b.
settled-not by. argument, not in court
or his ancestor, had come from Ken
lucky, Illinois or Maryland, from Caro-
, lima, Alabama OF. Georgia, from Tennes
!. France or Spain. He worshiped at tn
I shrine of Calhoun, Clay, Webster, o
= breckenridge or Douglas, Of Benton o
I Gov. Jackson. When the war clou
!. broke there were Bates, Rollins Phelps
Gratz Brown and Gamble, Hal and Hen
derson, Broadhead and Dyer to tell hin
that the union Of the states could no
be dissolved and that Missouri was 4
. the Union, de facto and dc jure. Their
I were Johnson and Vest, Reynolds an
Q Jackson. Polk and Green, Price and Clar
, to tell him his state was Joined by RICH
and ties OF blood 10 his brethren of tn
( south,
the ordAr OF his going, but went unde
two hagG-both Ways--Went at once.
the smoke OF war you see him ridin
, and fighting in gray with Shelby on Mar
= tin Green, or marching and fighting wit
= Price and Cockrell, with Parsone an
Marmaduke, with Bowen, Little an
Gates; or you see him In blue, marchin
and lighting with Blair, Phillips, Critten
den and Osterhaus, with Lyon, Sige
4 Guitar, Hale. When he came home frOI
: the war his mighty mother the state {
q Missouri, with a great heart elaine
, him as her son, proud of his deeds, res
olute to cherish his memory, magnani
nous to forget his quarrel, tender OF bot
uniforms, and mourning over the dea
or war-Worn and desoaate confedsrat
. and federal
d In this condition Of things We are tol
4 that the constitutional convention OF 1Si
: 20 wrote the fundamental law that II n
, state found any OF these old soldiers Z
the foot OF the hill OF life stranded
health ane empty OF pocket, It could nS
give tfem q home or a nreside exceI
at one ana the same time 1t took frol
7, them a freeman's precious right to yot
q In a free state, sustained by no oYel
= awning standing army, whore Its 10y
3 must grow and its protection must rel
i -. .l..NN n.