The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-04-19

byist is not in the corridors (the gov ernor has accomplished that), but he now roosts in one of the departments. But after all the legislative agent is not such a bad fellow
 ] He declared that he had seen so much rottenness in the present method of ap- pointing county commissioners that he would welcome any change because the present system is so rotten that none can be worse. He favored placing the Appointment of commissioners in the hands of the superior court judges, all though there is some question as to the constitutionality of such a measure. He said that the only way to take the coun- ty commissioners out of politics was to give the power of granting licenses to the judiciary.
 He expressed himself as in favor of the governors attempts to regular cor porations and declared that the people of the state would never be satisfied un- til some changes from the present laws had been made.
 Governor Woodruff, who was the last spedherp Sdlu III part,
 I look upon government as a plain business proposition, in which the state puts men into office to attend to the peo- ple's affairs The governor and the general assembly are servants of the commonwealth, acting under it's consti- tuition, and they are responsible di- rectly to the people for the way they carry on the states business. Would you keep men in your employ who were working against your interests? guess not. Would you engage men to manage your business who were under the influence of other men and other in- terests directly opposed to your con- cern? I guess not! This is very plain talk--easily understood. It does not con- tain any charge against any man in the general assembly who is doing his duty as a representative of the people; but | 1t does charge every man in the assem- bly, who is controlled or coerced by the secret power of corrupt influence with being a traitor to his trust, an enemy of the state, unfit to hold office in the general assembly.
 The measures that 1 have advocated | in my message are not new. Many of l them have been before successive gen. eral assemblies in vain for recognition, They are not my personal measures, | They are nothing more to me than to every other citizen. have no private | purpose dependent upon their adoption | They are the measures of the people, demanded by the people, endorsed by | public opinion: and they would be car-
 rled by popular vote if submitted to
 the people at a general election in the
 state. The newspapers of every politi-
 cal faith are practically unanimous in support of the majority of the recom-
 mendations set forth in my address to
 the general assembly, and the mem
 bers of that body know, as well as | know, that they are public necessities | The general assembly is not ignorant
 in all these matters. Their antagonism l does not arise out of ignorance or mis- understanding. Are their hands tied?
 Are they afraid to do. their duty and | stand by their sacred oath? The ma l 1ority of members of the general as- 1 sembly are honest men But they lack | the force, the ability of ready express
 sion, or something else, so that they | are diffident about rising in their plac-
 es to make themselves felt in debate. They rely on those who because of pre-
 vious experience, are named as leaders. | They would welcome and they would follow a leader daring enough to chal-
 lenge the forces of graft and private
 profit and privilege and bold enough to
 fight for principle and for the peoples rights. All honor to the committee on
 banks for it's good work.
 An election of officers of the Econo-
 mic league for the next year resulted
 as follows:
 President-Col. Norris c. Osborn
 First -president-T. H. Russell.
 Second vice-president--John F. Man
 son.
 Executive committee-Max Adler,
 John w. filling, Edwin P. Root, Col
 Chas. Pickett and Senator Frank But
 terworth.