Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-03-04

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and that was too much. Put a hotel
keeper, druggist, in the common dock!
1t seemed too much. Anything but that.
But he went there just the same and
stood up in open court and pleaded
guilty to those indictments; and then
the county attorney said. For this first
time-it is the only time-I take your
fine on one Indictment 1 hold the other
continued for sentence. If you are
found guilty again Of violating this law
I shall ask for a Jail sentence" There
were very few that violated the law af-
ter that; and during the term of that
county attorney there has not been an
open saloon in ArooStoOk county. The
law was enforced. There was man
behind the law who said, Il Will do my
duty as a county attorney"
Now that is what a county attorney
can do And l make the statement that
in the State of Maine today the nullif-
cation of the Maine law wherever it is
nullified-and it is true. pity it's it's
true it is nullitied in nearly every coun-
ty in the State--it should be laid at the
door of the county attorneys who vio-
late their duty under the law of the
State. And there must be something,
the people demand something, of those
county attorneys that they shall per-
form their duty faithfully or step out
and let somebody else take their place.
1t was apparent four years ago that the
Governor himself was helpless and pow
erless to do anything. The corstitu
ton says that the Governor shall take
care that the laws be faithfully
executed. and at the present time he is
powerless to do it; and four years ago
the people came to this Legislature and
demanded something of this Legislature,
whereby the laws could be faithfully
enforced in Maine; and this Legislature
l have no doubt honestly wanted to do
something and we can see now what
they should have done, they should have
enacted this law which we are asking
for today giving the Governor the au-
thority to remove a delinquent county
attorney and to fill the vacancy. But
there came before the Legislature those
who thought we ought to have some
some new and strange device for en-
forcing our laws, something not con-
templated by our constitution, some
thing by which you could do it better
by somebody else than the regular Of
ficers of the law, that you could set
aside the sheriff and the county attor-
ney regularly elected and say. I'VE will
perform their duties, we will not oblige
our servants to do our work but we
will make something else unknown to
the constitution and unconstitutional in
itself; and so you enacted what was
known as the Sturgis Law as a remedy
for notification. Now | have nothing
unkind to say about the upholderS of
that law. We all know it's action and
its results. just what we might have eX-
pected had we thought about the mat
ter 1t is what happens every time you
turn away from the beaten path provid
ed by our constitution and go off some
where else to do what our laws and our
constitution never contemplated should
be done. And what did we do? We
enacted a law whereby the Governor or
a commission could send to a county Il
special county attorney to perform GER
tain criminal duties on regardd to the
enforcement of the liquor law and APP
pear before the same grand jury with
the regular county attorney, he holding
the Office and the special county attor-
ney doing his work, he drawing the sal
Maine said such work as that is uncon.
Stitutional. We went further than that.
You sent deputies not elected by the
the regularly elected sheriff and mis-
deputies, followed by Il mob; and the
regular sheriff and his deputies stood
by and said. I'VE have nothing to do, it
is up to the Sturgis deputies, let them
4 tI,o I'll,
the work of these Sturgis deputies in
collecting evidence and making COM
plant until you saw over so indictments
ready for sentence so to speak The
parties were guilty and proven guilty,
and you saw county attorney elected
and returned to Office by the friends. Of
notification, you saw him reelected.
and you saw simply by the power Of
mol pros which he had, all those cases
swept from the docket and all the work
of the Sturgis deputies became in vain.
And two years ago this Legislature was
confronted with this same question and
you enacted what is known as the Cakes
law whereby you said that a county at
torney who did not perform faithfully
his duty should be indicted and pun
iShed. But the proposition w2s absurd
that he should go before his own grand
jury and have himself indicted and
tried; and 50 the Cakes law slu,nbered
there. 1t has never been used, it never
can be used.
Now what the people demand. What
they have demanded during the last two
years is that we do something in this
matter by giving the people the right
- enforce the laws and the power to do
So Let me cali attention to the plat
forms of the two parties at the last
election. The Republican party said
that they favored constitutional
amendment empowering the Governor
upon notice and hearing to remove any
executive officer who persistently failed
to perform his legal duty and to fill the
vacancy from the same political party
to which such executive officer belonged;
and the Democratic party said that they
demanded the honest, thorough and inn
partial enforcement of all laws by our
courts and our duly elected officers. SO
it comes to this Legislature. We cannot
shift our responsibility off on any Stur-
gis Commission or on the Cakes law or
on any organization or on any temper
ance workers: we must meet it now like
men. The people demand that our
ut cba11 perfnrr,1 their n