The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-08-11
Does Mr.. Warner Measure Up to Con-
stitutional Requirements?

To the Editor Of The Republican,:
The Republicans of the Sixth Con-
gressional District of Maryland will, in
deed, have a very important matter to
settle on the Both day of August, 1910,
in the Primary Election, viz, the selec-
ton Of a candidate for Congress to make
a successful fight against the Democ-
racy IN November. The candidate we
select must fully measure up to the nee
cessary requisites as man and citizen
of Maryland, against whom the least
objections can be made. He must be
free Of fractional difficulties in his party,
he must be an inhabitant Of MARYLAND,
according to the requirements of the
Constitution of the United States, and
he must be sufficiently associated with
the people Of the Sixth Congressional
District that he may know their wants
and needs. These qualifications are alb
sCIutely essential and not one Of them
can be eliminated The Constitution Of
the United States, Section ,, reads:
mo person shall be a member of
the House of Representatives who
shall not have attained the age Of
twenty-five years. and been seven years
citizen Of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an inhabi-
tant OF that State in which he shall be
chosen. - Therefore, no person can re
side in any other state, territory or dis
trict and be a member or Congress from
Maryland. This is too plain for COM
ment. The Constitution of the United
States is supreme. Talk, clap-trap and
circuitous argument to the contrary
notwithstanding
What 1Drg4it,4f,p ;rL 80,
resident? Judge Story, one of the
greatest Judges this country eyer pro-
duced, tells Us that the domicile, or
residence, of person is where he has
his true, fixed, permanent home and
principal establishment, and to which,
whenever he is absent, he has the in
tention OF returning. In the case of
Thomas VS.. Warner, SO Md, at page 10,
Judge Bryan saws: This case involved
the right of the father of B. H. Warner,
Jr., now one of the Republican candi-
dates seeking the nomination for Con-
gress in this district, to be entitled to
be resident of Montgomery county,
Md, and which the Court denied to
HIM. IF Mr.. Warner had broken up
his establishment in Washington. aban-
dOned his residence there, and made his
home in Montgomery county, there
could have been no question about the
matter It must however, always ap-
pear that the former residence has been
abandoned. There must be an actual
acquisition of a new abode. " In Schaef-
fer VS.. Gilbert, 70 Md, page IS, resi-
dence there as defined under the Con-
stitution, means ones actual home in
the sense Of having no other home
Bouvlers' law dictionary, Vol. |, page
7G9, defines who a resident is as follows:
one who has an actual, fixed residence
in place. Now let US apply these fixed
principles to the case of MIR. B. H.
Warner Jr., who is asking the Repub-
licans Of the Sixth Congressional Dis
trict to send him to Congress. Has he
a residence in Montgomery county in
the sense of having no other home?
Does he not live with his father, at 21O0
Massachusetts avenue, near Dupont
Circle, Washington, d. c.? He prac-
tees law in the city of Washington ex-
cluSively, owns no real estate in Mont
gomery county, pays no taxes in the
Sixth Congressional District, and all of
his business interests are in the city of
Washington. Do not all of these facts
convince any reasonable man, accord
ing to the decisions above referred to,
make him a citizen of the District of
Columbia, and not eligible, if elected,
to represent this district in Congress,
according to the Constitution of the
United States?
In his answer to a letter written by
Sixth District Republican, published in
the Morning Herald, at Hagerstown,