The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-06-01

IT. LEN lAl4AAs Ai1 A IL hAlAs n
vote for a Republican FOR United
States senator L the people by their
sutes Declared for a Republican" the
governor told tbls committee dur
lne ihp conference n would be
pspaa 20 do Il wonid simply be
doing the viii Of ihe people one OF
the committee suggested ghe Oregon
plan wNs uuaemncmtlc, The executive
replied 'it's The very essence of De-
moeraCy "a pui the government back
lato the hands Of tbe people and let
them say whom theY wagi ioF Inifed
states scuatpr
Governor Harmon took 4 new tack
aud had similar measure offered in
the house, the Wyman bill That
body passed It and sent 1t 70 the sen
ate. where die governor hnally got
Sufficient Republican votes 70 save IL.
Ohioans had demonstrations recent.
IS that their Judiciary one of the most
sacred institutions Of free govern.
ment, had been Invaded hy party boss
es lu their inorllnatc thirst FOR power.
Instead of being places where the pco-
plo could turn 10 invoke the penalties
Of the criminal statutes on those who
had offended certain courts were be-
lng used Ia eases where men Of vast
polHical power were concerned, 70
Shield violatofs from the vengeance Of
the law
Butthe general assembly took long
step forward from boss domination Of
The courts By enactlng blll provld-
lng III the future that all Ohio Judges,
from the dlgnhed eowned justices Of
the supreme court down to the humble
laymen who sit as Justices OF the
peace shan be elected On tickets alb
splntcly free from party emblem Of
device Nominations may be made by
conventions, bat tile power Of bosses
20 control nominations was broken by
clause in the bin which says that
nominations may be made by peti
tons There IS not another such law
IN the United States
Ohio has been hampered by The
crude, unwieldy machinery Of a con
stltuton which was adopted In 1851
and tile subject Of making a new or
ganlc law Is the biggest and most I'M
noftant proposition that has come be
fore Buckeye general assembly il
many years, Selfish hands were being
0atstretched 10 yet control \ the con
stitutIonal convention to be held II
1912 when Governor Harmon tool
charge Of the arrangements for II an(
succeeded IL getting through the gen
era assembly d bill which viii remove
the delegates from political Influence
and make them responsible 10 the peo
pie only So well did he manage th,
campaign chat Ohio will set a prece
dent for all other states to foEow wher
they come to rewrite their organic laws
Nominations Of delegates wiz b,
made by petition only aud nomneet
viii be elected on ballots absolutely
free from party device or emblem o
any form Of party designation. Th'
liquor question, which has been sor,
spot in Ohio for sixty years, Will b.
finally settled when the new constlm
| tiou is adopted
The state when Governor Harmon
gfasped the reius Of government ha,
nineteen penal reformatory and beney
alent institutions. with the responsible
lte Of governing them divided amonI
n teen separate boards Of trustees
three members 10 4 board They wer
SO conducted as to secure neither econ
omy nor best results.
These trusteeships, all honorable
positions and eagerly sought after, ha,
| been used as Il sort Of currency 10 pur
chase nominations and t. repay thl
boys who had delivered votes in con
yentions. The trustees appointed su
perintendents und all suhofdnates
aud these combined to furnish th,
dynamic power for the steam role
which the late Mark Hanna and Bosi
George y. Cox used to crush the lif,
out Of rebelions against the rule o
the a. O. +, machine.
Governor Harmon's idea was tha
''the establishments which d Christian
state maintains for charity are sacreI
and that every selfish purpose shoul(
perish al their Doors
Acting on this principle, the governo
framed ana forced through the genera
assembly a bill placing all employees
Of the institutions ranking below su
periutondeut under civil service rules
The nineteen separate boards of trus
tees and nineteen stewards under thi
law were legislated out OF office, ant
the duties Of the hfty-seren trustee!
4