Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-17

| as a House, today. power which the
| makers of the Constitution thought it
wise To confer, and had ample conf
dence, complete confidence in the WIS.,
/ dom and righteousness of all Houses Of
Representatives in their use of that
power. We have it in our power to-
| day, gentlemen, to adjudge that my
Brother Pendleton here before me is
not Il years of age and therefore is
disqualified and we have it in our pow
er to remove him from his seat on that
judgment when we once pass it. The
question is, shall we pass such a judg-
ment as that in the face of what seems
to he the evidence The same prnci-
pal applies to the case in hand We
| may we'll judge that these three mep
are not eligible to seats in this House.
| in spite of the evidence. and remove
| them from their seats. The power Is
still in this House to do that: but the
question is. what is our duty and what
is our responsibility to this House, To
| the government of Maine and to the
people of the State of Maine
| am addressing these words to those
in this lia:zc whom l believe-and I
Z
fairness and that spirit of open-mind-
edness is at all confined to the mem
/ bers of the Republican party-I am
addressing it to those of the opposf
ton, and | believe there are many men
/ here who are men of fairness, and men
who are willing to judge and act on
all questions on their merits | thank
You, gentlemen, for your indulgence.
| CApplause)
! Mr.. WHEELER of South Paris: Mr..
Speaker ana members of this House it
IS more than possible that at the pres
ent time my intentions may be misunder-
stood when l say that l take the floor
and advocate the cause which advocate
with absolute sincerity and in the belief
that my position Is correct and that
when the supreme court hands back ata
answer to the proposed question of this
House that certain gentlemen. in spite o.
the $4,000 team of corporation lawyers
behind them. have got a big surprise
coming TO them. tApplause).
If l can read the Maine reports cor
reetly, and think | can. even though
/ am not a constitutional lawyer. the
court of Maine in divided case in which
the Hon. Justice Emery was in the mi
nority for once-the court of Maine have
said that it was bound by the rules of
the constitution. and that it could not in
| terfere with the business of the House of
| Representatives. unless there existed a
solemn occasion which required il: and
| they said that an opinion rendered upon
Il certain question not quite parallel but
very similar to this, would be an I'M
warranted interference with the business
/ of this House For that reason the argu-
ment advanced by my friend from South
| Portland tMr. Sanborn) appeals to ME as
being very fair and well grounded: there
/ exists in the mind of this gentleman
and I think in the minds of others VINO
voted with him, that a mistake has been
made in the conduct of this matter.
As business men, you all have formed
the habit of turning to the supreme
court of Maine with confidence that
your questions will be answered and al
| they will be settled fairly, and with wis
! dom and sincerity to such an extent that
the court of Maine stands at the head
| But in this particular matter the supreme
court of Maine is not the court of LAST
resort We forget occasionally that the
government and the constitution of
| Maine provide for three distinct and sep
arate branches, and there is no question
but that our ancestors wished to place
around those three a safeguard so that
the executive department should never in
| terfere with the legislative. and so that
the Legislative should never interfere with
| the judicial And you know and | know
| that in this broad country of ours many
| of the burning questions that confront
| us and that are making divisions in our
| party have arisen because the judicial
branch of the government has persisted
i'm interfering with the business of the
| legislative. and ! don't look for the court
of Maine to make that mistake in the
present crisis.
l agree with the proposition further adj
vanced by my brother. These gentle
men have acted in sincerity and fairness
by resigning. 1t is perfectly plain from
the remarks that have been made here,
and also from an article in one of our
daily papers, that this matter was not
surprise to the gentlemen most deeply in
terested. 1t makes little difference to
any member of this House what motive
may be imputed by the press to him and
toward him when casting his vote upon
a solemn matter here, so long the de-
the remarks upon that question are fair,
above board and honest. And after the
freport has been spread in the corridors
of this House that certain members here
of voted upon this question solely upon
political grounds, an injustice has been
done to the men toward whom those re-
marks were directed, and to the men who
made them, when they are considered by
the public.
/ voted to unseat. and / shall continue
to vote in similar circumstances until
am convinced by some higher authority
that l am wrong. To show that ] am
sincere in the position that / took in my
vote, and that I am sincere now, let me
relate a personal incident. In my own
county this question has arisen just as
it has arisen here, as will show In other
counties prior to the organization of this
House. One of my neighboring towns
is the town of oxford represented on
the floor of this House by an honorable