Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-16


flee Of profit under this State, justices
of the peace, notaries public, coroners
and officers of the militia excepted.
shall have seat in either House dur
ing his being such member of Con-
gress, or his continuing in such of
| fee"
This is constitutional provision.
No member can sit in this House if
he holds a position under the Unit"
ed States Government whether for
profit or otherwise, except post-offi
GERS. Now, my brother says that
post officers Goes not mean what
the people of this State said it meant
or that it meant for 81 years. For 81
years since this Constitution has been
adopted the people of this State and
its law makers have said it meant
''postmasterS," and perhaps, in a more
comprehensive sense, men engaged in
the postal service.
Now, what construction does he ask
you to place upon that? He says in
his argument, il YOU can style it as
SUCH he says it does not mean post
masters at all. but it means some men
connected with government posts. tn
most diligent search in dictionaries in
legislative proceedings, in digests, in
works on words and phrases, in en-
cyclopaedias fails to disclose any such
military officer known in the history
of this country, not one. Why should
the constitutional convention of Maine
talk about excluding post officers from
representation in the Legislature, If
there were any such officers; We
haven't any military posts; if we had
any military posts here, United States
military posts, to which 1t could be
applied, those men. the officers of
those posts were not citizens of Maine.
1t is an utter absurdity, because
Maine did not have any army; Maine
had nothing but the militia, and you
will observe later as a cause of ex-
clusion and officers of the militia eA-
eepted" That clause took care of ev-
cry officer. every military officer we
had in the state of Maine. every one
of them.
Now, gentlemen, | do not ask you
to take my statement, as my Brother
Newbert has asked you to take his
statement in this important matter.
want to go with you back to the bed
rock of this thing. We had con-
stitutional convention here to form
Constitution in 1919, and in the for
nation of that Constitution this pro
vision was inserted, and while there
was no debate upon it there was
something in the debates referring tn
il in slight way which throws some
light upon what the members oil that
constitutional convention meant Thefe
was motion made to strike out If
that provisional constitution as 1t was
finally inserted, motion to strike out
that term, but in making the notion
Mr. Vance moved to amend by strlE
ing out in the second line poSt-oi
fees" not post officers so tnat II
seems that they had in mind men VINO
occupied positions in connection win
the post, and the man moving thal
amendment used this word. offer
that To YOU for what it is worth, bur |
want YOU to go along little iufthef
with me. The Constitution of the
state of Massachusetts was adopted
prior to the Constitution OF the Unit
ed states When the United states
adopted it's Constitution there was III
| existence the Constitution of MaSSa-
chusetts, and Of course il had no pro-
vision because there were no post
| masters or officials of that sort. ihefe
was no provision in the Constitution
of Massa chusetts regulating that IN
! compatibility Of office, but they III
serted into their Constitution pro-
vision almost absolutely in effect IKE
| our own, evidently having before theii
! the Constitution of Maine and tne
| consultations of many other states
/ which contained the same provision :
and they inserted a clause similar II
this in our Constitution.
Now. what did they say? They use1
| there the word ..postmaster. not nav
ing provision in regard 10 me mn 10
and other officials. postmaster IN
stead of "post-officers" as we did IL
Maine. II shows what construction
| contemporaneous construction Wa
placed upon that term 'post-ofhcers
by the members of the several consul
| tutional conventions.
want to read to you little some
| thing about that from the RECORDS O.
the constitutional convention OF Massa
ehusetts. In a resolve reported by MT
Webster, Daniel Webster
Resolved. that it is proper and eX
pedient further to amend the consul
tuition, so as to provide that no Judge
of any court in this commonwealth
and no person holding an office uhdei
the authority of the United States
tpostmasters excepted shall at the
same time hold the office of Governor
Lieutenant Governor Or Counsellor, OF
have a seat in the Senate or House OF
| Representatives of this Common
wealth, and that no judge OF any cour'
in this Commonwealth. the Attorney
General, Solicitor General, Clerk of any
court. sheriff, treasurer or receiver
general, register OF probate, register oil
deeds, shall continu to hold his salo
office after being elected member oil
the Congress of the United States and
accepting that trust; but the accep-
lance of that trust by any officer
aforesaid shall be deemed and taken
to be. n resignation of his said office;
and that judges of the courts of com
mon please shall hold no other office
under the government of tins Com
monwealth, the office of justice of the
peace and militia offices expected
Now there was n reason for that
There would he no reason in putting
in term as applied to people that did
not exist. There was reason for eX-
Incl ba fn