Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-03-18
GOVERNOR BYRNE's WEAKNESS.

Perhaps the Saturday News may not be considered an authority
with reference to any weakness it may think it has discovered in
Governor Frank N. Tyrnc, for the reason that the paper has never
been an ardent supporter of the present state administration; there
fore, IFS opinion is venturcd with a certain amount Of fear and
trembling, as it were. "#
Some one has said that the pathway to ok and ruin of many a
IpolinciHn is Strewu with the letters he has written, and we are half
Inclined to think that Governor byrnc has been altogether too pro
life with his pen. lie riNhrS in now and then wherc even angels
fear to tread.
The governors latest contribution is an attempt to justify his
acceptance Of the fifty dollars a month allowance granted by the
been cXcuSablc had h" stopped with his defense, but i'll seeking to
justify it he appears to have assailed Some of his critics for their
acceptance Of certain sums from the public treasury for deeds alleged
to have been performed. In other words, the governor thinks that
Johnny Nipple, for instance, is not warranted in crticising the gov
crnorS acceptance Of the allowance so long as Mr.. IIippIe is accepting
certain sums from the treasury for certain alleged printing.
The Saturday News is not disposed to believe that Governor
Hyrne is other than a welLmeaning man. 1t has tried to cast aside
any prcconcciyed notions it may have hitherto entertained during
the heat Of political campaigns, but we cannot accept the COVER.
ncrS basis of reasoning.
If Johnny Nipple should steal the state treasury blind, as the
saying is, it would not justify Governor Byrne OF. the members Of the
supreme court, or the railroad commissioners, or ANYBODY else. in
accepting a farthng more than the spirit of the state constitution
contemplatcs that they shall be paid.
The Saturday News b~eIievcs-frmly beieves-in the rule of the
people. If we are operating under a written constitution the states
supreme document should be interpreted according to its spirit as
well as its letter. II it does not mean what it says, then let's east
into the gutter. The people of this state are not in need of rule
10y a political hierarchy. They long ago-generations ago-passed
that stage III their political evolution.
If the legislature has a right to appropriate fifty dollars a month
and thus swell the salary of a state official to that ex-
it has the right to make the allowance twice fifty, or ten times
with no upward limitation. ed
The supreme court may sustain the opinion Of the attorney gem
oral and the governor to the effect that the Legislature. possesses such
rlght-but no supreme court ever made a wrong right by any sort
OF decree it ever entered. 1t would serve only to impress the people
with the shortcomings of the court.
ThSaturday News happens to know that certain members Of the
supreme court originally approached the question of drawing the
legislative allowance with t]repidation. There was more or less
mental reservation concerning the propriety Of such procedure and
was some semblance of lack of authority in the proceedings.
It was hoped in those days that nobody would draw attention to the
natter. especially in such way as to compel the court to pass upon
is validity.
But we judge from the way things are shaping themselves, or
IRE being shaped, at the state capitol timidity has given place to
temerlty, and consequently we shall hardly expect the supreme
to place the seal of its disapproval as a court upon the things
which its individual members have been doing for some years past.