Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1920-01-23
A BLOW AT REPRESENTATIVE
GOVERNMENT

A startling blow has been struck
in the New York Assembly at the
principle of representative govern
ment. That body has passed reso-
luton expelling from the Assembly
five Socialists duly elected by their
constituents. Democrats and Repub-
licans who voted for the expulsion,
were guilty of treason to the prin-
ciples on which the liberties of the
American people are based. The Fed
eral and the State Governments de-
rive their validity from the consent
of the governed, given through the
ballot box. Popular sovereignty is
supreme. 1t summoned into existence
the Constitution of the United States
and the Constitutions of the various
States of the Union. 1t can alter
those Constitutions at any time.
The action of the members of the
New York Assembly is of so revo-
lutionary a character that it has
startled the whole country. 1t would
establish a precedent which, If it
went unchallenged, eventually would
destroy representative government.
What it has done is this: Constitu-
encies in which the majority hold GER
tain economic views shall be dis
franchised. In other words, the major
ity in such constituencies shall have
no legislative representation. Dem
ocratic constituencies that believe in
free trade and Republican constitu-
encies that hold to the protective
policy might be barred from Congress
and State Legislatures if it is con-
ceded that the power is inherent in
a legislative body to exclude from its
membership representatives of con-
stituencies holding views not accept
abel to the majority of that legis-
lative body.
Speaker Sweet of the New York
Assembly virtually approves of such
procedure in a letter which he ad-
dresses to Judge Hughes, who was
the Presidential candidate of the Re-
publican Party in 1915. Judge Hughes
had entered strong protest against
the expulsion Of the five Socialist
members of the Assembly. In his
letter in reply to this protest, Speaker
Sweet sayss
"You should bear clearly in mind
that no attack is made upon the views
of the Assemblymen-elect in question,
however opposed they may be in
theory to the institutions of the
United States and this State. The
question presented squarely is wheth-
er the different organizations of
which they are members, and which
they seek to represent in the Legis
lature, advocate methods and employ
tactics to bring about the overturn of
our government which will justify
their exclusion from participating in
legislative proceedings"
Read these words attentively and
you will recognize readily their i'm
port. Speaker Sweet and the major
ity of the New York Assembly decide
that certain policies of which they
disapprove will "overturn our form of
government" and, therefore, constitu-
encies favoring such policies shall
have no representation in the New
York Legislature.
They are the sole judges of what
constitutes a peril to our form of
government. They decide that So
cialism is such a peril. Therefore
they decree that no representative of
Socialism shall have a seat in the
New York Assembly. Today they
would place Socialism under a ban;
tomorrow they may undertake to
place some other organization, Or
ganized Labor for instance, under a
similar ban. In a word, they assume
the right to dictate when the prin-
ciple of representative government
shall or shall not be applied. 1t is
they who, to quote Speaker Sweets
own words in his letter to Judge
Hughes, advocate methods and en-
ploy tactics to bring about the over
turn of the form of our government" !"