4 THE BEAVER RADICAL. SMITH CDRTIS, Editob. BEAVER. PA., Frida? Morning, May 16,1873. THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT. Our present method of nominat ing candidates does not work smoothly and fails to give satisfac tion to the country districts. There has been several efforts made,to induce the County Com mittee to submit an Amendment* to the a view of cor recting the objectionable features of our system, and finally the Commit tee have carefully considered the matter, and, as a result of that con sideration, the following amendment is proposed, viz: “That in ease no one candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast, then the nomina tion for said office shall be made by the Convention.” This Amend ment, it will be observed, is a fun damental change; and, if carried, will necessitate a change of some of our rules. The objections urged against the present system are many, among the most important of which 'is the fact that the system is found ed upon , a wrong principle. Our government is one of majority. The doctrine of the rule of the majority lies at the very base of our institu tions. With the instrumentalities of a free press, a free pulpit and free schools, we have that it is safe to trust to the will of majori ties in both National and State af fairs ; but kuppose the doctrine of plurality was substituted for that of majority, what security would there be lor the future of our liberties? The great fault of our present sys tem of nominating candidates is | that it is a wide and radical depar- J tufe. from the fundamental princi- | pies of our Government, and, by j adhering to it, we are teaching a wrong principle and setting a bad example. Our system is called a popular vote system, but it is not one*in reality. It is a direct vote system of the people, and where there are only two candidates for the same office, the nomination is made by a majority, and might, so far, be called popular, but when there are more than two candidates, the nom ination is made by a plurality, some times small, and it is inconsistent to say such a nomination is popular. It possibly may turn out to he so, but tho vole does not prove it to be so. The best way of ascertaining the fact of popularity Is by a major ity vote. The proposed Amendment requires a majority of votes to elect in all cases and abandons entirely the plurality system. Again the pres ent system practically concentrates | 100 much power in the large j boroughs, enabling them to control nominations. This is unfair, and has given rise to much complaint. When there are a large number of candidates for one office, a few votes are sufficient to nominate. These votes are more easily obtained by those residing in the large boroughs, i where the number of votes is large than by those jh* the country dis tricts, since it is considered a matter of courtesy to vote lor one’s own dis trict candidate, and each district thus supports its own man, whether the best or not. The influence of sec tionalism determines the result, and maizes residence a matter of first im portance to thhse aspiring to be candidates. We can not recall lbs name of any candidate from the country districts, who has been suc cessful in obtaining any nomination of importance,for a number of years, except perhaps one, and be failed of; an election. The plurality system will give to the boroughs a monopoly of office holding, for it enables them to con trol, in a large degree, all the nomi nations, and in this respect does great injustice to the country dis tricts. The people, without regard to locality, should have an equal voice in making nominations, but under the present method, the idea of locality predominates and influ ences the and too such a de gree that the tear is frequently ex pressed by residents in the country districts, that soon, unless the sys tem is changed, candidates from the country will stand no show for any county office worth striving for. The fear is not groundless as expe rience lias clearly shown. Again any system is only means to an end, means by which to Obtain the very best candidates, and it m far better, we should think, to take the judg ment of the majority, than perhaps a small minority, inthe selection of candidates. A party should .sup port its best and most meritorious men, and to secure such, a majority vote, is the best plan yet tried. The plurality vote plan has, tended to in crease the number of candidates, and make canvassing trouble some and annoying. If the propos ed change, as is hoped, will dimin ish the number hereafter and parti ally do away with canvassing, it would be, if not a “sea change into something rich and strange,” still a change cfevoutly to be wished. A knowledge that it required a major ity of votes to elect would enable the voters to concentrate on two of the most prominent candidates, and either the weak ones would be induced, by their friends, to draw off or their support would be so small as not to prevent a nomi nation by the people. If either re sult happened, the nomination would be in accordance with the direct vote system with the improvement of a majority vote and less number of candidates. It might happen [that np one candidate for an office would f receive a toajori ity of all the votes cast for said of fice and the nomination therefore be thrown into the Convention. The several districts would be equally represented according to their num ber of voters in the Convention, and the country districts could not be over borne by the boroughs, ,and their candidates would still stand a better chance than under the present system. This mixed system pre serve all that-is good in both the di rect and delegate systems, and we believe is about as near perfect as we can hope to obtain. It is the system adopted by the Lawrence county Republicans with whom it is said to work well. It cannot cer tainly be worse than our present one, and it seems to us admirably adapted to meet the wishes of our people and to secure both a. general interest in the nomination of candi dates and a hearty support of thorn -afterwards at the polls by the whole party strength. HON. EDWARD KING. Hon. Edward King, who died in Philadelphia, on Thursday of last week, in.bis eightieth year, was a native of Philadelphia, a lawyer by profession, and appointed President Judge in 1823 of the Court of Com mon Pleas of the city and county of Philadelphia. He served in this ca pacity for twenty-eight yearsj and then went on a trip to Europe, Egypt, Palestine and Arabia. He was one of the founders of Jefferson Medical College, being President of its board of trustees at the time of his death. He aided in revising the criminal code of this State, and was connected for two years with the Philadelphia Board of Trusts. Judge King had few superiors in his knowledge of the common and criminal law and of the principles of equity. His decisions are a monu ment of his learning, ability and ex haustive comprehension, and they are models of terse, condensed and clear expression. He was ready, calm and always equal to any sud den emergency, and could lay down, at a moment’s notice important and abstruse principles of law that would afterwards stand the closest examination. His famous charge on the duties of a grand jury, which was delivered without previous preparation and unexpectedly, is an instance of this kind. The Judge has lived a long and useful life, and has well earned the reward that re mains for the faithful servant. THE SALARY GRAB It is said that the extra pay refus ed by members of Congress reaches the sum of one hundred and eleven thousand dollars. It is an easy thing for Congressmen to vote mon ey into their pockets, but when the motive of greed becomes apparent in the transaction, and public opin ion everywhere condemns the vote as dishonest, and but little better than stealing, it is not so easy W them to consummate the law and draw out for their own use the mon ey so appropriated. Members of Congress are sensitive and quick to detect the smallest signs of the THE RADICAL; FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1873. times, and we think very, likely the fact that so many have; refused to touch the money allotted to them will cause many of tbosd who have taken their share to contrive,in seme • . ••• * ■ ' i way,to rid themselves of the burden, and especially those, who have bong back and are waiting to see ; their way more clearly, will certainiycbn elude, in view of all, the circum stances, that it is both prudent and discreet to act the parti of-hoaesi men and refuse to profit by the re troactive salary grab. This subject will never down at the bidding ol any member, imd those, who thought that it ?would soon blow over, will find themselves very much mistaken; it has been freely denounced by the press al ready, and is very unpopular; with the people, and for a member of Congress, who is still ambitious, to breast this current of opposition, is more thai one would naturally' ex pect, and we should not be surpris ed to hear that nearly all the mopey appropriated by the law would find its way back into the United States Treasury where it rightfully belongs. Twenty-seven members have relfuied their money, seven have given theirs away to schools or charitable insti tutions, but we hope to know that many, more who have drawn their amount, have, on consideration turned it, with a clearer understand ing of the matter than they bad.',. The editor of the Butler Eagle has been requested by Josiah M. Thompson, to announce that the use of his name in connection with a candidacy for the Legislature was unauthorized and that be is not at present an aspirant for that posi tion. We presume that Messrs. Wal dron and McKee, having rendered faithful service in the Legislature last winter, will be renominated, ac cording to the usages of the party without substantial opposition. BALBION P. CHASE. The Hon. S. P. Chase, Chief Jus tice of the Supreme Court of tie United States, died at the residence of his daughter in New York po Wednesday morning of last we£k. He was stricken with paralysislon Tuesday morning, ani, from. th*| time until his death, was totally unconscious. Possessing at one time a robust constitution, a splend id and powerful frame, long years of excessive labors bad enfeebled his health to such an extent that Re cently, at times, he bad to abstain from all mental and physical exer tion, and his sudden death has not been considered an improbable oc currence. He was one of the great men of our great epoch, a leader dn the long and bitter anti-slavery con test, a wise counsellor during the rebellion, rendering valuable servi ces-by devising means of carrying on the war, and establishing our present system of National currency. The Chief Justice, although he adorned every position he filled, will yet chiefly be remembered in histo ry for the part he took, in the ros trum, in Congress, and wherever he could make bis influence felt, in the great war with slavery. The Re publican party owes as much to him as any one man, for he did as much as any other to organize it and lead it to success, and his labors, in this respect, are a part of his anti slavery record, which a grateful people will not willingly forge£. When the war began, which he had apprehended and understood, he as sumed the task of organizing the fi nances of the country, and how he succeeded all well know. ( By his masterly skill he saved the public credit from bankruptcy, and furnish ed a vast array with the <( sinews of war,” without which nothing could have been accomplished, and op which everything depended. Money moves an army, and the Chief Jus* tice supplied the money in abuncf* ance. > Within a year death has removed many of oar noted and great metf*, those moral heroes of the anti-sla* very war. Seward, Greeley and Chase have gone, men whom the people will never forget, and whose name# will be inscribed high up on the roll of fame. They weife g$ ants in intellect, of noble impulses, and their lives were, devoted to the good 1 of their fellow beings. Strong* ly individualized, each superior in certain powers, it wpuld be difficult to say which one of them deserves the most praise for the services which, in his way, each rendered to his country and humanity. POLITICAL. —Dr. B. F. Wagenseller, of Selins grove, Snyder county, is a Republican candidate for nomination for State Senator. ; —The Democrats carried Lafayette, because the temperance men would insist upon running an independent ticket. —The Philadelphia Leader advises the Democracy to' nominate Judge Ludlow for the Supreme Bench, and speaks watmly in his pfaise. —The Republican County Committee of Washington county will have a meet ing op the 19tb inst., to fix the time for holding the primary meetings. •* —Why cannot the party (in Philadel phia) which in the.day of agony was the party of loyalty and fidelity in political duty, purge itself ? The Press wants to know. —Republican candidates for nomination for Assembly In West moreland county as announced in tbeGreensburg Tribune and Herald are: C. C. Sherbondy, Esq., of South Huntingdon township, and James Hunter, of E ist Huntingdon. —Ex-Senator Pomeroy still remains at Washington, bat it is announced that be has not given up bis intention to be a candidate for election to fil I the vacancy occasioned by the resignation ot Senator Caldwell. —Gen. Boynton, the Washington cor respondent of the Cincinnati Gazette and Pittsburgh Commercial , renews the old story that '‘Senator dameron was placed at the bead of the Committee on Foreign Relations only on condition that be re sign immediately after bis appointment, which he stubbornly refused to do.” —The Cincinnati Commercial says: "The State of Ohio is to enter the lobby at Washington with $3,000 cash in hand to plead for the payment of the Morgan raid claims. The “raid” is to be ttans fered to Washington. It is a raid upon the Treasury. Morgan's raid was light amusement compared with this.” —Jere Cook, Esq., of Frankfort county, and editor of the Repository, fn which position he has rendered valuable services to bis party, is a candidate before the Republican nominating convention for County Treasurer of said county, and we presume be will be nominated without much opposition. —The State Journal says: A rumor has been current for some time that Mr. Thomas V. Cooper, of Delaware county, has declined to be a candidate for State Senator, in order to enter on a canvass for Congress. Statements to this effect having appeared in the Beaver Radical and Pittsburgh Commercial , we batve been authorized by well known friends of Mr. Cooper to say that be intends to be a candidate for Senate, and that he will be nominated and elected. While a mem ber of the House, be made a splendid reputation, alike for bis devotion to busi ness, and the unimpeachable integrity, which marked all his acts. —ld looking around for an available Democratic candidate for State Treasurer, the Doylestown (Bucks county) Democrat suggests Gen. George W. Cass, of Pitts burgh, and says: “Accustomed to con duct large financial operations, of integri ty the strictest, of judgment the soundest, and not a politician in any sense of the word, be seems to us the fitest man for the posi tion.” As the General has undertaken a mammoth financial job in running the Northern Pacific Railroad, we do not think he would feel free to accept a nomi tion for State Treasurer, even if be bad a chance of being elected.^ —The Bellfonte Republican says. The Democratic county convention that met in ibis place last week deserves a leather medal for the passage of their resolution, to wit. Resolved, “That our fellow citizen, Ed ward Perks, Esq., is eminently fitted by ability, integrity and business qualifica tions, to fill the office of State Treasurer, and that the delgate elected by this Con vention to represent our county in the coming State Convention be instructed to present the name of Mr. Perks for the office, and to use all fair and bon irable means to secure bis nomination.” , It was a brilliant conception ! “Hon. Ed. Perks State Treasurer!” How' it would sound. Bob. Mackey would be proud of his successor, nr if be wouldn’t be, he can’t appreciate Perks, that’s all. —The Chester County Convention for the purpose of electing delegates to the State Convention to meet in Harrisburg oo the 13th of August next, assembled in the Odd Fellows’s'Hall, West Chester, on Monday at 11 o’clock. The meeting was organized by choosing Dr. John P. Edge, of Downingtowo, president, and D. H. Barton and J. V. Edge, secretaries. The following named gentlemen were elected by a vita voee vote to represent the county in the State Convention as Representative delegates, viz: Major £. B. Moore, of West Cheated and Major J. M. Pomeroy, of Sadsttury, Hon, William B. W*dde(l was chosen Senatorial representative by accla mation. The delegation was unanimous ly instructed to support Hon; William Butler for Judge of the'Supreme Court. The proceedings were characterize! by the utmost harmony. —The Democratic State Convention to ! nominate a candidate for State Treasurer met in Frankfort, Ky., on May Ist, and was the smallest State Convention ever held, there being only defegates from fifty one counties in attendance, and quite a number of, these were ’proxies. At ten | o’clock the convention was called to order | by the chairman of tfaie 'State Central Committee, Hon. G. Wi Craddock. Hon, G. G. Perkins, of Kenton county,, was’ elected permanent President. Commit tech on Resolutions Permanent Or-; ganization were appointed. The chair-1 man announced that 'nominations for the office of State Treasurer were in order,* and Mr James W, Tate, the present in-, cumbent, was renominated by a unanH moos vote to be the choice of the tion for that office. The Central Committee ; the addition of an Ext of one from each Co After adopting the j byjthe committee the.' ed sine die. —The Meadeville Republican says : At a meeting of the Rebubiican County Committee, of Crawford county, Thurs day, the 19th day of June, was fixed as the day for the primary elections. Jesse Smith, W. A. Rupert and John B Comp ton were elected delegates to the State Convention. A resolution offered “that none but those fully in accord with the Republican party at the last Presidential election shall exercise the right of voting at the primary election this year,” was Unanimously laid on the table, after which it was resolved that Republican minors who will be entitled to a vote at the fall election be permitted to vote at the pri mary election. The following resolutions were then assented to': Resolved, That in the election of John F. Hart ran ft as Governor of Ibis Com monwealth the Republican party has done itself lasting cred it. That in the discharge of bis official duties he has met the just expectation of bis friends, and commands the respect and esteem 6f bis political eni m ies. Resolved, That the Republican party have undiminished confidence in the ad- ministration of President Grant. That the overwhelming majority with which he was re elected reflects the wisdom of the American people. Resolved , That the thanks of the Repub lican party of Crawford county, are due to John B. Compton, chairman of the Republican County Committee, for bis very able and efficient services in the campaign just closed with such gratfying results. FR OM PHILADELPHIA I The Xwenty-Fltth Anniversary of the Woman’s National Suffrage Con ven ation—A Philadelphia Lady’s Inscrip tion of the Notable?—New Xork Wo naen—Trial Trip of the Pennsylvania —Death of Hon. H.N.BIe Abater. Correspondence of the Radical. ", , Phil vdelphia, M-aySll, 1873. Absence in New York lasi week must be my excuse for delay, in usual:‘letter to The Radical. The Twenty Fifth Anni versary of the Woman’s National 'Suf frage Convention, .being the cau& there of.VYettturing to hope that The Radical and its readers will be pleased to hear the whole modus of going to a convention, and taking an active part therein irom an enthusiastic but rather inexperienced I participant, your correspondent begs you j to prepare to listen. Taking the morning j train and crossing New Jersey we arrived j at the foot of Courtl&n street at 10;15, ; took a street car, and through the com • ; bined efforts of two conductors reached Apoll