<T!)c Centre tlrmocral.
SHUGERT A FOUNT KB, Editor*.
VOL.
Eltr (fritter $ mortal.
Torn* St. AO per Annum, in Advance.
8. T. SHUGERT and R H. FORSTER. Editor..
Thursday Morning, June 23, 1881.
GARFIELD'S administration of the
government commenced on Friday!
Nothiug significant in that, however.
The blood in the eye of the Executive
means nothing ! Wbo'se ufeared ?
WE intended to lay Gov. Iloyt's
message vetoing the judicial apportion
ment bill before our readers this week,
but it has been crowded out by a press
of other matter. It will appear in
our next issue.
MIL BKNTI.EY, the Commissioner
of Pensions, has resigned to give place
to Marshal Dudley, one of Indiana's
favored politicians. Mr. Bently was
a faithful officer and did much to re
lieve pensioners from the grasping ex
actious of the uumerous pension agents
with whom he was not popular. Of
course they were clamorous for his
displacement and as he never allowed
his official duties to be controlled by
politics, he could not expect to escape
the axe of the political guillotiue.
EX-SENATOR AI.I.KN G. THURMAN
declines to have his name present
ed as the Democratic candidate for
Governor of Ohio. Mr. Thurman
says that when he retired from
the >Senate he made up his mind that
he would "return to private life for
good and ever," and he still remains
of that mind. While the Democratic
party of the whole country will re
gret this determination of its ablest
leader, in whose public record they en-,
tertain a just pride, they will fie grati
fied in the assurance he gives that he
"will still take a deep interest in poli
tics" and do his "best for the success
of the Democratic party." The coun
sel and advice of Mr. Thurman and
the influence of his great name will
lie no inconsiderable factor in the on
ward march of the Democracy to its
final triumph over the jmlitical des
peradoes who by fraud and purchase
have now possession of the Govern
ment. v
PUEHIDKNT GAUKIKI.D ha* freed
his mind to a Republican delegation
of Virginians, composed of whites
and blacks, headed by Gen. Wickham
and Congressman Jorgensen and Dez
eldorf, to protest against the proposed
coalition of Readjusters and Republi
cans. The delegation represented
their party as nearly equal 'o the De
mocracy in numbers and nearly three
times greater than the readjustees;
that a coalition would only be advan
tageous to the readjusters ; that this
advantage would be more than off-set
by defection of the straight-out Re
publicans who could not be induced
to lend themselves to even an indirect
approval of the principles of the pie
bald party let! by Mahone. The
President is reported as replying that
he could not be induced to favor any
party or people whose principles would
militate against the public faith and
credit; that it was for them, the Re
publicans of Virginia, to decide whe
ther or not, the readjusters were taint
ed with repudiation, and if so they
should not be supported. That it was
his purpose to use his own judgment
in making ap{feintments to office, ac
cording to the capacity and character
of the appliqpnt; that he was opposed
to the " boss system " in politics and
would not be controlled by or give the
patronage of a State to any one man.
It is now believed the President wjll
not openly favor coalition, whatever
encouragement he may .give to both
parties to put in their best licks, sepa
rate or combined, to defeat the De
mocracy. His sympathies can always
be relied on for any kind of mean or
cowardly opposition if confronted by
Democracy, which he hates next to
Conkliug in intensity. In other words
Garfield adroitly tries to straddle the
issue.
"EUUL AND KZ ACT JUSTICE TO ALL MKN, or WHATEVER STATU OK IKKMAMIO.V, HELIUIOUH OH POLITICAL. "-J.ff.nun
A Foolish Voto.
On tho 18th instant, ♦Gov. Hoyt
filed in tho oflico of the Secretary of
the Commonwealth his objections to
the judicial apportionment hill. By
this act of the Governor, the appor
tionment of the State into judicial dis
tricts required by the constitution and
made by the legislature is defeated.
There should be grave reasons to jus
tify an executive in preventing a plain
mandate of the Constitution ho has
sworn to support from being obeyed.
Let us examine the reasons given by
the Governor in his veto message and
see if they are either sound or suffi
cient.
The first and principal objection
urged to the hill, is that it is uncon
stitutional in this : that it makes sepa
rate districts of I/ehanon, Green and
Jefferson counties, neither of which,
by the census of 1880, has 40,000 in
habitants. A second objection is, that
by the provisions of the hill Judge
Henderson, the present Additional
Law Judge of the 12th district, com
posed of the counties of Dauphin and
Lebanou, is assigned to the county of
Lebanon where he does not want to
go. The Governor says "very grave
legal difficulties surround that propo
sition." A third objection is, that the
hill unnecessarily increases the num
ber of judges, especially by providing
an Additional Law Judge for each
of the counties of Erie and Crawford.
A fourth objection is, that the district
composed of the counties of Adams
and Fulton is not a "convenient" dis
trict within the meaning of the con
stitution.
The first of these objections is tbe
only serious one, and is sufficient to
justify the executive veto, if well
taken. No Governor should approve
a hill which he is satisfied violates the
constitution, and if this apportion
ment bill was clearly unconstitutional
it should not have been permitted to
become a law. Hut does it violate
the constitution in the particulars al
leged by the Governor ? All legisla
tive power of the commonwealth is
conform] by the constitution upon the
General Assembly. The apportioning
the State into judicial districts is, in
its very nature, a legislative act, and
the power to do this act belongs of
course to the legislature. The Supreme
Court of the State has so often laid
down the rule for construing the
power of the legislature that it is
now recognized as an elementary prin
ciple. The rule is, that the legislature
possesses all power, of a legislative
character, that is not prohibited, eith
er by express words or neee**ary im
plications. Judge Hlack in 18o.'t,
then Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, in the case of Sharpie** vt. The
Mayor of I'hiladelphin, 21 I*. 8. R.,
states the rule as follows :
"There is another rule which must
govern us in casee like this ; namely,
that we can declare an act of assembly
void, only when it violates the constitu
tion, elearly, palpably, plainly: and in
such manner as to leave no >or hen
tation on our minds."
All the provision* of our constitu
tion which limit or restrain the power
of the legislature in making a judicial
apportionment, which can effect this
question, is found in section 5, Ar
ticle 5, which is as follows :
"Whenever a county shall contain
forty thousand inhabitants It tkaU con
stitute a separate judicial district, and
shall elect one judge learned in the law >
and the General Assembly shall provide
(or additional judges, as the business of
the said districts may require. Coun
ties containing a population lees than is
sufficient to constitute separate districts
shall be formed into convenient single
districts, or, if necessary, may be attach
ed to contiguous districts as the General
Assembly may provide. The office of
associate judge, oot learned in the law,
is abolished in counties forming sepa
rate districts ; but the several associate
judges in offloe when this Constitution
shall be adopted shall serve for their
unexpired terms."
We submit to every intelligent read
er, whether lawyer or layman, that this
section contains no prohibition of the
power of the legislature to make a
separate judicial district of a county
containing leas tbau forty thousand
inhabitants that is so "dear, palpable
BKLLEFONTK, PA., THURSDAY, .JUNE 2:t, 1881.
and plain" as to leave no doubt or
hesitation on his inind. Not only is
there no express prohibition, but there
is none by implication, whether <•!ar
or otherwise. There is, however, one
mandate, clearly, palpably and plain
ly expressed, and that is, that the leg
islature must make a separate district
of every county which contains forty
thousand inhabitants, without regard
to the judgment of the legislature a
to the necessity or propriety of such
district. As to all other counties the
judgment and discretion of the legis
lature are left as uncontrolled as they
were before the adoption of the now
constitution. The General Assembly
may and must exercise its judgment as
to whether a county having less than
forty thousand inhabitants should he
made a separate district. If, in the
judgment of the legislature, such a
I county contains "a population less
than is sufficient to constitute u sepa
rate district," it, with other similar
counties, shall he "formed into conve
nient single districts." This is tho
i clear, palpable and plain meaning of
the constitution, and the legislature in
no wise violated either its letter or
spirit in the particulars alleged by the
Governor.
The apportionment hill of 1*74
made five separate districts of coun
ties containing less than forty thou
sand inhabitants each, to wit: Adams,
Heaver, Delaware, Indiana, and Sus
quehanna. And no one for these
seven years has questioned their con
stitutionality. Hut the Governor savs
that apportionment was made under
the 13th and not under the 14th sec
tion of the schedule to the constitu
tion, and therefore the legislature was
authorizes! to gueee at the population
of the counties and was not bound by
the census of 1870, taken three years
and a half before the apportionment.
This is shcre nonsense. The 13th
clause of the schedules docs not say a
word about the legislature guessing or
estimating the population of the coun
ties, and neither it nor the following
clause says one word as to the *i:r of
the districts. They simply fix the
lime when the apportionment* should
be made; and in all cases they were
to be made according to the Consti
tution—that is under the fth Section
of Article 5. If the bill just vetoed
was unconstitutional l>ecause it made
Green. Jefferson and sepa
rate districts, the act of IM7 I was cer
tainly unconstitutional for making
Adams, Reaver, Delaware, Indiana
and Susquehanna separate districts,
and for seven years the judges of
these five counties have been illegally
and unconstitutionally usurping the
power and jurisdiction of judges, and
their official acts have all been null
and void, including their sentences of
prisoners to the penitentiary and the
gallows. Hut this is not all. Hy the
census of IHHO two of these counties,
Adams and Heaver, arc each still un
der forty thousand. If Gov. Hoyt
honestly believes they cannot consti
tutionally be separate districts lie
should direct his Attorney General at
once to commence proceedings by quo
warranto against the judges of these
counties and have them ousted from
their offices, as was done by the asso
ciate judges of Fayette county.
It seems strange to an ordinary per
son that the conscience of our Gover
nor should be troubled on this qqes
tion, when be seems so indifferent to
the plain and unmistakable command*
of the constitution. Section 14 of
the schedule provides: "The Geoeral
Assembly thall at the next succeeding
session after each decennial census,
and not ojlener, designate the several
judicial districts as required by this
constitution."
This is a plain, simple and im|icra
tive command. No two persous can
honertly differ as to its meaning. The
legislature mutt apportion the State
into judicial districts at the first ses
sion after each decennial census, and
at no other timet. Gov. Hoyt took a
solemn oath that he would "support,
obey and defend," this, with all other
maudatesof the constitution. He bus
not only not done this, hut by this
veto after tin- adjournment of the leg
islature he lias made obedience to this
command of the constitution imposi
i hie. 1 lie constitution further provides
that "whenever a county shall contain
forty tliou-aml inhabitants it shall
constitute a separate judicial district
ami shall elect one judge learned in
the law." There are ten counties in
the State, namely: Blair, Butler,
Cambria, Clarion, Clearfield, Dau
phin, Fayette, Franklin, MeKcan and
1 ioga, which have a population of
over forty thousand each by the cen
sus of 1880 and are not separate dis
tricts by the act of I*7 I, hut arc now
entitled by an unequivocal and positive
! provision of the constitution to he
' separate judicial districts, and were
• all made such by the hill just vetoed,
j Gov. Iloyt says these counties shall
| not have the righLs so solemnly guar
jan teed to them by the constitution,
because, forsooth, the legislature in
making these other counties separate
I districts violated an imaginary pro
hibition in the constitution. Our
I worthy Governor seems to have that
[icculiur kind of a conscience which
causes him to reverence the provisions
of the constitution in the exact ratio
of their obscurity or doubtful exist
ence. The plainer they are, the less
iit weighs upon his conscience that
| they should be obeyed,
j No judicial ap|x>rtionmcnt can now
[ lie constitutionally made until the
(meeting of the legislature in 1891
: the "next session" after the next "de
I eenniat cenus." It would lie even a
| stretch of the constitution for this leg.
I i-lature to make an apportionment at
, a called session for that purpose ; for
it would not tie the next session after
| the decennial census.
If the legislature had pawed an act,
providing "that the county of Clear
field with a population of 43,471, thall
not constitute a separate judicial dis
trict and fh>M not elect one judge
! learned in the law, hut the courts of
said county shall le pre-ided over hv
judges residing in Centre and Clinton
j counties until the further pleasure of
this legislature," probably even Gov.
Hoyt would have admitted the ad to
be unconstitutional; ami yet Gov.
Govt has attempted to do by bis veto
ju-t this thing; what the legislature
j and Governor combined could not do.
The complications, difficulties and
I confusion which will result from this
j inconsiderate and foolish act of the
; ( tovcrnor arc innumerable. Clearfield,
i and the other counties named, are by
the positive fiat of the constitution
made separate and judicial districts.
The of Associate Judge, not
learned in the law, is abolished in
such countio. The Supreme Court
decided in the Fayette county case,
that the abolition of this office ap
plied to counties having forty thou
sand inhabitants, although other coun
ties were attached to it by the appor
tionment. The term of the two asso
ciates not learned in the law in Clear
field county expires on January 1,
HWI. Can the people elect successors
to these judges, Not if the decision
of the Supreme Court in the Fayette
county case was right. Then Clear
field county, although entitled under
the constitution tobeaseparatedistrict,
will he left without any resident judge,
learned or not learned iu the law.
Hut she may elect a judge learned in
the law at the next election ; so the
legislature provided, hut Gov. Hoyt
says, no! she shall not. If Clearfield
should at the next election exercise
her constitutional right to "elect one
judge learned in the law," no douhl
Gov. Hoyt would refuse to commission
him aud his title to the office would
be in dispute. Hut who is judge or
judges of Clearfield county in the
meantime?" It is more than doubtful
whether the President Judge of the
2- r )lh District, residing in Clinton, or
the Additional Law Judge, residing
in Centre, have any longer any juris-
diction to bold courts in Clearfield
since she has, under the constitution,
become a separate district.
All the conditions of the constitu
tion have occurred. A decennial
census bus been taken. ('h-arfield
county has over forty thousand in
habitants. The "next session" of the
legislature lias been held, and that
( body has adjourned sine die. Can
the omission of the legislature, or the
puerile objections of the f iovernor, de
prive the people of Clearfield, as well
as the people of nine other counties, of
their plainly guarantee d constitutional
rights? If so the constitution is no
longer the Suprcim l,aic of the laud.
If the omission of the legislature to
; de-ignate the judicial districts, or the
objections of the Governor to the act
of the legi-lature, can deprive these
I counties of their rights for one year,
the same things may operate for five
j years, for one decade or for five de
cade- ; and so all the plain provisions
{of the constitution he set at defiance,
in order to satisfy the singular scru
ples of U not over scrupulous Gov
i crnor in reference to an imaginary
provision of the constitution which
j does not exist.
We had intemh-d to refer in this
article to the other objections to the
hill made by tli- Governor, hut will
have to defer '.his to another issue,
when we will also reply to some of
the wilful rnis representations and false
statements |*--s latently made by the
"Time* and other pa|ierK in and out
of Philadelphia, on the subject of the
judicial apportionment.
IT appears that Secretary Wmdoni
has discovered that the place held by
Pitney, wbo was the official fund of
the stealing; division of the Treasury
Department—the chief of supplies
under to glares aduiiutsliatioa—had
no legal existence ; that h§ office was
unprovided Mir by law and was a
mere irra>p<*iiblo furrjshing adjunct
to that dej/irttuent *> purchase and
distribute /plunder to favored officials
—such j|i horses, carriages, furniture,
l arjK-u',overcoats/narged a* desk-cov
er- 4\)xcr of candles under lunch bills,
and all the appliances of luxurious
otTicial hou-ekeeping in Washington,
including barrels of bay rum and per
fumery, sufficient to satisfy all the
needs of the nio-t fastidious political
tiLt<"s. These things l>eing now found
to IK! outside of the rcquirments which
the law provides as regulations of offi
cial life aud duty, ritney's bureau
has been pitched outside the depart
ment with its irresponsible bead, to be
followed doubtless by the remaining
beneficiaries of the official larcenies.
Hut what of the late chief of the
freasury Department who permitted
these irregularities and also charged,
wrongfully we trust, of participation
in them to some extent ? John .Sher
man must he called to the eland to
answer.
IT is now said that Secretary Win
j dom has weakened ! The disclosures
of crookedness in the Treasury Dc
i partment were leconiing too formid
able—too sensational. Windom's nerv
j ous system wa- not equal to the strain.
He has therefore ordered the investi
gation to stop. A few detections, mere
ly to furnish excuse for making va
cancies and rewarding impecunious
favorites, would have been entirely
satisfactory, but this avalanche of
theft—this wholesale system of plun
der was nwt intended for the public
market- It must he arrested, and
that too, at the critical and interesting
point where the hay-rum barrels, the
candle-boxes and the overcoats were
to be supplemented from the ladies'
division hy fTfrO seal-skin cloaks and
diamonds, with house-furnishing to
match. It was a rich field for hont
inquiry, hut fraught with peril to Win
dom's party. He wilted iogl.irioualy,
but leaves to the public imagination
the immense stores of villainy yet un
covered.
IT was certainly had taste in the
late furnishing official of tha Treasury
Department to purchase overcoats for
desk covers. Tbey are unsuited for
•Nil purposes and the official dask
thus carelessly provided is certainly
i u great need of a new tenant.
'I Kit MS : pfr Annum, in Advance.
Btato Troanurer
If the I)emoeratii would elect tb>ir
candidate for Stale Treasurer thin fall
they dare nominate no old hack, for
HUCII a one would hurely be beaten.
Let u have a bumnea* ritati of acknowl
edged honeoty to lead the party. An
ton Ary us.
We endoree mot-t heartily the opin
ion expre#ed in the above brief para
graph. In connection with it we have
received a letter miggetdiog the name
of the Hon. Orange Noble, of Krie, aa
a ami very comj**tent {tenon
for the position. Mr. Noble \va- a
prominent candidate for the nomina
tion for Treasurer in 1 >*7•* and tdiould
have been nominated at that time.
Mr. Noble wan a member of the laK
legislature, and to hi- groat cr lit an !
honor it can he said that be wa- al-
ways on the side of true reform, al
ways with the people and against rings
and monopolies. From our knowl
edge of Mr. Noble, we know him to be
a pure Democrat, u busiuos man of
large and practical experience, and
one in every way compettnt to lead
the party to success and to fill with
honor to himself and credit to the peo
ple the office of State Treasurer.
While all this is true, it is not now
within our power to lend our support
to Mr. Noble. We have in our own
county a candidate as competent to
fill the position, of a* upright and ex
cellent character, with as much prac
tical business expericnoe <without dis
paragement to other candidates) as
that of any other person mentioned.
Aaron Williams, Esq., Centre county's
candidate, has acquired large knowl
edge and excellent habits of business,
through actual service in positions of
great trust and responsibility. lie
fills the bill of qualifications laid
down by the Kaston Argun, is no "old
back," but a practical business man
of acknowledged honesty, large ca
pacity, unswerving integrity, and a
I)emocratin whom there is "no guile."
As our own people, well know, Mr.
Williams has been twice elected Pro
thonotarv of the County, the first time
in 1X72 and the second time in 1875.
The last time his majority wa* very
close on fifteen hundred. The careful,
faithful, honest and unostentatious
manner in which he discha. ged the du
ties of this office, is the l>cst evidence in
the world that he would make an excel-
I lent, competent and faithful State
Treasurer.
GEORGE C. GORIIAM, the Itcpubli
'-an-il<-pixliatin candidate for Secre
tary of the United States Senate pub
lished a di-pntch in his pa|>er of Fri
day la-t. promising startling develop
ment* from the bribery investigation
going on at Albany between the stal
wart* ami half-breeds. He alleges
thnt fact" will be di*closed which will
result in the impeachment of Garfield.
That's had for < tarfield !. Hut, alto
gether these stalwart* and halt-breeds
are a precious set. and a little im
|)eachmcnt of some sort would not he
amiss all around. But, it is no use to
commence on Garfield. Impeach
ment rolls off him like water from a
duck's hack ! His political friends
and partisans in Congress impeach
ed him. His political friends and
constituents at home impeached him,
each charging him with crime that
should hare ruined his reputation,
and, yet, the Kepublioan party nomi
nated and elected him to the highest
ciril office in the world. The I)e Gol
yer bribe and his participation in the
Credit Mobelier swindle were as con
clusively proven against him as any
charges ever made against a public
man, but in Republican estimation
these crimes amounted to nothing, and
.Tames A. Garfield was elevated to the
Presidency over as sincere a patriot
and as pure a man as was ever pre
sented to the people for their suf
frages.
GKH. (JKAXT has got to the front.
He is in Nee York io consultation
with the stalwarts, and Kill the half
breeda are in the held apparently un
diamayod. The standing cash price
for Representatives from die stalwart
ranks, is §2,000 and for Senators, of
flow by the score. Market brisk
' u .'id
NO.