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Show BE70RS THE LIGHT OF DAY. Mr. Matthews, oue of the counsel iu the Fiorida case, laid down the republican theory of counting the electoral vote. He said they did notj contend that the governor's certifi cate was conclusive: Thatofrtifeate, he contended, waa ra mured ou.v by tMeral iaw, ,d congrel uecd not be rej:r.cted by it. Tnoiui l-ona-lt. suestantial, ossen'tial thine west the governor cerlitiod to If h e.-:ie l to tho thirg which wa-.no hi tHOZMtuSM U disregarded. Whai UK. ,t.tv uad dono was binding co.i-rres,: so t!: tho real no. what the governor ce.-:iL,u Iho sul, 1 ad don; bu: what tho state roa.iy had lone. Iho ai.poir.taicat ot electors by tho s.a.o was made by a ivouiar vote ncco.-dii'.g to stale ,! re.i'nt ol'wnich was a.ertamod by a re:urui::g board aecor.uog to slate law. X:,al was th'-l t.rroal. olScial act ot the stalo, beyond 1 which congress could not go. " I Iu the Oregon case tbo republicans' propose to dodgo the governor's cer-l titicate, claiaiinj that the secretary of the state, instead of ths governor, was tho proper canvassing and certifying authority, thereby constituting the'i conioiission the judge of the legality ot tho action of the stale in counting Ihe Tote. On the same principle the commission would be obliged to consider con-sider the question of the legality of the body claiming to bo the returning board in Louisiana. Can the tribunal consistently ignore tho fact that the Louisiana board was not organized according to the state law, and still claim the right to go behind tbo governor's gov-ernor's certificate to investigate the Sinfulness of the act of Governor Orover in Oregon? It will require somo very lively somersaults by the commission to count in Hayes and Wheeler, and such crooked partisan work as no disguise or sophistry can render fair and boneat in the broad daylight before which so great a crime will have to be perpetrated. - |