Show REVIEW OF rhe THE rhe MAIN maln QUESTION 1 IN ix another part of thib thia paper will vill be found an opinion written by a lay law firm of this city to stiffen the backbone of the small party which has baa an itching for the local offic offices eg and which has become much discouraged aa as the prospects of fill lug or controlling them has gradually faded the opinion will surprise somo soma of those gentlemen to whom the lending leiding partner of that firm has expressed himself very emphatically to tha th reverse of his present utterances but bat we wo shall not take tike time now to speak of the cause for this sudden flop to use a common expression in relation to the thip change of views exhibited that we beliele beli Pel iove leve oye eye is pretty generally understood df der stood the tho opinion opens after a statement of the qu question ebdon eadon which la has hag the go governor v ernin the tha light to fill by appo appointment 1 n tm ent the that should have been filled by el election teton ecton in august with some general remarks and a quotation bearing upon the tha principle governing the construction of amendments to the con ution which does not connect very ely bly with the que tion under consideration and which la is entirely unnecessary y us as there is no dispute upon that point the ed munds munda brills bijl bill Is then taken up under the erroneous impression luat mat the enactment on which the appointing power powen of the governor is predicts pred predicted ICIS leis led ltd la Is an amendment to the Edmu edmunds law it certainly is not and the powers or ot ot of the commis commie 1 blon slon are al aiso also 0 o incorrectly stated the legal gentlemen who have undertaken to enlighten tim tho public on this subject either misunderstand it themselves or they misquote the ther law tor for a purpose the edmunda edmunds act confers pow power r on the five commissioners miBs loners nors ners to appoint cioper per isona ilona soup to do thu laings enumerated but this does not authorize those gentlemen to perform those themselves if the writers of the artic artice e contend can tend after the loose fashion of their argument further on that whether tae commissioners mibs miss loners laners ners appoint officers to perform these dulies dunes or perform them thera I 1 ay iy person it is all the same then by the bame same rule the governor need not appoint any of miers officers to fill vacancies that may have occurred through uhe the laflure of thu tho august election he can lan attend to ail all their duties himself and so bave have the trouble of making appointments when lawyers attempt to explain thu law they ought at least to quote it correctly go on to state further tabt the gul cul cilliers cers cere who should have bren been elected in august were to hoid hold their under certificates or other evidence of election the commissioners and nut otherwise 11 wrong agdan again gentlemen there ia h nothing in the law to justify such an ai neither the edmunds bill the hoar hour amendment ncr nor the local statutes cont coat contins cintins con eon tinb tins ins anything of the kind you read law very loosely it if you are sincere in your opinion but bat passing by their incorrect rendering of the edmunds law for that Is noti noli the matter to be cofeld ered erea at all nil let iet us come to the hohr hour amend amendment meet went to the sundry civil appropriation bill the real subject at they ask ase what wab was tho evil which this amendment was designed to remedy now gentlemen you are coming down to buel buei ness the evil as stated in the brief debate over the amendment in both houses was a hup Aup supposed posed condition of anarchy alleged to be a necessary consequence ot of the failure of the then approaching august election A letter had been received from the judges of the utah supreme reme a court setting forth that the failure of the election was waa liable to cause general disturbance and trouble and asking for measures to provide for legal successors to lil all the incumbents in office whose whom successors would have been chosen at the august election 11 js 11 the object in view then was to prevent this general disturbance and trouble will which ch by py the by existed only in tho the imagination of the writers of the epistle the amendment was waa framed with this intent and und that the tho predicted trouble might be averted the governor was authorized to fill vacancies in certain cirtain pos po ble bie contingency supposing that no provisions existed by which the offices to be filled at the august election could be occupied and sustained the Govern governor nr wag was authorized to supply the deficiency clency thattie that the local government might be continued but it ws was espre sly siy shown in the debate from which the legal nirm firm take great care not to quote that wherein the law already provided provid edu edL for sueh such continuation it would prevail so 80 when mr veree tenee attempted to introduce an amendment as foll follow awo it was not pressed because the understanding was that it was waa already provided for in the law provided further that the foregoing provisions or law ghali shail not apply to any day officers who have bave not been rutty gutty rul gul ty of or under the jaws laws ct the territory rubah bey hey they qan pan hold their thein respective offices until their successors aro are elcied and quai qualified qed mr bl riach BIach burn endeavored to introduce a similar amendment in tho the committee of conference but did not succeed S for the esme same reason reagon wo we copy from froin the jg 11 apri E mr I 1 waa was perfectly willing as a member of the comal committee itee ot of conference that existing law should be enforced la to this territory under tha recent col cot amed passed by congress but I 1 did not cot see any necessity sity for ousting men from office when under the tho law ct of tho the territory of utah they would remain la in all cases where the statute declared that the tho la in should hold hoid until Ws his successor was elected and qualified I 1 tried to get a modification to that extent and failed I 1 trust thit that la t tits statement I 1 do not vlorie the secrets of the committee roo room mr butterworth butter Butier worth noir allow me to call the tho attention of my colleague en cu the tho conference committee to the fact that it was agreed in the conference committee that what the gentleman p pro posta was effected by the law as it stood mr bir blackburn I 1 mean tc deal famy samy la in this matter and I 1 was gainar to say that white t tho be amendment which I 1 offered was voted downs down every member of the tha committee insisted that the law itself provided tor for the case I 1 only sought to make it more specific and to give it a construction vach would prevent any such practices as the gentleman geat leman lemau from ohio mr converse has suggested as possible the intent of the law is then very cl clear lan car it was stated la in the debate to prevent 91 anarchy s not to make any vacancies in office but t tj j provide for vacancies aa ani might ht be caused by the failure of the election the language of the statute ia Is too plain to leave any dubiety tho the law firm makos makes an argument beginning ll 11 it the amendment upon its face leaves a doubt aa us to its meaning or 18 8 sescel susceptible of two constructions but it ia in not susceptible of two constructions it leaves no doubt aa as to its meaning in any rny mind but one who has to use uso their own language 0 L bo LO O better foundation than his own wishes tsuch such vacant va canie cles oles ai may be caused by the failure to elec eJect nud HUd none other are to be filled by appointment if there are none then none can bu bo so filled it lt take a lawyer to determine that but theae these igal agal gentlemen argue that if no such vacancies occur the present cf ef ficera holding over then we have the strange and buralli spectacle cle cie jp presented resented of congress a body embracing g among its members some of the moat most lhea lawyers in the united tates mates au lus its castag houri pushing t as da business of great Import importance ances snoey to enact a statute which was then and must mutt forever nemaia remain utterly inoperative and a billy silly farce well who ia is responsible for that Is the law to be twisted from its plain meaning and intent to save th ye reputation of members of congress who in the tho closing hours houis of a long hession session were hurried into a piece of supposed ne cesary necessary cesany legislation and aud not baving time lime to investigate the matter enacted something that was not required we think not courts do liot lot generally construe laws simply to bust sustain the consistency of the promoters thereof if the grave and reverend leverend Se senators natora I edgag engaged ed in child n j play that will not aften alter the language nor non tho tuo effect of their legis lation this law firm assumes that congress had full knowledge know ledga ct of the statutes of or grah utah authorizing certain to 10 hold the tha until choir successors were wera duly e lec lee led ted aaa and qua a lifted now jow low that Is nothing but assumption ube facts acts are that the gentlemen who engineered this amendment r were ere not familiar with the la laws nwe of the territory as is glaringly maui maul fest in thu thy debate debaie ena end the inability to answer questions which some members propounded bearing on the very vesy gur guc shiou in dla dia pate spite worse thau that they proved in their remarks which we have a ak leady lendy published from the record that they were unfamiliar with the text and bearings of the edmunds act passed by themselves their ignorance however doos does bot and should not affa affe affect lct tha the plain letter and intent of the amendment and to go behind the position of certain members of Con congreso gres greb on this thia subject it la Is evident that even the judges who applied to them for did not bot understand the law and the situation for I 1 it mould ouid bo be out of tho the question to suppo suppose e they intended to misrepresent they informed congress that at the august election there would hivo hive been chosen successors to au odi the dregent county offic offie officials lalo falo and also to the territorial auditor and treasurer as directed by the territorial Rat statutes utes their request for legislation was based on this thia assertion and yot yet it was not true there ii ij no territorial statute which directs the election of successors to tb all ail those officials in august 1882 only a portion of those offices nave nava expired at that date evon even if there acro no nc provi provision bion slon forthe incumbents ants tf until their successors elected and qualified the or mation matlon was wrong and de the members of Coli congress grebs greSS who were urgent urgent for tho amend amond me ment rit iii into tho tha notion which they ed tsumo hrom of them stated F mt that there mould not noi be a ain aln bingie gle gie r in the tho territory of utah I 1 but a reign qt of lawle lawie lawlessness siness would ensue no buch finch condition of affairs ests exists today to day it la is folly then to assume that Con congress gres s h had a d full knot knowledge W of the statutes of utah but even if they had it would not affect the quest ion of the application of the law w nor permit its wresting away from its language and intent there is another assumption made by y the ir law w firm which is equall equally baseless bas elees that is that the wording of the statute presupposes that a failure to elect gge ile caused auard a vacancy ha in certain offices it presupposes nothing but that it might baase cause causo such vacancy vacancies es land band nd under such a contingency it sop supplied plied tho the possible void aud and thih this is not as the law firm declares providing for an impossible event n it was quite possible and anil probable and almost certain if the them information published by the judges had been correct they ask further whether congress designed to have two holding over the other boding by ap appointment etc certainly n not ot and there is no need for any such thing unless the governor attempts to go beyond what the law that is t the he only thing which will produce the confusion worse confounded 1 11 rhey then intimate designed to repeal certain acts and parts of acts if there ia ji any child 3 play about this matter here it is in the law firms op opinion i ion lon it congress designed to do anything of the kind mild it has been aliw balent t upon its intention for tor there is not a line in the law signifying anything of the sort it is another groundless assumption of the law firms the ensuing argument about the validity of two conflicting laws is wasted for there is no conal et etc between tru tnt amendment authorizing the filling of vacancies and the raw law aw providing for holding over thess thesa legal legai gentlemen nex and cheerily hop over a number of authorities which they could not dot well ignore but which they dared not quote because that aou id have bounced them sky high from their untenable nabla position the casp st bus cited and blighted slighted are most and aud indefinite this conclusion viz that thai when the statute provides that an incumbent of aa an office shall hold bold for a certain period and und until bia bis successor eor bon is elected and qualified his term ot 01 offices includes the time jn in which he holds over and consequently that a failure to elect his successor doe doci not cause a vacancy this is the whole caso case in a nuta nula bushell nu shell hell and is conclusive of the argurn argument ent where there la is a vacancy then in the case considered the tha govenor governor can fill it wherein tha the law provides for fur holding over thre th re is no vacancy for liny siny anybody body to fili fill whether authorized by act of congress the tha territorial 1 statutes or even by the eminent law firm that pleads with buch aach remarkable sophistry we do not dispute the power of congress to set aside any territorial statute but we do affirm that in the hoar roar amendment no terri territorial toral statute Is set liet allda asid b and no vacancy is created and we degyany dery defy any uny one however accustomed to construe and find hidden meanings which no other eyes perceive to prove that the amendment does either of thoe those things As to the scare held up to office holders bolders about the terrors of the law if they do not act on the opinion of this law firm as soon as the governor shall appoint and the appointees that is so bo much balderdash and mere and fury nothing except this it shows without doubt that these lawyers admit there la Is no vacancy now in the offices held by these incumbents Incumbent ss and that being the case is it not beyond dispute that there thero to 13 nothing for the governor to fill in their last paragraph they give their whole argument away if there is a vacancy which the governor can fill it was caused by the failure to elect and was open on tho the lith of august if there was none then prid there ia Is none now as the law firm admi admits t 8 how can the governor put anything any thing w where here there is no place to put it thelah the law firm haa been singularly unfortunate in thus rushing lushing into print every candid legal mind that considers their argument will perc perceive ave the tue weakness U of the heir licause cause the gentlemen who wrote it have a well weil earned reputation at the bar that they should put forth such auch a string of assumptions and ia aop biam hiam 3 in paragraphs some of which are turgid anu and obscure would be ang if it were not for the insubstantial nature of the cause they have undertaken to defend this is better exposed to the 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