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Show The most important case, perhaps, ever sub- I mitted to the Senate was the Impeachment or President Andrew Johnson. That case was tried for many days and do-cided. do-cided. Will any sane man claim that there was not more politics and partisanism in the decision than anything else? In recent years there have been a hundred contested cases of Congressmen. Is it not true that ninety one of every hundred of them have been decided on partisan rather than judicial grounds? In contests how many Republicans who have contested seats with Democrats have evor been seated by a Democratic house, or vice versa? Both houses have construed their duties as covering cov-ering the political as well as the judicial bearings of the case. When the vote is close in the Senate or House, so close that one partisan may change it, has ever a Democratic majority given a seat to'a Republican, or any. Republican majority given a seat to a Democrat? The most marked exhibition of this ever inaao was when the commission was appointed to decide whether Mr. Tilden or Mr. Hayes was elected President. If ever a political commission sat as a court exclusively, it was that one. But what was done? At first the Democrats wore jubilant, for there were eight to seven Democrats Dem-ocrats on the commission. But old Zack Chandler interposed his fine Italian hand, a vacancy was made in the commission by the appointment of one member who was a Democrat lo a higher or-flce, or-flce, and a Republican was appointed in his place, and then the commission was eight Republicans to seven Democrats, and everybody knew in advance ad-vance what the decision would be. In the Smoot case, except for its party bearings bear-ings a decision would have been reached as quickly quick-ly as one was reached in the Roberts case. The case has been stretched out over three years because be-cause there are three electoral votes in Utah, three in Wyoming, three in Idaho, four in Colorado Colo-rado and three in Nevada. What especial sense then is there in surrounding the committee on privileges and elections with the sanctity of an exclusive court too sacred to be approached by petitions of the people? |