Constitutional Amendments

At the coming goneral election in this State the elctors are to vote on three proposed iiiiu.'iidiuenta to the Oonstitution, as follows". : ' I. As providcjd by joint' rosolution No. 21 of the session laws of IHTj, to strike out soction 47, nrtiole four of legiulative department. This is the seotion which prohibits the legislatura trom " passing any act. authorizing tho grant of liconso for the sale of ardent spirits or other intoxicatiag liquors." Ia viow of tho fact that twenty yoars of no license or prohibitiou bas been twenty years of fice trade, witb. scarcely the Buuiblanco of rogulation even, and of the other faot that the recent tax law haB opened a new way to the regulación oí tüu trame, a way wnicn rnay be simplifica and porfeoted with the prohibition clause stricken out, wo decidedly favor the adoption of thia amondment. II. An amendment of article nine of the Constitution, the article presoribing the salaries of State and Judicial ofiicers, - aee jointrosolution No. 28, session laws of 1875. The amendment increases the salary of circuit judges f rom $1,000 a year to $2,500, leaving the salaries of all other offioers as at present. This amendment ought to bo unanimously adopted. The salary aow paid to oircuit judges is mere beggarly pittance, and will not, as a rule, coniínand the Rervices of such men as aro neoded upon the bench. Only two classes of lawyers can now afibrd to accopt the position of circuit judge, a position requiring as good legal ability as thore is in the profession : first, the lawyer who has attained wealth and acoepts the place solely íor the honor ; or éecond the lawyer wbo through lack of knowledge of his profossion cannot gather aiound him paying dienta. Perhaps wo uiight add a third class, consiating of men who seek a circuit judgoship temporarily as a stepping stone to political preferment, or íor the empty title. The small salary, out of 'which traveling expenses and the extra expense of living away from home mus be paid, leavea nothing ornext to nothing for the support or cducation of a family, and not a penny of acoumulation tor a rainy day. The small suluri has also lud to au increase in the num ber of circuits, in order that second-rate men may do the work. The new salary f2,500, is not a dollar to large to oommand the services of such men as the circuits need, and true econoiny lias in the adoption of the ainendrpent. We recomvuond every elector to vote for it III. Joint resólution No. 29, Bame 8ession laws before quotod, proposes au amendment to section one of articl twenty. This is the section whiol provides that proposed ainendments to the Constitution " shall be 8ubtuitte( to the electora at the next general elec tion thereaftor," whiuh has been con strued to mean the biennial Noveinbn election for Governor and State officers and not the April eleotion. The objec oí tne provisión as it sianas was 10 give the electora time to canvass anc discuss proposed amundments, and t inake the procesa and work of amend Cóñstitution of 1850, aniendments ha( to be proposed by a majority of eacl branch of the legislature, advertisec for three inonths, ratified by tvío-third of each branch of the suceeeding leg islature, and then Bubmitted to tht ulüotors at such time as the logislature uiight direct. ïhis gave time for the electora to fully consider proposec auiendinonts. The cóñstitution of 1850,. substituted bionnial for annual sessions, and provided for tüe adoption of ainendments by two-third8 of each branch of otio legislaturo, after which ooinea a long interval for the eleotors to deliberato upon the same. The amendmcnt now proposed cuts off all timo for such consideration and deliboration, and if adoptod by the people will permit and authorize hasty and ill-digested tinkering of the Cóñstitution. Under ita provisión the legislature Iat6 in March may adopt an auiendment to which the attentlon of the people has not been called, and order it voted upon on the first Monday in April, which will roquire the eloctor to close his eyea and go it blind. This haste shoukl not be tolerated. Besides, the April election nover calis out a large vote, and in soine of the oities, Dotroit for inBtance which do not hold charter elections at that time the vote polled for can didates for judges of the Supreine Court and regenta of the Uuiversity is very nieagor, - in fact a burlesqua upon any true logitimate exprossion of the pf'Ople And to vote upou important constitutional ainendments at that timo would bo the baldest kind of a farce. Wo tlierefore recommend theelectors to vote aguinst tbis third amendmcnt. It IS A FAVORITE amusement of certain Republicnns - journalists and stump-spenkers - to sneer at the Democratie platform as a soft money form, nd at Mr. Tilden as having yiolded his own woll-known finuucial views in tho hope of socuriug tho votes of tho soft-money Deinocrats. Not so Poter Cooper, tLe venerable greenback candidato for President. In a recent letter to Moses W. Field, accounting tor his absence frotn last week's Chicago groonbaok jubilee, Mr. Cooper said : " I waited long, and with, I trust, a i'air degree of patienco, for Gov. Tilden's ■letter of acceptance, entortaining the hope that I might find suffleient ground for retiring from the field as a candidato nominatod for the same office. But in this I was disappointed, as he indicates a determination similar to that pressed by Governor Hayos in his letter of acceptance, to the efl'ect that, if suoC0B8ful in tho canvass, ' no step backward ' from tho wrong policy pursufld by the govornment relative to finance will bo taken." líevortholess, the Republicana, the very men who foisted those illogal lagal-tender greonbacks upon the country, and who have persistently neglected or refused to logislate for their redemption, will continuo to put forth their claim to bo the real and only ohani piona of resumption. There is uothing liko pretensión, impudonoe, and cheek. A CORRESPONDENT writing from Washington to tho New York World says : " Evory effort is boing made by tho officials and newspaper organs here to niako it appoar that tho public business will bo serio ualy interforod with by tho Doinocratio roductión of expenses. Tho very iïequout testiinony of clerks in thu departmontB privately is that in half the offices four desks could be oousolidated into one without any troublo, but the change öf systoni which would bo requirod by such oon8olidatiou is just what the hoads of depurtments do not want, añil aro determined to iight againat." Any obsorving man who has spent a day or two in the departmonts will believe that this oorrespondent is right. Tho work of lepartment and bureau has been so dividod and sub-divided, tables and desks o multiplied, that half the time full ïalf the desks are idle, and the othor ïalf idlo tho rest of the time. We ïavobeen told by clerks of long service ;hat the force was doublé any legitiniate nood, and had ooncession made that as a genoral thing one olerk oould do the work of three. What is wanted is less división of duties, less red tape, more clorks competent to do more than one thiug - say more than to open a letteraud pass it to a second to be read, the second handing itto a third to be indexod, and tho third to a tourth to ba answered - if necossary. One-third the clerks with moro braing, and faithful work in a reasonable nuinber of working houra, will do tho work of the dopartments better than it is dow done. N. P. LOVERIDGE, the aB8ignoo of Bowen & McGowon, the failed Coldwater Bankors, makes the folio wing statement of assets and liabilities : Total liabilities, - - $90,000 " aaseta (rogardod collectablo), 50,000 Assets short, - ' -' $40,000 Creditors are secured in the sum of $31,000, leaving but $19,000 to be divided among depositors and other creditors holding f59,000 of the bank papor, and out of this ainount must also bo paid tho oxpenues of sottling up the business of the bank. The outlook is certainly very unpromising for the unseourod creditors, the list of which we understand includes many mechanies, laborers, and women, whoee po8Íta reprosent all their savings and in soma cases all their moana. " 40,000 documenta apioco without pay :" that is the number Zack Chandler'8 committee require at the hands of each Senate attaché of the folding rooms. The law prohibiting a money assessinent - Democratie law, romeniber - it is " fold or get." And Chandler is the leader of tko campaign for civil service reform.