Bismarck Daily Tribune

QUALIFICATIONS OF SENATORS.

A discovery has been made down at Fargo that Senator Cashel, Senator Duis, Senator Purcell and other candidates for the senatorship to succeed the late M. N. Johnson are disqualified because they were members of the last senate and are at present senators. The claim of their disqualification is made under that section of the constitution that declares that the governor shall not appoint them to civil offices during the term for which they are elected.

If we mistake not, the discovery is that of something which it is not so. The constitution and laws of the United States provide the qualifications for the office of United States senator, and the state can neither take nor add to these qualifications. The constitution of the state, in so far as it does not accord with the constitution of the United States, is not effective. And the United States senate is the complete judge of the qualifications of its own members. So far as it seeks to provide qualifications for officers created by its own constitution and laws, the state is entirely within its right and province. When it goes outside of that sphere its enactments are of no effect. Nor is it likely that the office of United States senator was within the thought of the constitution makers when they passed the section referred to.

If any of the gentlemen mentioned should be named for United States senator he would be entirely qualified and have the right to hold the office and enjoy its privileges and emoluments.

The incident is an interesting one as showing the utter folly of seeking to "color" the news with a view to harming somebody's political opportunities. The matter is not so much one affecting Senator McCumber and the society of equity, but is one affecting newspaper readers, and the good faith in the presentation of news matters to which they are entitled, and which they ought to enjoy.