The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1831-06-08
WORCESTER:
WEDNESDAY. JUNE 8, 1873
REPRESENTATION


The subject of amending the Constitu-
ton, for the purpose of, reducing the dele
CATION in the House of REPRESENTATIVES.
has been brought before the Legislature by
several distinct propositions; a committee
appointed for the purpose have reported
thereon, and disposition seems to prevail,
to act definitely on the subject at the pres
ent session. This may be we'll in anticipa-
tion Of the time, which will in few years
arrive, when, under the present system, the
House must be so unwieldy and cumber-
some, as not only to be unable to transact
business to advantage, but to find place
sufficiently spacious for its accommodation.
As yet, in our opinion, the disadvantages
which may have been complained of from
too large house, have, with two or three
exceptions, been rather imaginary than real
We have long been satisfied, that, when
ever any change is made in the representa-
ton, 1t must be by adopting the district sys-
TEN as, any essential reduction, by any
other mode, would be SO unequal that the
people would never submit to it. But, as
the right of corporate representation will be
lost by such mode, we have been willing,
knowing the tenacity with which many
towns adhere to that privilege, that it shonid
be retained by them as long as it should be
compatible with the public interests, and
until the size of the legislature should be
an evil absolutely requiring a remedy. If
1t Is determined that the time has now ar
rived when it shall be applied, it Is impor-
tant to consider what number shall be fixed,
as the maximum and minimum of the House
in future.
In the rage for alteration and innovation.
there IS danger of going to an extreme the
opposite of that now omplained of, and of
reducing the number too low. So much
has been said about the expenditures of the
government, by those who are willing TO
appeal to the most sordid and selfish pas
sions of the human heart, in order to pro-
mote their own interests, that many really
honest people have been made TO believe.
that the burthen of State taxation has be-
come too grievous to be borne, and that it
can be remedied, only, by great Reduction
in our representation. Dollars and cents
have been paraded in columns, for effect,
and the doctrine has been virtually incul-
Gated, that the chief good of the communi-
ty consists In the CheapneSS of government,
and that the promotion of virtue, inteli-
gence, and public spirit are merely second
airy considerations. The worst thing we
could wish those who advance such opin-
ions, is, that they might, in community by
themselves, for few years, experience the
practical operation of their own doctrines
that they might have the blessings of small
Legislature, cheap rulers, cheap judges, cheap
schoolmasters, and by all means, be shaved
with cheap razors. They would then see,
how soon they would fall in the rear Of their
nelghbors, in wealth and prosperity, and in
every thing on which is based the welfare
and happiness of the community.
We are the advocates of all real Gre
FORMS" and of every ja,dicious "retrench-
ment," but we never would buy r pewter
jack-knife because it was cheaper than one
of Morse's or Rogers's real east steel ones.
Neither would we, from a mistaken econo-
my, reduce the number of representatives
so low as to make the Legislature so small
as to invite the practice of lobbying, that
fruitful source of evil, in New York, and
other States, where the number Of repre-
sentatlves is small in proportion to the pop
ulation Of the State. We would not make
the districts so large as to diminish that di-