Delaware State reporter., 1853-04-26

be notorious TO every member, that, what j:
called lobbying, or bringing outside influences
70 Lear upon The Legislature, has grown into
II sgAfc,n within the last five or six years. Il
you want TO guard. against the evils of that sys
ton, there IS no Other method half so advafta
scous for the purpose or which can effect .tht
object, except the enlargement Of the body OF
which such influences are brought TO bear
What is tie objection TO the numbers which
propose Eighteen is but a small number for
Senate; thirty six is but small number for
House. 1t may be said that this is small
State; but my reply is, that the fact of its
: being small State is no reason why you should
rduce the exercise of sovereign power to toe
diminished a number You have sovereignty
IN this. State for all the purposes for which YOU
have not coded it to the United States as much
rs IN the State of New York. Your legislature
has the power over life and death, and the con.
uol Of property sand in order to constitute a
fvpcr fvgisiutive ssotly, a. certain auantur oI
T'lnlmbcrs is absou!glyueccssar for the security
OF the community. / cannot believe that any
gentlemen who reflects on the subject will sun.
pose that the numbers which have proposed are
too large. The only objection which can be
urged to them must be on the score of expense.
Y presume that no gentleman will object to any
pan, If he finds that he does not increase the
Expenses Of legislation over what they have
been ior many years past, when at the same
tlmc we provide larger representative body for
our constituents, which guards against the evils
10 winch have alluded, and secures purity i'll
legislation. You do not come here merely to
save money. You come here to make a Consti-
/ tuition to last for you and yours, with a view to
the general benefit of the State at a proper and
reasonablc expense. But, sir, let us make a
kcalculaton of the expense, in order to show that
There will be no increase of expenditure worthy
of moments reflection, in the adoption of my
plan. 1t has been the practice of the Lcgisla-
tulcS OF this State to sit from the first Tuesday
in January to the beginning of March, about
eight or ninc weeks. | will assume eight
weeks 10 have been the average, though it Ger
tainly exceeded that. There is provision in
this report preventing the Legislature from sit
ting beyond five weeks. | trust that it will be
agreed 10, either in that form, or in the shape
Of taking away all compensation after five weeks
session, which for the purposes of my argument
answers as well. You will then have, under
my proposition, during five weeks, fifteen addi-
tional members IN the House, and nine in the
Senate, twcnty-four altogether, the pay of whom
at three dollars Il day would be scycnty-two
dollars day. That for period of five weeks
or thirty-iive days would be 80 500 On thcother
hand, we diminish the duration of the session,
and therefore you save the pay of the number
now constituting your Legislature, for the differ
cncc of time between five weeks and eight
weeks, which is twenty-onc days. Thirty menu
bers at three dollars a day would draw ninety
dollai'sslaiiy; thus the expense would be reduced
ninety dollars per day for twenty one days,
amounting TO 81 800. There is thus an increased
expenditure Of but $500 The saving docs not
stop there. There are necessarily contirrsrnt
expenses attending the session of the legislature
The prOlongaton of the session increases those
expenses. 1t increases the size and cost of
printing the Journal. 1t increases the amount
paid to all the officers Of the bodies. | have not
made an accurate calculation of these items, but
think that, thrown into the account, they Win
reduce the difference between what have been
the antcccdent expenses Of the State for the
legislative department, and those which would
arise under legislature consisting of eighteen
members of the Senate and thirty members
of the House, limited to a session of five weeks,
to not more than $500 per session, at the out
side. Then, presume, that no gentleman will
he dissatisfied with an enlargement of the
Legislature to this extent on the score that it
will throw a burden ON his constituents, which
is, think the only objection that can be urged
10 it; because every gentleman must be aware
that you do certainly guard against corrupt
influences by increasing the size of the I.cgisla-
tive body. My own opinions at first. tended
to plan having l0rty-iivc members iii the
House, and twenty one.in the Senate, but uti-
matcly, after trying the different figures with a
view to practical arrangement by districts
and finding that these numbers could be adjusted
nearer to an equality than any others, with the
information which We now have of thepopulaton
of the local districts of the State, | adopted
them as giving a sufficient enlargement to The
Legislature, and at the same time enabling the
principle Of apportonmcnt according to popu-
ation, to be practically carried out on fail
basis.
Oncof the advantages of the enlargement of tho
Legislature is, that other things being equal, the
smaller the number Of constituents to a rcprescn-
tativc, the greater will be the diffusion Of a
knowledge of the acts of the Legislature among
the people, which is certainly desirable. Fur
ther, the enlargement will bring greater num-
hers Of those respectable men, in whom the
people place confidence into the legislative halls,
and that will necessarily strengthen the body
and lead TO sound and proper legislation. In
short, | can conceive no argument, except the
one OF expense, which eau he urged against the
enlargement OF the Legislature to the extent |
have proposed: and think have shown salts,
fctorly that, by other provisions, you prevent
this desirable enlargement from operating as an
additional tax upon the people of the State, to
any amount worth noticing
Having stated these views, come now to
their practical application, in order to show that
the basis upon which haze attempted to divide
the S;atc, in the plan which | have submitted,
is just and proper.
should have been perfectly willing, if it
would not prolong the evil, to cmbody in the
Constitution direction to the Legislature to
district the State in single districts. | thought
on reflection, however, that they would have
no more information than we profess, and that
we could as well district the Safe now as a
subsequent Legislature could, as it would only
last till 1850 or 1861, when the next census
returns will come in, at which time the Legis-
lature, under my amendment, are TO revise the
districts, and arrange them in single Senatorial
districts, giving to each one Senator and two
members OF the House of Representatives, |
came to the conclusion that it would be as well
to submit specific plan for the apportiontmcnt
at present; but, if that does not mcet the
approval of the Convention, If acknowledging
the principle, which is all that contend for
Al ~