Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-05-29
Written, for the Green Mountain freeman

Mr.. EDITOR find by the able address Of
the. Honorable Council to the people of YER
mont, that the reduction Of Representatives is
tile leading and most prominent object in the
mind of the Honorable Council They say that
the present rule of Representation {" is wrong
in principle, unjust in operation, and unneces-
essarily expensve;" and Introduce their new
system to remedy the evil Of which they com
plain. 1t is not my purpose in this article to
undertake to refute the above statement by show
ing that the present rule is right in principle
Just in operation, &C., (Which could easily be
done, Think but design to place the pro
posed remedy side by side with the supposed de
feet in the present rule and see if the substitute
is not equally entitled to the grave charge OF
being wrong in principle, unjust in operation
&c. Now Che great complaint is. that the mi
nority rule the majority as it now stands, thro'
the inauenc, of the town Representatives, AMI
we admit that in the House itmay be so on some
questions but by the present rule, the Senate
| anu OONcrlOl ulC CiIooCu ny viz pOp"i"i 'o'N'
and no act can be valid without the concurrence
Of tho majority. as expressed through the Gov
ernor and Senate 80 here two branches Of the
legislature are elected in unison with the views
of the Council, with one exception. That ii
tile Governor is elected by the majority vote, and
they propos, td have all elections governed by 1
plurality vote, and this is somewhat strange
that in 50 strong an effort to bring majority
of the people to rule that it became necessar.
to strike down at blow all majority elections
Iyct 50 it is.
Now let US look at the remedy proposed, AM
STE If the Supposed difficulty will be obviate'
if the amendments prevail We then SHOULD
have 80 Representatives chosen by Districts
1928 Senator'S chosen by the Connties-two t.
each Coanty--and State officers chosen by plu
rality of State votes. How then will the equal
lity stand which the Council have labored s
hard to establish. Look at the counties and yo'
will find thoE inequality increased far beyonl
the Inequality Of tho towns Of which they s.
loudly complain. | fnl upon examination tina
Windsor County with u population of 3772l
stand equal in Representation with the Count
of Grand Isle witha population Of 4l5l.
this the equality the Council desire! Again, il
taking s of the smallest countless to wit
Grand Isle, Essex Lamoille, Caledonia, Rut
land, Bennington, Washington and Orleans
containing population Of l22 1889, will hav
l6 Senators-a majority Of four over the othe
six counties, while the latter exceeds the forme
in population, 54,75l.
Now we are unable to see any improvement
in principle, or Justice in operation, by adopt
Ing the proposed plan. We can see they pre-
pose to change the inequality, as they call it, b
transferring it from the towns to the countic
without diminishing its proportions, or abatin
its influence, but in my humble opinion increas
ing both. But the Honorable Council appea
to the pocket (which weall know is the strong
est appeal to certain class that can DO made
But would caution that Glass; that, althoug
it might at first seem that reduction of men
bers might reduce the expense; but they ougt
to recollect that the amount is to be decided b
the Legislators themselves and that they Cal
and probably will increase their compensate
as soon as they are snugly in power uader tt
new plan, if adopted. Who ever knew Go
eminent controlled by the few that was chea
Government Dcspotic Governments are tt
most expensive, and this is taking long stri'
in that direction. ONE OF THE PEOPLE.
, Stowe, May, 1856.