Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-07-02

I lilc 1dLlltOu COuuly ueIeSdliOu, WIFI
the concurrence of a majority of the
CuyahOga delegation, to prevent the
large counties from being cut Up into
single districts, as in the city of New
York. By its operation during the
present decade one party will probably
lose four members in the county Ol
Hamilton, to be partially compensated
by a gain of two in Cuyahoga. Cuya-
hoga at the census Cf1870 had a popula-
tion of 1872, ,010, an increase of 81 pei
cent during the decade, while Hamil-
ton stood still with scarce 20 per cent
increase, so at the apportionment OF
1880, while CuyahOga will have three
Senators and nine Representatives, Civ
ing the minority Sena,er and four
members, there will no change in
Hamilton, while Lucas and Stark, the
only other counties that then can be
possibly affected by the cumulative
system, (the ratio for a representa-
tive is now over $4,000 and will in
crease at every appOrtionment,) will
give the minority party in these coun-
ties still further gain of two, demon
strating in the outcome that the losses
and gains of each party will balance.
Besides no one in the Convention ever
supposed minority represention was to
be made uniform by grouping counties
and thus destroying local county rep
resentation in the House. 1t should
have been applied to the Senate by ma
king large districts, with three Sena-
tors each, as proposed by majority of
the apportiOnment committee, as they
were less liable to be gerymandered
than single districts, but local fogyism
defeated the plan, and this can be done
by future amendment to the Consti-
tuition as soon as the friends of Reform
are strong enough to carry it. But the
people of the State will not reject the
proposed Constitution, because it pre-
vents the large city counties, by coasol-
iddtiag their delegations, from dicta-
/ ting the politics of the General Assem-
bly,. New York, Pennsylvania, Ma
ryland. Kentucky and all other States
prevent it.
The judicial apportionment stands
% to %, and the election of all the
judges was provided for this fall in or
der that the whole system might go
into effect at once, as there was no ne
cessity of retaining, merely for pay,
the superaumerary Common Pleas
Judges.
FO,ath-It has been asserted that
counties and townships have been made
corporations in order that they may be
sued, when in truth the article was, on
motion of Rufus King, expressly
amended so as to meet this very point
by providing that the whole matter
should be regulated by the statute as
decided in Commissioners of Hamil-
ton county v. Mighels, Ohio st. 10.
FUth-The cavil that the proposed
Constitution retains features of the
present one that ought to have been
omitted will not be helped by voting
to retain the old Constitution in force,
because it requires two-thirds vote of
the General Assembly to propose any
amendment, while three-ffths ma
jOrity may propose amendments under
the new one, if adopted.
How, then, does the new Constitu
ti0n stand upon its own
MERITS?
Without going into detail-as has
been so ably done by the committee
of the Convention in the address
printed with the new Constitution for
general circulation, which every cleo
tor should carefully read
1. 1t expressly settles the question
that the great writ of hd6eGs corpus
shall not be suspended except in such
manner as shall be prescribed by law,
and not at the mere will of the Execu-
tive.
2. In the Legislative article limita-
tiOns and restrictions are placed on the
passage of appropriation bills, by re-
quiring any item to be stricken out
that does not receive a majority of all
the members elect, thus preventing
the log-rolling of different claims in
the same bill, so as to force the good to
carry the bad. 1t will save thousands
of dollars to she State.
3. Members of the Legislature are to
be paid by an annual salary instead of
per diem, 10 remove all temptations of
lengthening the session, and laws shall
be passed deducting pay for absentee
asna, and railroad passes are cut of, all
of which will contribute to work much
needed reforms.
4. The judicial system has been put
into such working order as to remedy
the interminable delay of the courts if
rightly administered. The judges have
been so distributed as to facilitate the
transaction of business. Every judge
is required during the year to hold t,co
hundred and JOrty days of open count,
if necessary, to dispose of the docket,
and Common Pleas Judge may be
assigned to duty anywhere in the State.
This remedies the evil ofjudges work.
ing on an average only one hundred
and fifty-seven days per year, as shown
by the official returns to the Conven-
tion, and the difficulty OF getting a
judge to set outside of the subdivision
fOrwhich he is elected. The provision
that the Judges of the Supreme Court
shall be elected by minority or proper
tiOnal suffrage at the first election, Sc
cures the opportunity of using the best
legal talent from all political parties.
There is no more reason that the judg-
es should all be of one politics than the
jury. If two neighbors agree to arbi-
trate case, it would be considered an
outrage for one of them to claim the |
right to choose all the arbitrators. |
Each should select one, and some third |
party the umpire. So, under the mi |
nority system, each grand division of |
the electors have an equal voice in the |
administration of the courts, and the |
majority chooses the umpire. This |
mode ofelection has worked well in |
the choice of the Judges of the Court of |
Appeals in New York since 1867, when |
it was adopted by popular vote, and
was largely petitioned for during the
Convention by leading men of all par
ties in the State. Whether this system |
shall be made permanently applicable i
to the election of Supreme and Circuit !
Judges, is submitted to aseparate vote, !
and ought by all means to be adopted.
The Legislature regulates the juris-
diction of the Common Pleas and Cir
cult Courts, as under the present Con-
stitution, SO that it can be adapted to
the wants of the future.
3. The article as to the power of Mu-
nicipal corporations to run in debt, pro- !: