New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-10-10

jectcd by an overwhelming vote OF the peo-
pie We can view it i'll no other hight than as
n public misfortune and we greatly mistake
| If many of those who have contributed 10 the
result do not shortly find occasion to regret
| their action.
The.causes which led to it are quite OBJ
yious The first Is, of course, the lack OF SUI
fcient interest in the subject to bring out
numerically respectable vote The town cleo
tIons of October are never sufficiently oxcIt-
ing 10 call ont u large vote, and under the
system of minority representation in the gov
erninc boards for Il year or two past,
the interest i'm them has decreased ana
the vote fallen of. With thorough
discussion of the question and full
vote upon its merits, we are confident the
measure would have been approved. 10 the
average voter it was too abstract question
to excite any enthusiasm or awaken more
than languid interest lis only concrete fca-
lure. as he viewed it, was the economic aspect
upon which il was Oftcnest urged; aud the
saving in dollars and cents to be effected
hy it touched him too narrowly rs an IN
divilual to rouse him to action. There were
no personal interests to be promoted by lis
adoption. and very little of the Indictment of
accompanying election To call out the voter.
There was no motive for makinga canvass
or getting out the vote except that vague inter
est in the public welfare which needs always
to be harncsscd up with some form OF
self seeking To be made effective So there
was no canvass, and n ridiculOusly small vote.
On the other hand there was a very extensive
array of interests naturally hostile 10 the
change-interests so directly affected that their
opposition might have been expected from
the outset. Some of them were tangible and
real, as, for instance, the trading ana
commercial interests of the State Cap
iial, which would naturally oppose Il
change calculated to reduce the num-
Der Oc their customers and diminish the
amount of their revenue. Other interests were
more shadowy, like those of the leaders OF par
ties whose prominence depends in some degree
upon the frequency of el ctlons and the pre-
valencc of politics or the men who aspire To
seats in the Legislature and can't wait
SO long as two years; or the men who hope
for the petty Offices and small pickings
of annual legislative sessions; or the people
who Ito business in the lobby; or the regis
trar- If elections in the towns who make
few dollars in that way each year; or the
great number of political vagabonds, idlers
and oatcrs, whose only claim to liberation is
their voting privilege, and who desire to make
the most of H.
Al these and perhaps other interests were
naturally hostile to the change, and, under
the inritement of personal motives Of greater
or is, force, were enlisted in an efficient OPP
position. They advanced bu, few greumcnt-,
and those, II must Dee slid in al candor, were
of So weak and ilimsy a character a. almost
10 answer themselves. The most prominent
opponents of the measure were The Rev.
Dr. Bacon. of Ncw-IIavcn, whose oppo-
-tiOn was not 80 much 10 this particular
proposition rs 10 all unlcr.ng with the Con-
stituton until Convention can be called to
change it entirely; and General Hawlcy, OF
Hartford, who, after recommending It's adop-
uon a. a member of the original Commission
which submitted it, reversed his opinion, and,
IN letter published few days before
the election, gave his reasons for opposing It.
lis reasons were not accepted a satisfactory
10y his contemporaries of the press or the
representatives who had acted upon his recon-
mendation in approving it, and his motives
arc varinusly criticised. He undoubtedly acted
conscientiously IN the matter but II Is hard
to understand how he himself could have been
cony,r ted from his original view of the que>-
tion by the arguments used III his letter.
The defeat of the amendment makes an
election of members of the Legislature rcces-
,ary In November. The object OF the Demo
Gratis in opposing the amendment. heretofore
referred to III THE TRIBUNE, is believed to be
to carry the next Legislature and 10 alter the
election laws so as 10 permit certificate voting
and throw open the door to the old-iashioned
Democratic methods of carrying elections. by
this means they hope to carry the State
in 1850 and rcGlect Senator Eaton. 1t is the
business Of Republicans, and especially of
those who have advised or consented to the
defeat of the amendment, to see 10 it that
they do not succeed They should put in a
months hard work now, to make amends Tor
mast NEGLIGENCE.