Morning journal and courier., 1884-09-27
RfennfaI Sessions.

 By all odds the most important matter which the citizens of this State will be called to pass upon at the annual town elections, to be held October 9th, is the proposed amend ment to the constitution providing for bien- nia1 State elections and sessions of the legis Iature.
 The amendment was drafted by the House at the session of 1883, and approved by the requisite two-thirds of both branches last winter It now comes before the people for final judgment. It reads as follows: Section 1. A general election for Cover nor, Lieutenant Governor, secretary, treasur- CT, comptroller and member of the General Assembly shall be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1886, and bi- ennially thereafter, for such officers as are herein and may be hereafter prescribed. Sec g. The State officers above named and members of the General Assembly elect ed on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1886, and those elected biennial ly thereafter on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, shall hold their re- spective offices from the Wednesday follow ing the first Monday of the next succeeding January until the Wednesday after the first Monday of the third succeeding January, and unL1l Gu01I SuCC6SSOTS dI0
 Sec 3. The compensation of members of the General Assembly shall not exceed three hundred dollars for the term for which they are elected, and one mileage each way for the regular session at the rate of twenty-five cents per mile; they shall also receive one mileage at the same rate for attending any extra session called by the Governor.
 Sec. A. The regular sessions of the Gene raI Assembly shall commence on the Wednesday following the first Monday of the January next succeeding the election of it's members.
 Sec. 5. The Senators elected on the Tues day after the first Monday of November, 1885, shall hold their officers only until the Wednesday after the first Monday of Janua- ", 1887.
 There can be no opposition to this amend ment, except such opposition as springs from dissent to the whole idea of biennial sessions. The plan is lucid, fair and practical. It does not legislate any existing officers into a fur ther retention of their offices. It puts the date for the change so well into the future as to preclude any difficulty in merging from one system to another. The issue is left on it's merits Would it or would it not be bet ter for the State and it's people to have blen- nial instead of annual State elections and meetings of the legislature?
 As to this we confess an inability to see any room for hesitation. We have too much legislation Is there, from one end of the State to the other, 8 single man whose expe- rience and intelligence fits him to judge, who doesn't believe that? Who hasn't said 1t over and over again2
 Nobody dreams that there would be twice as much legislation at each session, held bl- ennially, as at each session held yearly. The experience of other States shows that there is little if any more time spent by the leg1s- latures of States meeting but once in two years than used to be spent when they met every twe1ve-nonth The truth is that lit tie, comparatively, of a legislatures time IS taken up in legislation. The organization, the "getting ready'' for work, the squabbllng over minor and wholly unimportant points, take up more time than the real work of law making. And just as much of all this is re- uuired for annual as for less frequent meet ings.
 Fully three-fourths of the States of the Union, after trying annual sessions for reasonable time, have become sick of them, and have adopted the biennial system. And in not one of them have we heard of a word being raised in criticism of the change. It meets the expectations of it's most ar dent friends and satisfies even those who were at first opposed to it. Certainly the experience of these other States might be expected to have some weight in the deel- sion as to what would be the best t11ng for our own commonwealth.
 Bridgeport lawyer, in discussing the proposition, strongly brings out one of the objections to the over-much legislation Of the present system. He says:
 Any law to be of real value should have some degree of permanenee and be subjected to such trials as will prove it's utility By present methods too much of careless change is to take place with the general inward pro yiso that 8 year can undo the evil Ii evil there be. So varied are the interpretations on many vital statutes at present existing that it is almost impossible to get an intell1- gent opinion from our best legal talent, and questions are daily coming to our courts for adjudication which should be so simple-so easily understood by both parties-as to be matters of compronise or arbitration alone.