Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1890-12-20
THE DURATION OF THE CON-
VENTION.

vENTMON.
There hes been some expression TO the
effect that the proposed convention to
revise our State constitution Is likely 10
occupy . great deal Of time and cost the
people . great deal Of money. There Is
no substantial ground for this spprehen-
sion. II should be kept in mind that IL
Is not the purpose TO make an entire new
constitution, but simply to revise and
remodel the old organic Act in certain
particulars. The chief reforms suggest
cd apply solely TO our State and county
systems Of government. To modify and
simplify these In . way to reduce taxation
to the lowest possible limit will comprise
the major share Of the work Of the on
vention. The old constitution In all
other respects is good enough. We as
sumo that the convention when II meets
will take the old document as the basis
Of it's action. At least two.thirds Of
that instrument can be allowed to stand
just as it Is, although the completed
work Of the convention will have to be
submitted to the people as q whole. Or
10 be q little more explicit, the sections
OF the old constitution that are not
changed must 60 before the people for
their ratification together with such new
matter as may be proposed. As mat
ter Of fact the convention will only be
called upon to put new bowels into our
present constitution. This can IS well
be done in fifteen or twenty days a. In
as many months. Delegates who 60 to
the convention will undoubtedly prepare
in advance such changes as they may
think should be made In our systems.
When these shall all have been placed
in the possession Of the convention IL
should not take q great deal Of time to
discuss and aft out the best. Still il
may not be prudent for the Legislature
to limit the time of the convention. The
fact that only the actual expenses Of the
delegates are to be paid by the State
will sufficiently limit the deliberations
Of the convention. The class Of men
that should be sent will furnish . fur
ther guarantee against waste and extravs.
gance. Our ablest and best men will do
the work in q business like manner, aud
these are the kind Of men thst shoald be
chosen as delegates. There is n other
point which we have not yet mentioned
In these columns. II is this: The new
constitution should not be submitted to
the people until the next general cleo
tion, II its submission at q special cleo
tion can be avoided. The consolidation
Of county Offices may render this a diff
cult thing to do, but the Legislature
should obviate this obstacle if it be pos
sible to do 80. We take il that the then
existing State officers will be permitted
TO serve out their respective terms with
out molestation. The terms Of county
officers running but two years, instead
Of four. presents an apparent obstacle to
delay in submitting the new constitu-
tion to the people; but 1t may be posi-
Bile for the Legislature or the conven-
tion itself to make provision for the cleo.
tion Of local officers to cover both con-
tingencies-the rejection and the adop-
tion Of the constitution, n set to be
accordingly disqualified from assuming
Office. The great object Of this reform
Is to ave money to the people. The
same rule should apply all along the
line. We would elect the delegates by
mass conventions in the several coun-
ties. We would make the delegates to
the Constitutional Convention serve
without pay except q sufficient sum to
dsfray their actual expenses. We would
avoid. if possible, the cost Of holding q
special election to pass upon the work Of
the convention. In this way we may
readily make the experiment of trying
to better and improve and cheaper our
present State and county systems Of
government at a total cost of but q few
thousand dollars to the State and the
people. But above all we must have
brains and State pride and patriotism in
the proposed convention.