Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-04-02

Auditor Dulanev to come over to George
town and audit his accounts and wind up
all the business of his office on April list
The position is worth about 5000 per
year. There are several aspirants, but the
race Is conceded to be between Thomas
Willen and Representative Houston,
with the chances in favor Of the former.
Mr.. Willen halls from Bridgeville, is a
good business man, an old friend of
Governor Reynolds, and brother to ex-
Sheriff Willen.
Up to date there have been 81 divorce
bills introduced and the statement made at
the beginning of the session, that there
were So cases in sight, bids fair to be veri-
fed Out of these 81, the Senate has
passed seven and indefinitely postponed
four.
Senator Pilling has prepared his pro-
posed amendment to Article IX. of the
State Constitution. This is TO facilitate the
calling of a constitutional convention,
should the election of May next not bring
the answer. Article X, as almost every
body must know by this time, is the one
that prescribes the ''unexceptionable
mode" that this Legislature has about de
cided must be strictly adhered to. By
amending this article 1t is clear the calling
OF convention can be made easier. Mr..
Pilling proposes to SO amend it as to rec
ommend the submission of the question
TO the voters on general election day, in
stead of, as now, at special election on
the third Tuesday of May. The votes for
or against convention, under Mr.. Pilling's
amendment, are to be deposited in ballot
boxes separate from those in which the
regular election tickets are deposited;
and, In order to warrant the calling
of convention the number of votes
cast therefor must equal majority Of the
votes cast for representatives in the Cen
eral Assembly on the day of holding such
election-instead of majority of the
highest vote cast in any one of the proceed
ing elections, as Article TX, in its existing
shape, is held to prescribe. OF course Mr..
Pilling's amendment must receive ma
jority of two-thirds in the present Legisla-
ture, be approved by the governor and be
ratified by three-fourths vote of the next
Legislature before it becomes part of the
constitution. If it be passed by the neces-
sary two-thirds of the present Legislature
and approved by the governor, there will
be something to fall back on in case the
requisite 1880 votes, or thereabout,
should not becast for convention next May.
DOVER, March 31.-As wired to EVERY
EVENING, the Constitutional Convention
bill is now a finality, lacking only enroll
ment and signature. 1t remains now with
the friends of convention to hustle around
and get out the requisite 1850 (not II 500
as misprinted in to-day's EVERY EVENING"
votes on the third Tuesday of next month.
Members Of the Legislature think this can
be DONE if everybody who wants new
constitution will roll up his sleeves and
pitch in
THE MYERS VOTING MACHINE.
]. Alexander Fulton, Esq, made a
strong appeal to the members of the
House, at the close Of the morning session,
to pass the Myers American Voting
Machine bill as the most effective ballot
reform measure, as well as the cheapest.
He spoke from the standpoint of a total
one who had no personal interest what
ever to subserve, but who was only desir-
Gus that Delaware should have the best
obtainable system. If anything better
he would support it; but the Myers
machine exceeded anything that he had
previously conceived possible. When a
vote is cast on this machine it is unalter-
able and it is registered. Referring
to the constitutionality question Mr..
Fulton said Our constitution makers
when they ordained that voting should be
by ballot-by little ballot-meant only that
the vote should be secret and independent.
When you provide for secret method OF
voting. you comply with the requirement
of voting by ballot One of the Judges,
he said, had expressed an extra iudicial
opinion against the constitutionality of
voting by this machine, although he had
never gone to examine the machine to see
how the voting is done. on the other
hand, two other judges had expressed the
| opinion that it was constitutional, and one
of them had made very thorough ex.
animation of the machine. you, gentle
men Of the legislature he added, l'have
| been sent here by the people of the State
to do the best you can for them. You have
complete control over the affairs of the
| State, within the limitations of the consti,
tuition; like the British parliament you
have general powers; and any law you
pass is presumed to be constitutional, and
is to be taken to be constitutional, until
reversed by the court of last resort"
Towards the close of the afternoon SEES.
sion Mr. Hutson called the Myers bill III
for final reading, by paragraphs; mat
| ter which consumed nearly three-quarters
of an hour. When the reading had been
| finished Mr.. Jackson said II don't think
| it worth while for us to railroad this bill
| We are three members short and | don't
| think it right to push this bill through
| without these three members | don't
wish to say anything for or against the
| bill, but / move to lay it on the table for
| further consideration
Mr.. Hutson moved to amend by making
the bill the special order for tomorrow
afternoon at O'Clock.
Mr.. Jackson-With the proviso that
| there be full house. | move that we don't
act on it till we get full house, if it takes
| till the first of June.
Mr.. Hutson-1hat is the reason | named
a definite hour, so that all the members
can know Of it and be present 1t has been
suggested that the hour of $50 would be
preferable to A. as some of the members
invariably want to get off by the afternoon
| trains.
Whereupon the bill was made the spccia
order for $50 p, M. tomorrow.
LIQUOR BILL DEFEATED.
The first liquor bill Of the session wa;
| deated in the Senate to-day by the follow
ing vote:
Ayes-Donahoe, Ross, Moore-3.
Noes.Pilling, McMullin, Hall, Richard
son, Williams
Not voting-IIouston
Speaker Denahoe then changed his vote
TO the negative to qualify himself to NOV,
for reconsideration.
The defeated bill contained three PRO
visions-First, striking out the words "tc
be drunk on the premises" second, re
pealing the anti-screen provision of TIL,
law of 1889; third, providing for thu
punishment of the minor who should rep
resent himself to be an adult, Cor the mar
who should knowingly nlisrepresent sait
minor 10 be an adult), for the purpose o
obtaining liquor. This was the bill which
Mr.. Pilling moved to indefinitely postpon
on its first reading; motion which Mr.
McMullin opposed under the Temporal,
impression, as he subsequently explained
that it was q temperance measure
Two amendments to the liquor law
were introduced in the House. One o
these, presented by Mr. Ridgely under tn
title Of "An act to amend chapter 555 Vol
XVIII provides that one-half the signer
Of a liceEse applications shall he resident
of the ward or district and freeholders .
the county; the other half, respectable cit
zens of the ward or district. The othe
Dill. introduced BY Mr. West Inder III