Morning journal and courier., 1891-05-07
DEmoonArrc RESOLUTIONS

DEMOCRATIC RESOLUTIONS Voted Yesterday by the State Deno-
 cratic Club With Reference to . Con.
 stitutional Convention.
 About forty members of the State Dom ocratic club met yesterday at the headquar- the report of the executive committee on the Pardee resolution calling for a consti- tutional convention. This resolution was referred to the executive committee at the last meeting and by them to 6 sub commit tee consisting of Simeon E. Baldwin, Mir. Seymour of Bridgeport and MT. Root of Waterbury. r- --.,- <
 Among those present at the meeting were Professor Simeon Baldwin, Morris w. Seymour of Bridgeport, ex-Mayor Morgan of Bridgeport, MT. Weeks of Litchfeld, MT. Wheeler of Monroe, Senator Holden of Ansonia, Colonel Osborn, Mayor Sargent, Representative Callahan and others.
 With the report were read two tracts on the question of revision of the constitu- tion, with a history of the present cousti- tuition, the work of Simeon E. Baldwin, the president of the club. These tracts will be published by the club for general circulation. [
 The following resolutions were passed unanimously:
 Whereas, The present unsettled condition of our state government and the numerous ques- tions of constitutional construction that have given rise to it show the imperative necessity of Q Auici ofp toto potif if,1fin onA
 Whereas, No state in the Union has now been so long without constitutional convention as Connecticut, and
 Whereas, Constitutional amendments to se. cure such convention have been proposed by the house of representatives in 1848 1S49 1855 and 1667 and bills for public acts for the same pur- pose have been prepared and printed with the session laws in 1859 1873 and 1878 by order of the been killed in the succeeding legislatures by DO: htical influences unfriendly to revision of the Resolved, That this club favors the calling of a constitutional convention, to revise our state constitution; combine the amendments to it with ous and consistent form, make plain all its pro visions, and secure the right of electing to state alty vote and that we believe that the general assembly should call such @ convention as soon as practicable by an act guaranteeing to every representation in the house of representatives, as fully as was done by the acts proposed as above in 1859 1873 and 1875.
 Resolved, That the executive board be directed to promote the calling of such a convention, by such publications, public meetings, and other measures, as they may deem proper.
 It was voted that the executive commit tee see about arrangements necessary for dinner to be held sometime before warm weather.
 THE DEMOCRATS AGAINST THE TOWNS.
 Regarding the meeting of the above named club here yesterday the Hartford Courant of yesterday has word or two in defense of the old established plan of town representation and town independence, a plan which democrats as a rule are 10th to see overwhelmed:
 The State Democratic club, which the Hartford Times modestly put aside the other day as purely local New Haven | organization, meets again to-day and will adopt measures looking to an amendment of the state constitution. The clubs grievance is that while in it's opinion 6 plurality of the voters of Connecticut are democrats, the general assembly as chosen cannot be depended on to be democratic, and that therefore it fails to represent the people.
 The Courant readily admits that ou1 the basis of popular representation, is moi at present in fact what it is in theory. The districts differ vastly in population and they ought to be as nearly equal as possible. But, as the senate stands to- day seventeen democrats to seven repub- licans, we do not take it that the demo- cratic party is just now worried about that body. Its grievance is the house.
 The State Democratic club thinks the house ought to be democratic because in it's opinion a plurality of the voters are democrats. In other words, it thinks the house should be made up on a basis of the town must go. There is no other way to put the theory in practice except to ebliterate town representation by sub- stituting for it popular" representation. l It is hypocrisy to assume that anything l else is intended, for the premises forbid l any other conclusion. Our way is the l town way. It has been all carefully | thought out, discussed, considered, and ap | parently settled. The town is politca
 unit. These democrats themselves hold SC
 stiff1y to town independence that they pre- fer to believe the state has no remedy from the error of moderator in town. But | knock out the town representation on the ground that under it their party doesn't get enough offices.
 The whole democratic plurality of the
 state in 1890 was 3,6s6, and the four cities ! of New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and Waterbury gave democratic plurality o1 | 4,029. Outside of these the state is re-
 publican, even where the third and fourth
 party movement draws off 8, 722 votes. The question is really whether the whole state
 should be controlled in both branches ot it's legislature by the few big centers ot population, or whether, one branch being ! hoe o{h l should not more wisely represent the 16e
 communities which together make up Con. | necticut
 Our esteemed contemporary, the Spring
 field republican, struck, to our amaze. ment, by 8 momentary impulse to criti.
 else, found fault the other day with the Courant's defense of our consti
 tuition, and said that document was 1 "antiquated" and that change was
 needed. Now, if we are not mista
 ken, Massachusetts not so very long
 ago abolished town representation and
 created voting districts based on popula.
 tion; and, if we are not mistaken, our sun
 shiny and optimistic neighbor with all its
 industry cannot find anything to praise in
 the latter day legislatures of it's state that
 have come in under the "popular" system
 Show us something better before | you demand the abandonment of the wise scheme that has worked so we'll,
 so long, and give us, if you please
 some better reason for change than
 the assurance that it will give the demo cratic party better chance at the offices The constitution can be changed in con. stitutional manner, whenever the neces
 sary votes for the change can be secured
 but the argument for such change must rise higher than the mere appeal for party | advancement. It must be shown that we l are not well governed now and that oul cities send better men than the towns dc
 to the legislature before there is founda-
 tion for depriving the towns of their rights | THE BRIDGE DISASTER.