The critic., 1891-01-07
CoNNEcTfCUT's CRISIS.
The Election of State Officers by the
Assembly Much Mudhien.

Assembly Much Muddied.
HtnrroRD, CoNN., Jan. The compli-
Gated gubcrnatoripl situation in Connccti-
cut which has been the subject Of 50
much discussion during the past two
months, is soon to be solved. The Gen
cral Assembly chosen on November I
will meet to-day, and its first duty will be
to decide who shall be the state officers
for the next two years. According to the
laws of Connecticut u candidate for Il
state office must receive Il majority of the
votes cast for that Office in order to be
elected by the people. In case no caudi-
date receives u majority the election l.
thrown into the General Assembly and
must be decided by both houses in joint
convention. Immediately, therefore,
after the two houses of the General As
scmbly have notified each other that
their respective organizations have been
completed committee ON canvass Of
votes for state officers will he formed
consisting of one Senator appointed by
the presiding officer of the Senate and
eight Representatives appointed bv the
Speaker ol the House.
As the Senate is strongly Democratic the
Senator appointed Will presumably he u
Democrat. The representatives of the
lower house, which is Republican by n
still larger majority, will probably consist
Of five Republicans and three Democrats.
The action of this committee will develop
the crisis. ON the face Of the returns rs
officially canvassed Mr.. Morris, the Demo-
cratic candidate for Governor, has u ma.
iority of 27 votes. The official report
signed by the Secretary of State, the Treas
urcr, and the Comptroller, calls attention,
however, TO the fact that sin certain vot-
ing districts n number of ballots were east
which were not counted for various
of the persons for whom these ballots were
cast has been made"
The only way in which the Republicans
can secure the election of their candidate
for Governor is by going back of the re-
turns. 1t is probable, therefore, that there
will be two reports by the committee To
the General ASscmbly-a majority one de
cluring in favor of an investigation into
the irregularities referred to by the official
canNassers in their report, and a minority
one declaring Mr.. Morris elected by the
people. The former will be accepted by
the Republican House Of Representatives,
and the latter by the Democratic Senate.
If the Democratic members of the conf
mitteC take the other alternative, instead
of making a minority report simply re-
tire, refusing To agree tn an investigation,
the result viii he practically the same.
The Democratic Senate Will then merely
iNlhTN w tN'tl'l viz iNl'tIt VI tllt NplllliAN-
tee. That the Democrats will refuse to
agree to an investigation is prevalent
opinion, and one warranted by the atti-
ttldc of Democratic journals throughout
the State since the result of last Nuytm-
bcr's election first became known.
The law requires that the election of
State officers shall take place ON the SeG-
Ond legislative day or not at ALL This,
too, is u disputed point, but even IL il be
the ease the Republican House can gcs
around il and can gain time for conduct
ing an investigation by taking u r1,css.
In fact, II will he able, by continuing tD
take rcccsscs, carefully abstaininS from
adiournments, to postpone "thc second
legislative day" as long as it chooses.
Such action would result in the present
officers, who are Republicans, continuing
in office.
The situation is still further complicated
by the fact that u Governor must be de-
clared elected before the election OF any
other State officers can come under con-
sidcration. Possibly this may influence
the Democrats toward copsenting to an
investigation in order to elect their candi-
dates for other offices, all of whom have
on the face of the returns much larger
majorities than Mr.. Morris has.
On the other hand, the farmer clcmcn
in the Republican party is strongly an
tagonistic to Governor Bulkley on account
of his attitude in the olcomargarinc qucs-
ton. Rather than have him continue in
office two years longer the Republican
farmers may prefer to assist in the election
Of Mr. Morris.
IL is impossible to predict with any de.
gree of accuracy the action of the General
Assembly. All opinion, in fact, is purely
speculative, FOR the influences which may
possibly have considerable effect in form
ing the result are So many and so varied
that it is impossible to cqualizc their
effects.
That the result Of the November clec-
ton will be a change in the ballot law, in
some particulars at least, seems 10 be the
concensus of opinion in both parties. II
is, indeed, the only point in regard to tho
election on which both Democrats and
Republicans agree.