The Press., 1891-03-19
I. H. BROMLEY ON THE CONNECTICUT SIT
 TT 'A itf UATION. siii

Instead of lapsing into political ignor- ance and indifference, they have three gov ernors and two legislative bodies acting independently of each other, and there isn't cracker barrel in country store from Voluntown to Barkhamstead on which some local statesman does not night ly sit and expound the constitution be- tween approximations 1; and, on the whole, the people seem to enjoy it.
 There has been much oratory on both sides the constitution has been hammer ed and twisted, turned end for end and bottom side up, flung to the breeze and trodden under foot in short, handled in that boisterously affectionate manner with which truly free people is accustomed to treat the objects of it's reverence; the de- bate has given many persons opportuni- ties for practice, while the speeches have exhibited duration and illustrated endur- ance. And yet, singularly enough, amid all this surging eloquence, have not yet heard of a single case of "hurling back" (if am correctly informed as to parlia- mentary usages, no real trouble ever be- gins until somebody sshurls back'D; no personal hard feeling has been engender- ed, but the champions in the tournament, after having illuminated the constitution with oratorical sky-rockets and Roman candles, have cordially congratulated each other on the excellence of their respective pyrotechnics.
 Perhaps I ought to make an exception of Representative Walker of Hartford, who, believe, is g mugwump, and takes h nypnrp rrYpvk k0 Iw II $hnf hn thinks he is in the middle of a crisis, and is awake nights about it. When I saw him, 8 few days after the great debate opened-I think they call it the great de- bate-he had storm tossed, weather beat en look, as though he was feeling the ef- feet of ''being on the bridge" every night during 8 tempestuous tune. He is regard ed with curiosity by the democrats, and not without interest by the republicans. Meantime, while the persons most inter- ested are taking things so coolly, certain outsiders have bulged into the discussion with the same sort of enthusiasm with which your genuine bruiser endeavors to urge on slow-going glove fight which he suspects to be 6 "hippodrome.
 The whole question turns upon what is denounced as the "rotten borough sys tenn" It was with deliberate purpose tha, the authors of the original constitution the oldest in the union, and the model up on which the federal system and all oul commonwealth organizations were formed made the town the unit and basis of rep resentation in the lower house of the gen eral assembly. In Connecticut the towns were 'slittle republics" controlling theil own affairs. They sent delegates to tho legislature to represent, not certain mum Der of voters, but the corporation, tn, town. So the town holds the same rela tion to the lower branch of the state legis
 latufe that the state holds to the Unite' States senate in congress. In the latte case we have become accustomed to seein, I Rhode Island equal in voting power t l New York and Delaware to Pennsylvania
 In Connecticut the senate is based on pop
 ulation, and is accordingly the popula
 branch. Perhaps it is the reversal of tn
 usual order that creates confusion in som
 minds.
 The theory of the constitution thus be
 ing that the state government sprang iron
 the towns, instead of the towns being crea
 lures of the state, was it unnatural to pro
 vide, in the event of no person receiving
 majority of the popular vote for governor tual tu0 OWuS buOu1u IcSuuo CoAtIOl '
 the matter, and through their represents
 tives in the legislature make choice fo
 themselves In 8 word, Connecticut is
 commonwealth of towns rather than of il
 dividuals.
 I believe the persons who complain mos } loudly of this provision continue to requir not only majority, but two-thirds ms |jority, for the nomination of a candidat
 for president in their national conventions Besides, if the requirement is so outragou and absurd, why have they not made a j effort to repeal it when they have been i power in the state, as they were from 1S7
 to 1879 ?. The truth is that the majorit requirement and the system of represents , ton are, in the popular belief, if not in a' . tual fact, so intimately connected that on cannot be changed without the other an as for changing the system of represents tion, the towns will not consent to it, an neither party dares propose it.
 , Each season has its own peculiar malady | AL ckoAn