Morning journal and courier., 1892-02-10
ADJOURNED UNTIL MAY THIRD.

ADJOURNED UNTIL MAY THIRD. The House Has a Quorum and Ad-
 jOurns Until May-The Senate to
 Adjourn Sine Die To.day-The
 House sand the Worlds Fair Ap-
 propriatf0n-TheB Bill for a COnsti-
 tutfonal Convention.
 HARTFORD, Feb. 9.-[Speciall- Things at the Capitol took on busy aspect to- day. When the house met at 9 o'clock there was quorum present, and they at once got down to business, passing vari- ous house bills and a bill appropriating $50, 1000 for the Worlds fair. They then adjourned until May 8. In the senate the discussion was on the Seymour resolution for an act for a constitutional convention, which was tabled until tomorrow. The Senate.
 The senate met at o'clock and imme- diately took recess until 3 o'clock. The senate again convened at ? p. m.
 Senator Holden (dem.) of the Seventh called from the table senate bill Mo- 7, providing for the calling of constitu-
 
 troduced by Senator Seymour for an act providing for 8 constitutional convention. Senator Seymour, in support of his bill, said: A discussion of this bill means a discussion of the fundamental laws of this state. The constitution of this state with it's amendments brings on this state many evils from which we to-day suffer. If one house may, by not acting, reduce | to a nulity the actions Of free state, l then the wheels of government are blocked, when for any partisan difficulty l one house may refuse to declare the officers elected by the will of the people. This | decision of the supreme court on this i'm | portant question may have not been fully considered. In the decision handed down, | if the questions had been fully discussed, | it is clear it would have been sustained by one judge for one reason and another for other reasons. The con- stitution of the state stands discredited, and that by the highest court l of this state. The constitution has many defects, and it is only that it has so many that submit my bill for calling consti- tutional convention, that the people may adopt it if they see fit, and thus, perhaps, avoid future bloodshed. The decision of
 us the defects of the constitution, and il
 seems to me the senate's duty is to submit
 such bill to the people. The result of our
 constitution has been to patronize all ou1
 institutions and affairs, and even our
 National Guard, by it's officers are pat
 ronized. Have we any democratic
 military officers in the militia ot
 our statea An encampment hal
 been held this year, and our militia is ud
 der the pay of a man in this state who ii
 holding an office to which he was never
 elected. Under the system, which hal
 brought so many evils upon the cities, car
 the cities have ever injured the towns
 And can he say that by any change in th'
 constitution possible can the towns be in
 jured? The constitution is now full O.
 what is called secondary elections, where
 the cities and towns did not elect thei
 officers, but sent people to the legislatur
 who did elect them. There are more dem
 ocrats in the state to-day than repub licans, but all the officers of tn ]. state are the officers of tn
 minority. The hold-over provision in tn , mitted to the people, with the object les
 son, which has been offered at the presen
 session. We could surely do better with out governor for few days, if necessa ry, than with hold-over. 1 assure yo , we have not seen the worst of the hold , over system until we see 8 majority of tn , 1 legislature holding over, though not vote for. Suppose town entitled to elect tw members and there was some question 0 f the election of one, cannot the one befor , elected hold over, under the constitution , as construed by one body of the leg islature this year? I say under tn
 been effective during the past ten years When the electors have voted ballot fo
 8 governor of this state it is like blan , l paper deposited in his own waste basket l and he might just as well not have voted l There are numbers of other specifi things which should lead us to submit
 the people of the state the opportunity C f calling a constitutional convention. t There are two bills now before the senate one directly calling 8 constitutional COT
 vention, and one submitting to the peopl
 an act for the calling of such 8 convention
 which is the one in my opinion shoul pass. It seems to me that the senate shoul
 not go home unless they give to the peopl the right to call for constitutions convention, which is surely needed. 7 believe if the act is laid at the door of th !. house the voice of the people will be hear q | calling upon them to act on it.
 a Senator Clark (rep.) of the Twenty-fri e said-This is probably the most importan
 matter to como before the senate in tn
 last half century. It came up at our lal . meeting day, and the time we have had t
 consider and read it has been short. 8 seems to me that before acting on such a }, important matter it should be submitte
 to committee for their consideration . Senator Clark then proceeded to pick th 8 bill to pieces, and for over an hour argue r | against it's passage.
 Senator Cleveland (dem.) of the Firs moved that the resolution be temporaril l tabled. that he might offer a resolution @ which called for an adjournment sine di, g when the senate next adjourned.
 Senator Thayer of the Tenth moved ths ' the senate sit in continuous session unt : such adjournment. This resulted in COT 8 siderable discussion, ending in the senate ], l adjourning until tomorrow at Il 80 o'clocl l with the understanding that the senat t business would be taken up and the senat
 then adjourn sine die.
 The House.
 The house convened at 2 o'clock wit :, 210 members present.
 j. Mir. Green of Norwich submitted the r l port of the house members of the commi \ tee of conference on the resolution decla
 ing John J. Phelan elected secretary ( @ state. The report after reviewing the il
 vestigations of the committee, stated thf , it was apparent, all things considered, ths MT. Phelan lacked 77 votes of a majority
 and that the declaration of his electio
 would be against reason, justice and prec :, edent.
 J Mr. Greene explained the report. H ; said the majority of the house was not prs ! | pared to make an unconditional surrender :. He concluded by moving that the report b 7 accepted, and that the house adhere to ii
 former action.
 MT. Walker replied to MT. Greene, an reviewed the history of the rejected ballots
 Mir. Walker asked leave to read pape
 showing that MT. Phelan had lawful ms l. jority, but the house, by vote, refused allow him to read the paper.
 Mr. Futile of East Haven moved the pre = vious question, which was ordered. @ On motion of MT. Walker the vote WE I taken by yeas and nays. The report wa | >&o~l kl,o1 sko c.,