New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-27
THE P4RAMOUNT INIQUI1Y.

of the legislative districts OF tnls Stite cOuu ID!
any possibility, have been contrived. 1t is
colossal fraud. Its openly avowed object is to
enable Tammany Hall and the Brooklyn De-
| mocIacy to seize and hold supreme power. 1t
is the end and object of all the long and shock
ING catalogue of crimes and outrages which be-
gan with tie capture by Croker of the last
Democratic State Convention, the extinction
of the County Democracy and the nomination
| of Flower as Tammanys avOwed candidate
1t is the natural fruit of the theft of the Legs-
nature. the vilest political crime that has been
nerpetrated in any Northern State since the
Union was ordained. 1t is based on diShon-
est and unconstitutional census taken by a
pub]c officer who has forfeited all claim TO
public respect and who stands out among
group of scoundrelly politicians for partisan
malignity and criminal maladmnstration I'M
ex;elled 1t is the last and incomparably the
greatest of the long series of political outrages
which this fraudulent Legislature has COM
mitted upon the country communities and the
Republican minority in the cities. 1t is utterly
unlawful. 1t involves an assumption of power
which that Constitution explicitly denies to the
Legislature by whom an enumeration has been
made.
The Republican Senator'S have united in
| protest against any and all action attempted
at this unconstitutional session. Their argu-
ment is unanswerable When the Constitution
empowered the Governor to convene the Legs
laturc con extraordinary OCCASIONS" it plainly
| contemplated occasions when the Legislature
was not in regular session, and when an un-
| looked for public emergency had arisen which
! required the immediate attention of the legs
| lative body. 1t cannot be pretended that there
| is any such occasion now. This session was
| called while the regular session was being held
| That fact of itself demonstrates that no proper
occasion existed for the employment OF the
Governors extraordinary powers If the re-
apportionment were matter which this Legs
ature could lawfully deal with, it could have
gone ON and dealt with it without a sine die
adjournment and special convention by the
| Executive But the Constitution made the re-
apportionment the business of the next Legis-
! ature 1t specified the dates when census
should be taken, and then said that the Legis-
| ature at the first session after the return OF
every enumeration should proceed to redis-
trict the State If this provision did not for
bid reapportionment by the body of men now
at Albany, it is utterly insane.
All admit that the bills brought in Monday
| night could not have been presented last week
Why? Because the session then Ill progress
was that during which the enumeration was
made But does the adjournment from Thurs
day to Monday impart 10 this session com
potency which concededy would have been de-
MED to it If the adjournment had been OF the
| ordinary character? If so. by what process?
BY the mere form of the resolution Of adjourn
ment by the expression sine die instead of
until next Monday right" when next Mon
day night was intended, anyhow. and actually
ordered by the Governors proclamation? Does
that satisfy either the purpose or the letter Of
constitutional injunction forbidding an APP
portionment to be made at the same session Of
| the Legislature at which the census is ordered
and taken? Was it not the obvious intent Of
that provision that the same body of men who
made the figures should not be allowed straight
way to apply them? Is it not the plain pur-
pose of the law that there shall be such an
interval of time between the completion OF the
census and the redistribution OF seats a will
enable the people to examine and test the cen
srs figures and to elect a Legislature 10 act
upon them in view of the conclusions to which
the public may come?
This is certainly plain, and equally plain is
the fact that 10 occasion can be " eXtraordl-
nary" within the meaning of the Consttu-
ton. when the Governor had knowledge of it
while the Legislature was in regular session
1t NAV be " extraordinary" within the meaning
of men like Hill, who looks at law only to sec
how he may cunningly ovadc or safely defy
it, or like Shechan, who openly boasts that he
does not pretend to be fair in politics." The
people of New 81 rk are at the mercy Of band
of political thieves and asSassins-men to whom
the murder of the law and the theft OF power
are profession. They have created schemes
of public and private jobbciy that will place
in the hands of ring politicians the expenditure
of fully $50, 900 900. They have made Con
gressiOna gerrymandcr which completely dis
franchises the Republican minority of New
York City ana brooklyn, and which creates
districts in the country OF counties widely sepa
rated and wholly unrelated. In nine cities o.
nine Republican counties they have lcgslatcC
out of Office the men put there by the people
as the instruments of municipal administra
ton, and have appointed ringsters instead, con
fding 10 them the conduct of the impending
elections They have intrenched Tammany il
l power here enabling its huge, corrupt machine
TO control ballot boxes, inspectors and returns
, With the passage of this iniquitous rcappor
tionment their Infamous record is complete
Let them husband we'll their resources. BefOr
they succeed in shutting out the flood of pub
lie scorn and Indignation now risen high agans
Them they will need all the power and all thu
e plumber they have so shameessly stolen.
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