The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-04-01

lVasshassssni Cenvention.
| DoyER DEz., March sL-In the Conss
xnaoqai ponysntion this morning MessrI
bradforA Biegs and Donahoe, Of Ney
ating position Of begging for tie pitabI
\ increase Of two senators for that COUNTY
over and above the allotment made Il
hens and Sussex, while Messrs, HERRING
and Martin took the extraordinary nosf.
tion OF insisting that the counties Of -Del.
aware should DO treated like the States Of
the Union. ~
The debate was preclpitated by the re-.
port OF the Committee on the Legislature,
wnlcn provides for Senate of II and q
house OF 10 members, Of whom five sena.
tors and ten Representatives are allotted
70 each oil the three counties, and two sen.
| mington.
| Mr.. Donahoe moved that Wilmington
be given three Senators, which was an
sWered by Mr.. Martin with motion to
make representation In the senate equal
among the counties, giving to each three.
lLater IN the debate Mr. Herring of Mil
ford, moved to divide each county into
nye Senatorial and ten Representative
districts,
Mr. Bradford made O strong and elo.
+ quent argument against the unfair and
preposterous" proposition to establish
county sovereignty" and treat the three
counties as If they were SO many States.
Mr, herring disclaimed all hostile feel.
ing as against Wilmington or New Castle
county, but the principle Of co-equal rep.
resentation had ever prevailed and he fay.
ored that system now. Mr., Bradford. he
SAD, favored representation according to
population. The speaker had looked into
the systems OF several states He found
the senatorial Districts in Pennsylvania
very uneven. In New York he found dis.
crepanoies; for example, one district had
only U0O0, while another had 167OOOin.
In Congress the inequality was still gre.
alter He cited districts as showing great
inequality. Representation according to
population, he said, was myth. It did
not exist in fact.
MI. Donahoe finally withdrew his
anne. to give Wilmington three
senator's. He would support the report. |
". fratt said 1t was only fair to recognize |
the people. There ought to be popular
representation as nearly as possible.
"; Cooper did not oppose the increase
,pr New Castle County, but he wanted
me senators elected by the counties.
Mr.. Clark Of Kent County, said that
!, no proposed increase was fair and, there
lore, ne would vote for the report.
MI salisbury thought that the fate of
al inc work OF this convention depended
upon the motion pending. Equitable rep
resentation was the motive of the con-
sentlon OF 1852 and again Of this gather.
ny. therefore, it was the question of all
Questions: He wanted this convention
State.
For that reason he wanted to see a broad
ma liberal spirit prevail. This report had
cGeiVed, perhaps, more attention than
NY other. The committee had agreed ex.
eptlng one member, and he hoped the re.
ort would prevail.
Mr. Dasey, of Sussex, did not want the
eople OF New Castle County to come hero
nd beg what rightly belonged to them.
ie favored the report.
ITO. He did not like the district scbsma
'hich was intended to wipe out county
mes.
Mr. Smlthers was disturbed good deal
POM TINS question, but he had made I'M
IS MIND that county lines ought to be
lped out. He therefore felt it his du to
1te for the report ,
ar: Lavender made long speech in Oh. I,
'sltlon, chiefly because Messrs. Burris.
vans, ana Moore, of rural New Castle :
ounty, mad not said anything yet in
Mr.. Burris offered to please the gentle. v
en- who had just sat down by saving
Ut he favored the report. G
Nlr; Ellegood opposed the report and n
r. Martin did the stme in closing the ii
bate WIG "
At i.45 p. m. Mr.. Lavender asked that a
Q vote be deferred and moved that the n
lmnittee rise. The motion was lost, tC
ne opponents of the report then I'M s.
rtook to filbuster so as to put the h;
estlon over until tomorrow. Mr., Hor. W
, onered another amendment to substi- Sc
10 twelve for fifteen. Mr. Ellegood fol- pl
ved this with another motion to rise III
: Martin called for the aye and nav
e. inc motion was again lost. ia
me question Jon Mr.. Horsey's amend w
mt was called. The aye and nay vote
'Weu that quorum was not present, IN
ssrs. Cannon, Lavender, Ellegood. on
ring dorsey and Martin refusing to
II. Herring called no quorum, but Mr. TO
'ey' VINO was in the chair, decided II
re was quorum, and decided the W
endment lost. The sergeant.at-arms IN,
then ordered to bring in the members
had gone out. Upon their reappear- NJ,
another motion to rise was voted rio
IN. 0' nc
halrnan Dasey then ordered the roll No
on the Herring amendment, su5stitn mr.
10 FOR II senators. The vote resulted W
ayes, IL nays, Mr.. Herring then nm
req TO strike out II and put in IL in1
"a Mr.. Johnson's motion the commit. The
men arose and adjourned, with both sid
claiming the victory. OF the TWEEN. VII
ne members present to-day 10 were for d,,
against the report. OF the 8 absen. N''
at least five favor the report. Hence,