The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-05-04
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1907.
THE OPINION OF A NORTHERN
SENATOR, WITH COMMENTS.

nstor Hoar in his interesting pa
uer in The New York Forum opposes d
change in the manner or electlnS
United States senators because 1t VIII
substitute pluralities for ma1orltles; IL
will increase fraud, corruption, ana
other illegal practices; it Will apsoIVe
sbe larger states from constitutional
obIigation which secures the equal rep
resentation Oh all the states in the
senate. These are his main reasons,
adding that cit will result in the over
throw Of the whole scheme of the sem
ate, etc"
AS to the first contention it may be
said hat the president has often been
elected by pluralities and there was no
revolution. AS to the second objection,
it NAV be answered it is much easier to
corrupt and buy a Legislature than A.
600, 900 voters. AS to the third objection
the answer comes that if the change
is made in the mode Of electlng Sena-
TORS from a legislature to a direct vote
of the people, it will be made by alter
ing the constitution, and that need not
DE so Tdulcdl DIS u IhI
Estates from constitutional Obliga-
sions," and, therefore, they will con-
tinue to elect two senators as now.
There will be no more inequality ana
injustice in giving two senators to
New York and two to Rhode island I'm
der a vote Of the people than there Is
now under a vote of the Legislature.
N1rIata,,.r ,f ,,pfoirpocc or nni1Gfioa
there may be in the new arrangement
it can be no worse than as it now is.
Senator Hoar defends the senate
against the charges brought against it,
and he shows manifest Improvement.
He writes thi5/
I'VE have a right to say that the evil
influences of the lobby in legislation for
private and not public ends, which, like
the ointment of the hand, betrayed in
the atmosphere of the senate
and in it's corridors, are all gone today.
We have a right to say that drunken
ness, which existed when I first enter
ed public life, is not known there to-
day. and tina senators no longer bring
whiskey-so2ked brains to meet the
hiah- demands of pu.lic service We
a right to say that the use of ex-
Ne patronage for personal ad-
bmoEt-SO that eacn senator IL
Horted the administration had a 1T
army of followers devoted to his
personal interests, supported at the
public cost-has gone by"
We apprehend that the last point if
true is very recently so. The 'e&ecu-
tive patronage for personal advance
ment" has been an offence and a stench
in the n~ostrils of honest people. Ihe
senator mentions that minorltleS are
now respected in their rights which
was not the case in the paSt-Say d
half century since. He says that men
who belonged to the minority We're not
permitted to share even IN the ofdl-
nary routine business of legislation. 1t
was considered almost an audacity in
former times for one of them to move
to adjourn. Levi Lincoln told me that
his time. when he was a Whig mempe
of congress hung heavily on his hands,
and hat neithr he nor any of his whig
Colleagues was permitted to AXE the
Eighties share in the duties OF leglS-
lation."
AS to admitting new states by ms
party he sets up a plea of justiflcatlon
by pointing to worse abuses In the
past. But one wrong or gross abuse
is not justified by the existence of an
Aother wrong or abuse. He points tC
he admission of Nevada during the
var. It had but 5000 inhabitants. II
vas admitted to ecure the adoption o.
Ithe thirteenth amendment. 1t was
I bad precedent and Hoar's W party
,et it. But he makes a stronger plea
admitting five states-the two Da-
k,s. Montana, Washington and Wy.
between the End OF November
the 10th of July, 1890; Utaf
Hh of January, 1896. These siH
Hes a a population of nearly 1,340,
SOO-an average of some 224, 600. He
: says of "the other thirty-eight states
there were but thirteen which had a
the time of their admission a popula-
ton equal to this average. There were
only five which had a population equa
TO the three largest of these states;
only three equal to the two largest
Eight at the time of their admission
were smaller than the smallest of these
states: seventeen were smaller har
the second smallest: and twenty were
smaller han the third smallest"
He points to the tyranny that pre-.
walls in the house-the peoples house
There a tyrant reigns and his republic
can party applauds and sustains him
Hears own sweet party. Hoar doe:
not like it, it is but fair to state. H
says of this one-man power, this bru
tai system of parliamentary govern
ment CD save the mark! Gentlemen
1rS.py seats there who, from the be