The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1897-04-23
Ghelrmnrrat- St.,
CURIOUS LAWMAKERS
BLUE HENS HAVE THE Moan
LAX LEGISLATURE on THE CON-.
TINENT.


Nowhere else in the United g..
Is there so peculiar ~ remark,ros
body OF Lawmakers As assemhIa"
time to time in the island ,ov ,'On,
Dover to transact public busina,uO l
the people OF Delaware. Its pecn,,1 Tor
ties need only to be recitcd IN s
primitive methods which sim '"oN
IN the first Of the States to be .aan le
ted into the UniA. 1u"l'l'
What is known as the scp,,.
upper house Of the Dover Leplsla,,OO'
consists OF nine members only na'
aware is one Of the States which H..
no Lieutenant Governor and ,ha" 4'
fore, from out OF these nine memha.,
one is chosen as presiding Office, w."
the Utlier eight are the law.m,.I1
body A Legislative branch Of cIah,
persons Is not formidable numer,c,1,
u o's's Oh representation for these
members Is 50 unusual that s,oh
the eight may be said to reprcsen,
very different number Of ne,sn,'
Delaware is divided into three cona
Ties, the most populous Of which !.
the %northerly county of W~ilminu,o,
At the recent presidential elec,Ia"
the vote OF Newcastle was 22.OM Tha
second OF the Delaware conn,ios +,
Kent, which includes the capital ci,v
OF Dover, and cast at the rerep, ela'
ton $500 votes only. The third and
most southerly Of the counties is IN.
rustic Sussex, which cast at Tho 20,
cent election $500 votes. Newc,s,a
it will be observed, has several ,hor
sand more votes than Kent and Sn.,
sex combined, but the basis Of renro.
s%entation in the Dover Senate i, ,ho
same for all threc-three memho,s
from each county, and on any pub,i,.
question, therefore. in the Senate.
minority OF the people Of DeIava,.
can by a t%wo'thirds majority out vote
the majority. Nor is this the univ
popularity, for while two OF the Sen.
ators from each county are elected IA,
a two-year term, one Senator ,rom
each county Is elected for a tour.ye,,
term.
The city OF Wilmington casts alout
one-thlrd Of the total vote OF the
State OF Delaware, but it has only
one representative in the Dover Sen.
ate. During the deadlock caused IN
the failure OF the Delaware Lcvisla.
turc to choose a successor to ANTHONY
Higgins, the Republican Governor Of
the State died, and there being no
Lieutenant Governor, one Of tie Senl
tors was promoted to the post Of Exc.
cutive officer Of the State. While act.
ing as Governor he claimed to still be
a member Of the Senate. The partisan
Of Colonel Dupont claimed that lie
could not hold both Offices, and his
withdrawal reduced the members of
the Delaware Legislature, on joint
ballot, to tw%enty.nine, OF whose votes
Colonel Dupont received fifteen, orr
majority, as his friends claimed. The
opponents Of Colonel Dupont, however,
contendcd that under the peculiar
laws Of Delaware, a man might be
Governor Of that State and Senator
as well, and, tins view OF the case was
sustained in Washington and Colonel
Dupont was not admitted.
The Delaware House Of Representa-.
tivcS consists Of twcnty-onc members,
chosen without reference to pOpun'
ton, seven from each county, md
though the Republicans carried Della.
ware at the recent election, such is The
peculiar method Of choice that the
present House Of Representative
consists OF twenty Democrats and one
Republican only. A convention 10
amend the constitution Of Delaware
radically met in Dover in December