Middletown transcript., 1897-05-29

Lnfrfy-uV6 10 tNeutJ-Ono Wcuu uctes = no
joint Assembly will have ffty-two
votes and majority for The election Of
d United States Senator will be twenty
seven, ard not sixteen, as at present
A Lieutenant Governor, elected BY the
people, is to preside over the Senate.
but be has no vote except in case Of a
tie. The Senate is to elect president
pro tenn. and the House Speaker. In
the event that either of the latter
should be elevated to the Governor
Office, as he may be by succession, his
seat becomes vacant and an election
must be held for his successor. The un
certain part which ''actingo Governor
Watson played in the Senatorial cleo
tion of 1895 cannot be repeated. Hith-
erto whichever party carried county
secured the entire Legislative delega-
tion Of it. Hereafter each township
elects its own Representatives, and the
next General Assembly will be practi-
cally stand-off. The Democrats may
secure a majority of one in each
county-that is, three in the whole
State. Minority representation is as
sured.
The innovations affecting the legis-
lature, none Of which are to be found
in the old instrument, are in brief as
follows: The General Assembly must
sit at Dover; no bill or resolution shall
be passed, excepting for adjournment,
without the yea and nay vote. which
| is to be recorded in each case; the or
binary session, held biennially and be-
ginning on the first Tuesday of the
January succeeding the election, shall
continue only sixty days, and special
| sessions half as long, with compeusa-
tion fixed at S5 per day, and 81 per day
for the Lieutenant Governor, and the
Speaker; no bills shall be 'loadedn with
an appropriation item; lotteries. pool
selling and all forms of gambling are
forbidden; no divorces shall be granted;
no special laws as to roads, fences,
bitches and school district boundaries
shall be passed; members must disclose
their interest in bills, if they have any,
before voting; bribers are severely pun
ished; every statute is a public act un-
less otherwise designated in the bill;
| the State Treasurer must settle annu-,
ally with Legislative Committee, and
not biennially, as at present.
The Governor may remove any officer
excepting the Lieutenant Governor,
upon the address of two-thirds of the
members Of the General Assembly; the
Governor shall have the power of veto,
which can only be overcome by the
three-ffths vote Of both houses; he
may veto an item or items. of an ap-
preparation bill, without affecting the
rest of the act; the Lieutenant Cover
nor must have the same qualifications
for the Office, as the Governor; the
succession to the Governor is to the
Lieutenant Governor, to the Secretary
of State, to the Attorney General. to
the President, pro tenn, of the Senate,
and to the Speaker of the House;
county officers, excepting the Sheriff
and Coroner, shall have term of four
years, instead of five, and shall be
elected and not appointed; the Sheriff
and Coroner shall be elected for two
years, as is now the practice; the eterms
Of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
Senators, Attorney General and fhsur-
ance commissioner, all of whom shall
be elected, shall be four years; and that
of the State Treasurer, and the Audi
tor of Accounts, two years; the Cover
nor shall no longer grant pardons and
commute sentences, except upon the
recommendation of majority of
the Board of Pardons, COM
posed of the Lieutenant Governor, the
Chancellor, the Secretary of State, the
State Treasurer and the Auditor Of Ac-
counts.
The reforms Of the judiciary consist
in FIVE law judges instead of four; they
are appointed for twelve years and not
for life, and must be confirmed by a
three-ffths vote of the Senate; three
out Of the five law judges shall belong
to one political party; courts must be
held by three judges, if possible, but
two are quorum, except in the Oyer
and Terminer and the ..Supreme
| Court" which title takes the place of
the clumsy one of "Court Of Errors
and Appeal" in no case shall judge
who sat in the court below sit on ap-
peal in the Supreme Court, as is the
case at present; two sessions Of each
court may be held at the same time,
excepting Of the Oyer and Termfner
and the Supreme Court; an associate
Judge is added to the Chancellor in the
Orphans Court, from which an appeal
lies to the Superior Court of the county;
Justices Of the Peace are appointed for
four years and must be confirmed by
three-ffths vote Of the Senate. An
appeal lies from the Court of Oyer and
| Terminer, dealing with human life, to
| the Supreme Court which. is Lot the
case now. For man convicted to be
hanged there is no appeal in Delaware
to-day, except to the clemency of the
Executive.
| The provisions governing elections
are absolutely new and sprung out of
the notorious conditions into which
popular suffrage has fallen through a
half century of bribery capped with q
quarter century of prejudice and race
hatred. The convention was practi-
cally unit in voting this reform, but
it is largely the handiwork of delegate,
now Judge Bradford, Of the United
| States Court Of this district. The fore
most provision is the trial of bribers