The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-29
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
Another Hearing Before the Joint Com
 mittee Yesterday.

Another Hearing Before the Joint Con- mittee Yesterday.
 The joint special committee on con- stitutional amendment resumed the | hearing yesterday afternoon on bills
 for constitutional amendments in rela- ton to the representation in the House | of Representatives and the calling of
 constitutional convention. The hear ing was set down for 2 o'clock, but it was 2:15 o'clock before Senator Landon, | Representative Freeman, the House chairman and their associates on the committee took their seats at the
 Speakers desk. There was a large at tendance. Senator Landon called the hearing to order, and Representative
 Freeman read the bills
 Melbert B. Cary spoke as resident of one of the small towns of the state, and in behalf of the small towns he asked for q constitutional convention. He has never resided in a city of the
 state. He would not advocate a penny wise and pound-foolish policy. He knew that his opinions were at vari-
 ance with many of the small towns in
 the state. Ten years ago, when he went
 on the democratic state committee,
 he agreed to go on the executive com
 mittee, providing he would not have
 anything to do with the money end of
 1t. He was put on the literary sub-com-
 mittee and that was the beginning of
 his study of the question. He knew
 that he had been ridiculed and called
 crank" for his views, but he did
 not mind that. An almost exact
 condition to that existing in this state
 existed seventy-one years ago in Eng
 land. Ever since the days of Oliver
 Cromwell that condition existed in
 England. The feeling against the con-
 dition became the burning question of
 the hour in England. Parliament did
 not represent the people An old cas-
 tie sent two representatives to parlia-
 ment and two inches in a stone wall
 two more. A park with not house in it also sent two. Not thirty miles away were prosperous towns like Man chester, which did not send a single representative to parliament. Earl Gray introduced reform bill. It was defeated. Earl Gray dissolved parlia- ment and in the new parliament the bill was passed, Lord John Russell supporting it. The House of Lords threw out the bill and there was tumult in London. The lords and bishops ran for their lives, many of them climbing over houses to escape. MT Cary referred o the attempts made to reform the constitution of the state, naming Dr. Leonard Bacon and Nathaniel Wheeler as being among the prominent persons who worked for reform. He referred to the reform passed after the deadlock, but these resolutions were dereated at the next general assembly. De- | feated by an act of faithlessness at l which even a Trojan horse would shy! | In January, Governor Mclean showed | in his inaugural address courage l which he would wish all governors would have, Governor Mclean re- versed the position of his party. Where are we now on this question? Mir. | Cary read a poem entitled "The Con- | necticut Way" He is not in this fight l as a partisan or as a democrat, but as | a citizen of the state. If the democratic ] party would not be loyal to constitu- tional reform he would not vote the democratic ticket. In reference to the statement that a convention would open .he door, MT. Cary read from Abraham inaugural address on March l |, 1861, and the latest utterances of Governor Mclean, delivered not sixty lays ago.
 My. Cary said the reformers are not
 theorists. They had no Utopian lreams. A constitutional convention will not do all things. But it is the ,nly way in which the reforms for which the state is crying can be brought about. No man whether he is he governor, the honored chairman of he republican state central committee IT the leader of the House can guaran- ee what will become of the amend nents two years hence. Is it fair now 0 put the reformers off with the lusks?
 Remember the fate of the amend nents of 1893. They were not even mentioned in the succeeding platform.