Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-14
CONVENTION WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT.
Delegate GuoIe Warns People Against Voting Yes the New Constitution Next Monday-Reect it and Later We will Get One that Will be Acceptable to the
 Great Mass of the People

I OL 1lSSll SuOulu cOuuelH lu0 pIOpOSStl
 instrument unless we are so cold to
 our rights as to let ourselves be rob- ] bed and hoodwinked and reduced to the condition of an inferior people, l subject to the overlordship of the Acountry town aristocracy.
 1 Most of the writers to whom l have
 alluded were supposed to be cham l pions of reform. What does their
 present attitude mean? l think it has d
 great deal to do with the preservation
 of their ancient privileges at the pie
 counter. The principles they stood for
 were not gained in the convention.
 They say the fight is at an end ex- cept to agitate for amendments after
 the proposed draft is accepted. They
 know as well as 1 that no important
 reform can come from a small-town | house of representatives They act like subtle humorists who help the peo- pie to rise only to see them fall far 1 ther.
 The people will certainly fall below their present level if they vote .'Yes'' on Monday. Let them vote No" and clear the field for action.
 1t may be asked why we should pre- fer to keep the old constitution since we struggled to change it. We do not prefer to keep it, we must free our selves from it. The new one, however, simply retains its obnoxious features and puts more in with them. If we accept this we will sacrifice our pow CT to protect; it would mean that we are content with bad government, and the fight must cease. If, however, we reject it, we will come back to the old, but with free field for action and the verdict of the voters that their rights must be given them in a democratic constitution Then with the agitation and the extensive information obtained from the holding of the constitutional convention, we will have the people prepared for the proper changes. Mas sachusetts, our neighboring state, went through a like experience. She had the same troubles as we; she called a constitutional convention; it proposed constitution similar to ours; the people rejected it and then with their new knowledge and awakened sense of right and the value of standing for their rights, went ahead and in q few years obtained a constitution under which one voter is equal to another, and not as in Connecticut to-day, where one man in small town is worth many times more politically than his brother who earns his bread amid the busy scenes of our thriving commercial centers.
 Morality and good citizenship de- mand that we vote no. The present condition and the proposed conditions are nothing but lies made actual. We must escape from both, l hope that for the good name and fame of Con- necticut q vast majority of votes whether in large town or small, i'll cities or on the farm, republican or democrat will go forth on Monday and cast their ballots against an instru- ment which would perpetuate a lie and prove our state recreant to the principals for which her sons freely shed their blood in the fight against George III. If these principals were worth shedding blood for against the power of Great Britain, they certainly are worth the sacrifice of q little time to vote on Monday. Remember that Connecticut in 1889 gave to the world the first constitution of a free people. If we had that constitution to-day we would be all right. It's lessons of q pure democratic form of government have been brought home to us by the recent Constitutional Conventions. and for this much is that convention worth all it cost. If in that convention we could not win the peoples rights the fight made there has probably aroused them to demand justice. My advice therefore is to vote no, on Afon- day. for the sake of the honor of our state as well as for our own rights.
 FRANCIS P. GUILFOILE.