Waterbury Democrat., 1902-01-23
ATTORNEY GU|LFOLE'S TALK
He Spoke in Favor of Fairer Representation Yesterday.

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 but Wal be Satisfied With Some of
 the Others Proposed.
 It was late yesterday afternoon when Delegate Frank F. Guilfoile of this city caught the presidents eye at the constitutional convention. Never theless. his speech was listened to with rapt attention throughout. He spoke as follows
 During this discussion upon repre- sentation the achievements of Con- necticut in the way of equality and freedom have been reviewed with pride. Many of her distinguished sons assembled here in her interest have praised her glorious past; others have declared her present condition to be superior to that of any other gov ernment in the world. 1 trust that this is wholly true, and that the people in sending us here to devise q form of ] constitution do so not in the belief that she has fallen into political de cay, but that we may by our efforts perpetuate those principles which have won for her the title of first of i republics.
 i Various plans submitted to us have already been considered. I shall con- fine my remarks. to the chief ideas contained by them, which are three. l Two look to representation in the i house of representatives upon the theory that it is the popular branch of our state government; the third, that I the senate is the popular body while ! the house of representatives stands l for the town government, each town from this viewpoint being held a re public or sovereign body. This third l theory, I deem q dangerous political i heresy, and shall endeayor to show the fallacy of the claim implied by 1t that the Connecticut, town is political unit, and as such is entitled to equal representation with every other town, ! irrespective of population.
 1 If the towns of Connecticut are po- 1 litical units, each entitled to the same political power, the rights of the peo- 1 pie whom we have always considered sovereign are subject to important limitations, and that the people alone are sovereign, the individual citizen being the political unit. Thus viewed mere territorial boundary cannot in crease or diminish the peoples rights, even under the spacious plea that our 1 Connecticut towns retain the powers which they have not granted to the state as do the several states of the United States.
 We have already q commentary upon section , of the first article of our present constitution. It is declared 1 therein That all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their au- thority and instituted for their bene- fit. The meaning of this is not shadowed by a doubt. It is doctrine enunciated by the United States Su- preme Court and by the State Courts from earliest times. It is q truth and when it was placed ill our pres ent constitution in 1918 it was also q fact. At that time our towns were for the most part alike in population. l Now because of commercial con- dltions resulting in shifting of pop ulation to the manufacturing and ] business centers and the consequent decay of many towns it remains with us true only in theory. in practice simply an empty boast
 Definition is necessary when speak ing of the people as sovereign. We ask what is meant by the sovereign people of state or of the United States. In the great case of Chis- hoIh Ss. state of Georgia, one of those early cases iii which the re- lation of the state government to the -United States was decided. Chief Justice Jay declared as follows: At | the Revolution the sovereignty ue- volved upon the people, and they are l truly the soyereigns of tie country. but they are soyereigns without sub- 1 Ject, and have none to govern but l themselves. The. citizens of America are equal as fellow citizens, and as Joint tenants in the sovereignty. ; 1 From other authorities we learn that the people are the whole body of citi- zens, the citizens and the people be- ing synonomous terms Those who exercise the suffrage are trustees of political power for the people and tnose whom the electors appoint as Ihelr representative i'll the govern mental machinery are simply the agents of the whole body of citizens.
 We now come to the question of tize relations between the people and the state. Justice Wilson. who sign ed the declaration of independence and who was also one of Pennsyl. Ndii1st > ueleSdleS lO Ine constitution al convention of 17S7 gave much thought to this question. He de. scribes q state as a complete body of free persons united together for their l common benefit to enjoy peaceably what is their own. In this socia' compact, each individual engages I with the whole collectively and the whole collectively engages with eacl individual. The people are the state, and the state the people. and by q state forming d republic is meant not the legislature. the exec utive, or the judiciary, but all the citizens. which comprise that state and are. so to speak integral parts of it altogether forming d body DO litic
 Applying these principles to Con necticut we see that this state canno
 be considered apart from the citizens CT the people, except perhaps meta physically. In these citizens or people resides the sovereignty that makes tho state q republic and if it is true tha1 the people are sovereign and have nt superior under God it follows that ev cry part of the people have the same right and every individual should share equally i'll carrying on the gov
 ernment If this is true and I chal
 lenge anyone to prove it false how caT the Connecticut town be q politica
 unit or a sovereign? Town sovereign