Middletown transcript., 1905-09-23
M1DDLErowN, BEL, SEP. IS, 1905.
.A UNITED PARTY NEAR

into one. The Republican (botf
Union and Regular) editoria
writers of the State held two
meetings, one on Friday and one
on Tuesday, both well attended
and agreed to unite i'll a move
ment to secure, first, the filling
of the existing vacancy in the
United States Senate, and. sec
ond, .party reorganization. The
first of these can be secured only
by the action of the Genera
Assembly in special convention
and with the consent and votes Of
twenty-seven Republican mem
bers. This vacancy is now, and
has been for more than ten years,
the bone of contention. the split
of the party coming as a result OF
the refusal of four members OF
the General Assembly of 1895 to
abide by the action of and join
with the other fifteen Republican
members and choose senator.
Since the vacancy is the cause
of the split, the natural remedy
is, remove the cause. An i'm
portant factor to be considered
in this connection is that with
two senators to be chosen by the
next General Assembly, the'com-
mon enemy" will be united. With
only one senatorship in view, the
Democratic aspirants will fight
it out themselves and harmony
will not prevail in their ranks.
AS to the second proposition,
we do not believe that there are
a handfulof Republicans opposed
to a reorganization. Of course,
there are differences of opinion
as to ways and means, ranging
from those Republicans who say
1--WE are right and the only way
to have one party is for the
Union Republicans to surrender
their organization and come back
into the party" to those Union
Republicans who say "F'or ten
years we have been extending
an invitation for you to come in
to our fold and you can do it
now" We do not concur in either
of these opinions. We believe
that way can be arranged for
an equitable REIMBURSEMENT of
party affairs. We do not pre-
tend to set up any cut and dried
plan, for we know that this re-
adjustment can only be secured
by compromise. But where the
will is, a way can be found.
One of the serious obstacles to
be overcome will be that of APP
portionment. The Republican
State Convention consists of 100
delegates, 40 from the city of
Wilmington, 38 from rural New
Castle County, 40 from Kent and
AZ from Sussex Counties. This
was made in 1866 and repre-
sented at that time the proper
ton of population. The growth
of the city of Wilmington since
has thrown this apportionment
basis all wrong. The Union
Republican State Convention
consists of 1876 delegates based
on 5 delegates from each Repre-
sentative District, with 10 addi-
tional delegates accorded the
city. If the apportionment of
Representatives by the Consti-
tuition were fair, or even approx
imately so, the Union Republi-
cans would be more nearly right
than the others. But, as it is, in
their convention, Blackbird Hun
dred with 125 Republicans, has
the same representation as st,
Georges with 600 Republicans
or Christiana with 9Oo But we
believe that common sense and
a desire for party success can
overcome even this obstacle.
The Republican State Com
mittee has been called in session
for to-day and there is no doubt
that a proposition will be formu-
lated that will eventually lead
to one Convention, one State
Committee and one County and
District Committee in each and
every District in the State. 1t
may not come as quickly as we
desire, but it will come. The
people are in earnest and meet
ings are being held to urge party
leaders on to action. In spite
of this being an off year party
zeal and activity are high, and
even though the leaders might
not be strongly in favor of action
public opinion would force them.
Such is not the case, however.
The party leaders are in earnest
and desire a coalition of forces,
that shall be just, equitable and