Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-06-17


panies, and first made national repu
tation in that way. He has been an
active Republican all his life, and has |
usually run with the machine al
though he has been extremely critical |
of candidates and has been classed |
with the reform element in his party
He was nominated as the Republican
candidate for mayor of New York in
1905, but declined and accepted the
nomination for governor last fall with
great reluctance. He finally accepted
in a speech in which he defined the
policy that he would pursue If elected
and he is now trying to carry it out.
when / became governor" he said
not long ago, Il took the office rightly
pledged to administer its powers for
the bneft of the people OF the state.
undertook to formulate policy
which | believed to represent the just
demands of the people. There could
be and can be no defeat of that pol
icy save at Republican hands. The
Republican party is in a majority in
both houses of the legislature and it
cannot escape responsibility for meet
ing the demands Of public sentiment
Let me make my own attitude en-
tlrely clear. So far as | am person
ally concerned | ask for nothing. l
know too much of the cares and re
sponsibilities of public Office to cherish
any Illusions on the subject. But |
have an intense desire to see the
state administration improved and
abuses corrected. | have an intense
desire to see the Republican party re-
deem its pledges and take advantage
of its opportunities. AS the elected
representative OF the people | pro
pose to do my duty by the people
and in this effort not only welcome
but | am earnestly desirous to receive
the support OF all who have the in
terests of our state at heart"
That defines his political policy
quite clearly and he is now trying to
work out the details In manner thot
is not entirely agreeable to the Re
publican majority in the legislature, or
the odd Guard" as they call them.
selves. | wrote you the other hay
about the forcible manner in which
he put through the radical bill Ia reg
ulate the corporations and his deter
mlnation to settle the dispute over the
recent election for mayor by recount
ing the ballots. He now proposes to
pass a law reapportioning the lesisla-
tive districts of the state on popula
ton basis rather than for politica.
advantage.
The court of appeals not long ago
decided that the present arrangement
of senatorial districts is uncoustitd
uonal because of Irregularities in the
first district, which takes in Staten
island. and the thirteenth, which is IN
lower New York city. According 20
the conventional custom, the legisla
ture. having n Republican majoritv
assembly districts so as to prolopg its
power. 1t crowded all the heavy
Democratic wards into the same dis
trict and threw as many Republican
precincts as possible into the doubtful
ones. This practice is traditional and
is usually accepted by the party out
of power, but the gerrymander was
overdone in the two districts named
an appeal was made to the court, and
the entire law was declared aulI and
void
1t was the intention of the commit
tees of the Legislature having jurlsdic-
tion over this subject to readiusr the
. | do ri 1f fh., u. .g..g- Al.
districts so as to comply with The
order OF the court without taking lry
further political risks than were ali,
solutely necessary, but, to their as.
tonishment, Governor Hughes declar
ed that the entire state should be re-
apportioned in fair and rational man
ner on a population basis, as evenly
as could be done without div yid ~
counties. At present some Of the
senatorial DISTRICTS have only 1900
population, while others have as high
as $4,000. Governor Hughes inform
ed the Legislature that this was noi
right or fair and recommended that
the entire state should be redistricted
upon the basis of about 1876 900 to the
district, more or less. which Ia n fair
average. He declares that the duty
of the Legislature is clearly defined
by the constitution, and that nothing
like political or personal advantages
should be allowed to interfere with
that duty. Also. he is quite clear as
to his own duty. He has recomme I'd.
ed in formal message to the lez'--
lature "a perfectly fair apporti0nme'.
in accordance with the letter ana the
spirit of the constitutions" "the pas.
sage of new apportionment Fot
which will redistrict the state SO as
to provide such equality of representa-
tion as can be had under the cGnsti.
tutional provisions, and of such char.
acter as to be of unduestioned validity
and commend itself to the intelligent
judgment of the people"
AT first the "Old Guard" as the Re
publican stalwarts call themselves,
thought it was good joke. They
were very much amused at the cum
ming of the governor in assuming such
high minded and impartial attitud
and the GOODNESS with which he dis.
| a,..l. h..