The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-05
THE CONNECTICUT AGITATION

THE CONNECTICUT AGITATION
 It Is encouraging to find that the interest in the discussion over the needs from which the State of Con- necticut is suffering increases rather than decreases with the additional at- tention given 1t by the press of the State. It is all well enough for a single newspaper to open the discussion as The Journal and Courier had the good fortune to do but in order to make the undertaking inure to the welfare of the State of Connecticut all of the newspapers must take an interest. If the welfare of the State is not involv- ed then nothing Is involved worth the consideration of anybody and the sug- gestions might just as well as not be dropped and all of us settle back into the old tracks and remain Corrupt and content"
 We understand the attitude of the Bridgeport Farmer to be that nothing worth the doing can be ac- complished until the present unrepre- sentative system of government in the halls of legislation is abandoned for system based upon population instead of acres. We agree that the system complained of is indefensible in fhor- als and possibly indefensible in law. It is the accidental growth of years and has nothing to recommend 1t in the original purpose of the founders. It would be 1amentable, however, if Connecticut should sullenly await the establishment of the needed change before undertaking to make in the meantime the best of bad bargain. The agitation for representative re- form by means of the revision of the constitution is over fifty years old and we are to-day only that much nearer to its achievement than the education al results of the present agitation are bringing us. For revisionist of the earnestness of the Bridgeport Farm CT to lag in the movement because 1t cannot get at one blow what 1t is bound to receive some day is regret table. Even with an unrepresentative system of legislative government much can be done to make it more endur- able without in the slightest degree impairing the principle involved,
 Our esteemed contemporary from Waterbury, the American insists np- on what to us appears to be an aca- demic attitude towards the entire movement It has eyes nor ears for sessions of the General Assembly, possible time limit or the prohibition of special legislation. It harks back to the familiar cry that what is wanted is men, men and then more men; that with good men the prevailing distrac- tions would disappear and we should all be discussing something else. If that had been "the fathers" idea of the ease with which the wheels of government could be moved they nev- CT in the world would have told us that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty They would have said that given the right men and liberty would be found quite capable of talk ing care of itself. There has not been General Assembly in years which contained so many men of ability and capacity as men are measured in their own localities, It was remarked upon by every newspaper in the State and in particular by the Waterbury American, which had good reasons To- cally for its hopefulness. These men did not go wrong and suddenly devel- op love for the shady sides of public life So complicated was the lesson set them to learn that they could not discover in time to be effective the way to go right. It was the system which barred their entrance to a higher understanding of legislative usefulness and it is that system which will prevail just as long as the profess sional politicians see that the discus- sion is to be carried along the lines of an appeal for a higher order of statesmanship. They will not be moved or disturbed until they see evidence that their methods are to be attacked directly.
 We find ourselves more in agree ment with the Hartford Times, which says: There is no doubt that some important changes are seriously and generally desired by the voters. The more they make their feeling clear the sooner they will obtain what they