The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-17
MR. 1UTHER,s ADDRESS.

 Luther of Trinity College to deliver the principal address yesterday at the Jamestown Exposition upon the occas- ion of the celebration of Connecticut Day was happy one. He is past master of the art of felicitous phras- Ing. At the very outset of his inter- esting and instructive address he paid his Virginian hosts this delicate com pllment: Here, in common speech, things really began to happen" and a few moments later: Your ancestors caught the first boat"
 The charm of Dr. Luthers address will be found to consist in part in his comprehensive understanding of the differences in temperament between the Virginia settlers and those who later came hopefully to the New England shores. In speaking in gen. eral tones, however. of both sets of upbuilders he said that they did not feel their responsibility towards pos- terity as we do They could not so feel, these men with John Smith and Thomas Hooker. The actual struggle from day to day for maintenance was more than enough to absorb every energy" That our Fathers as distin- guished from our Grandsires came nearer to an appreciation of their ob- ligation to those to follow them is, in Dr. Luther's judgment, a justification of the pride Connecticut takes in them. Passing quickly on to the fra ternal relations existing between the States of Virginia and Connecticut, the speaker hit pleasantly upon this manner of making his meaning clear: ''So it is the renewing of old ties when Virginia and Connecticut shake hands and wish each other we'll as we are doing now, It is simply Wash ington and Trumbull over again pledging each to the other a strong loyalty in the cause of a common welfare" And before leaving this part of Dr. Luther's address we should take notice of this striking statement of historical interest: Jamestown colonists were variegated in type, the earliest New Englanders were all alike" Speaking of the persistency with which the Virginia settlers were attacked by the Indian tribes in that vicinity, Dr. Luther indulged himself in this bit of grim humor: "Connecti- cut had but one Indian campaign within its borders, and at it's close the hostile tribe had ceased to exist"
 A striking feature of Dr. Luther's address and one that will make the residents of the small towns of Con- nectictt sit up and take notice deals with the "perplexity" which confronts the country "because some things are going wrong" Applying this perplexi- ty to Connecticut he finds cause of it in the domination of the State by the towns regardless of population He lays down the flat and incontro- vertible proposition that the people of a State and not it's towns should be the source of governmental authority He says in fact "No form of State organization which makes one mans vote many times more effective than another mans can conduce to perma- nent prosperity. Now that in choosing legislators we subject the citizens oi our larger and more prosperous cen. ters to partial disfranchisement, wt jeopardize our once proud position a' leaders in the development of govern ment by the people" Dr, Luther claims no originality for this state ment of fact, He would gladly ac knowledge that with hundreds of oth. CTS he snatehes his theme from tht earlier records of the colony whicf complain of taxation without repre-. sentatien. He is, too at one with sucF men as Stephen w. Kellogg of Water. bury, who over fifty years ago as { young man raised his voice in protes at the political discrimination exercis ed among the men of Connecticut, tt be followed by Henry B. Harrison O this city whose hatred of our unrep resentative government led him tt stirring heights of eloquence. Ther, could be many influential names add ed to these, and notable among then would be that of George P. Mclean O Simsbury. who as governor sough first to have justice done by mean of a constitutional amendment failing in which he successfully urged a con stitutional convention. It stirs tn heart of a constitutional reformer one who has been in the thick of tn fight, to hear again the battle CT raised, this time as cause of per Iplexity because some things are goin wrong. Surely the dispassionate warn ing of President Luther himself
 small town product and a small tow lover will not be lost upon the publi