Evening journal., 1912-12-12
THE SENATOR FROM kENT


COUNTY.
From the Wilmington Every Evening.
The Delaware State News and the
Index. Democratic papers published
at Dover, are unit in demanding
that the United States Senator to be
elected by the Democratic majority
OF the next Legislature shall come
from Kent county They are willing
to submit TO a Sussex county selec-
tion, should the Democratic caucus
so decide, but never Will thoy agree
that the honor shall be bestowed upon
New Castle county.
AS we have shown upon more than
one occasion, the claims of county.
notwithstanding the fact that the State
is so small that an honor for any
county is sure TO be an honor for
tho entire State. have ever been dom
inant in Delaware. Generally. they
We're exercisd to the great advantage
of the two lower counties, but the
time came when New Castle county
rose in protest and claimed county
rights also. The first demonstration
of independence on the part of the
upper county came at the Democratic
State Convention of 1874. when New
Castle county solidly supported John
j. Cochran of St. Georges hundred
for governor and demanded his nom
inatiOn on the ground that New Cas-
a mo a..
for 30 years. Mr. Cochran was nom
mated and elected, and this victory
was the genesis of the system of
rotating the Democratic nomination
for governor regularly from one coun-
ty to the other, which has continued
to this day
Also, i'm the days when the Demo-
cratic party was almost continuously
i'm power in Delaware, the two United
States Senators were divided, one
going TO New Castle county and the
other to Kent or Sussex. In the
pending contest, these two Dover
papers maintain that at New Castle
county already has one United States
Senator Senator Henry A. dupont,
whose term will not end until March
Sd, 1917-the other senatorship
should so to Kent or Sussex. And
they insist that the claims of Kent
county are paramount to those of
Sussex by reason of the greater vol
ume of the Democratic wave which
swept over Kent county at the recent
election. in comparison with the Dem
ocratic wave which engulfed Sussex
also. OF the 20 Democratic members
OF the present General Assembly
they proudly point to the fact that -
represent Kent county, while 10 come
from Sussex and only seven from
New Castle. AS the banner county
they insist that Kent shall have the
senatorial honor.
Kent county's paramount claims
are also urged by the further fact
that it gained practically nothing
from the Democratic victory in the
State this year, the lieutenant-gOv-
ernor and attorney general coming
from New Castle, the State treasurer
auditor and insurance commissioner
from Sussex, while the Representa-
tive in Congress-, although a resident
OF Kent county. does business mainly
/ in Wilmington, and therefore Is
hardly 10 be considered as a Kent
county assignment What will Kent
get If she is not allowed to have the
Z United States Senator Kent Demo-
Gratis plaintively inquire.
As we have said our State is so
small that county claims should real
ly have little or no weight But the
plain fact is that they have long had
great weight and are still potent. The
manner i'm which Kent county Demo-
Gratis are claiming the next senator
ship is an interesting demonstration
of this fact.