Norwich bulletin., 1915-09-22

S !.
The. small towns. with few of
the cities, win vote on October gon
a constitutional amendment which. is
designed to increase the mileage Of
the members or the general assem-
bly,. says the Hartford Courant AT
present they receive from the comp
trcller one round trip mileage Of IS
cents p mile and, IL the prDposed
amendment is approved, the comp
trnlier may provide by law for the
transportation OF each member by
public conveyance by the most con-
venient route between his home sta
ton and the place Of meeting dur
4 Ing the session or sessions of the gen.
eral assembly to which he was elect
feds This custom was followed until
the session of 1913. when it was dis
covered, to the CONSERVATION OF the
members, that it was unconstitutional
and good part of that hurried ses-
sion was devoted to fruftless attempts
to find q path around the constitu-
ton, the amendment in question be-
ing the method finally chosen. At the
recent session the amendment passed
the house. Pill to 3, the dissenting
!of Waterbury, Gray of North Ston-
ington and Bailey. Of Cornwall, a re-
publican and two democrats. No dis
ssenting votes were cast in the senate,
hence IL may be assumed that the
proposed amendment represents prac-,
Ideally the unanimous view of the ses-
sion of 1915.
Excellent arguments may be adj
vanced either for or against the ap-
prevail of the amendment. It may be
said that the commonwealth has the
right to expect some service from the
Individual and that nothing in the
tconstitution or the statutes will per-
INIT an elector to be torn from the
bosom of his family and forced to
serve as a. senator or representative
without his consent. The candidate
knows perfectly well what he may ex-
IL he does not care to make the neces-
sary sacrifice he is not compelled to.
The other side Of the question is that
the state is able and ought to be will
ing to pay her lawmakers. at least
to- the extent Of the carfare which
they are obliged to pay In order to
do their work where the state insists
It shall be done. The $500 which the
state pays its lawmakers is not so
much a salary as a jest, but when the
legislator is compelled to expend most
OF his $500 for transportation the hui
NOR disappears altogether.
Under the peculiar system Of voting
upon constitutional amendments the
exact figures will not be at hand un-
der a matter Of nine months as the
lANAC6 Will tOl6 DIT l11olE L0SpGCllN9 6l6C-
tfons which run along until next July.
Even then, assuming that the amend
ment is approved, it may not aid the
the members Of the general assembly,
ofs1917 which would be called upon to
fxg the mileage because OF constitu-
tional provision which lbars public
officials from securing raise Of SAL
airy while in office. To be sure, it has
been discovered that this prohibition
does not apply in the matter of GER
tain judges, but It is possible that
the decision cannot be stretched to
cover a legislature. However, it may
besas well to wait until the opinion
of the small town voters is learned
What they say is likely to go, so far
as this amendment Is concerned
The amendment is as follows:
That portion OF section 8 or ar
ticle, "a Of the amendments to the
constitution which relates to mile-
age OF members Of the general as
sembly is hereby amended to read
as follows: and in addition to such
compensation the general assembly
may provide by law for the trans
portation OF each member by public
conveyance by the most convenient
route between his home station and
the place of meeting during the ses-
sion or sessions OF the general as
sembly to which hc was elected"