Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-30
A Long Delayed Duty.

Governor Townsend has finally taken
action 10 respect of calling speciai 'i''-
ton FOR the purpose of filling the vacancy
N tho membership OF the next House o'
Representatives caused Ivy TIE vote no
turcn tho Democratic and Repubie"h
candidates for Representatives IN the
sS-vrnth district Of Sussex county az inc
,,,pernI election on NovembeE 2 he mas
az, ,borircd the sheriff Of Sussex count yto
prnvide for holding the special elect'oh
.n Thursday. December so.
Va tho General Assembly Will convene
~ npver on Tuesday, January =, Asei'
shcrr will be only three secular days nc
,wr-n tho holding Of the special election
snd the opening oi the session at wh'ch
fhr successful candidate for Representa-
w. Will assume his scat This ~ plenty
ions enough for ordinary purposes. nut
,hs circumstances attending thus affair are
-unrwhat extraordinary, and CONSIDER
.bl, longer interim would have hccn ad-
yl~sble and far more assuring. It's hopcH
,hcrrfo-c there will be no hitch III tho
spsr,ai election, and that the candidate
,,r,.ted vii he prepared - assume nus
,trrf,c~ with other members Of the House 81
Representatives when the session begins
Tts failure 81 the voters of the Seventh
Representative district Of Sussex county
90 choose. Representative on the general
,i-~tion lrft the next House q Represen-
tsfivcs IN = condition Of equal po'nl'a'
divi-; n. II Democrats and IL kepuhh-
car. The breaking Of the tie, therefore,
is essential 30 the complete ORGANIZATION
Of The new General Assembly IN view ot
The es,ervrncy thereby created. i seems
4, many cssis~ns that IL would have been
the r.rt a wisdom had the governor
,.len action for holding the special cleo
tio-n az the earliest possible date. IN ordeT
slst tisnr would have heen available N
the event n another failure 81 elect,
which however. i. not reasonably prob
able put in f. situation { such char
ar,ev all the armcnts of wisdom and ro-
s-rS for public interests favored carrier
action by the governor, action that won'o
have involved no risk.
Why Governor Townsend DELAYED 80
Isns j. not matter Of public iniorma-
tiou He might have issued h's call N
ta,ne for holding the election this week.
which would have allowed ample time
t,rsw~cn before the meeting Of the General
Assembly Also. there would have heen
shs decided advantage Of the prevailing
moderate weather. which would have
made ]; possible foT the full body oi the
~lertrrlte to participate IN their puhhc
duty OF choosing their Representative INTO
she Legislature Il now remains for all
interested 20 earnestly hope for pleasant
weather on December 80, the date aP-
,,oan,~d for the special election, IN order
that the result may he full and unchal-
lcngeable expression of public sentiment.
There have been uImoTr that the
governor DELAYED action AZ the request oi
lcade, oi the Republican party orRaniza-
t.ot who desired all the time possible Tor
Strengthening out party tanele IN that
district. . factional disturbance that was
LARGELY responsible for the tic vote. as the
sisaGlEt - lUItldliS iNEt'NaaFAAttN4A - - -
jol-it7s cf st lesst two hundred But no de-
r.and cf 1arti.an expediencv should have
actuated the governor in the perfoTmano
q : dut- fraught with such Importance
Without the election Of q member from
TINS district Il would he practically I'M
possible fer the House Of Representatives
70 organize. and without the cooperation
Of the House the State Senate would be
unable = effectively transact business
complete General Assembly, therefore, Is
essential, and that public interests should
have been served by an earlier date for the
special election, e. that the danger of
further complications would be reduced 70
the smallest compass, viii be generally ad-
rnitted. However. the governor has seen
fl 20 act otherwise and il now only re-
mains 70 hope for the best.