The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-07

Three legislative reforms-rs-
hDportionmsnt Of representation in
tAs general assembly. extension Of
fall rights, to women. and modjh-
cation Of statutes upon rsvsnues-
long and almost unanimously de-
mAnded BY the people Of Illinois.
have been provided IN the propos-
"a new state constitution, accord
. ing to Cyrus Diets, Moline. MEM
Der of the constitutional c0nven-
ton. who addressed the Coe unit
Of the county home bureau in Fair
neld church yesterday.
The men who drafted the pro-
posed state constitution to be sub
mitted Dec. IL, were the represen-
tatives Of the people. They were
selected by the people especially
for that particular undertaking"
said Mr.. Dietz. Consequently. in
sofar as It is humanity possible IN
self-government for the people to
act. through representatives chos-
en- by themselves. the draft Of the
proposed constitution represents
the composite judgment OF the
whole people of the state OF Illi-
nois. A. the election for adoption,
the people are merely presenting
to themselves for their final ap-
prevail the work OF their chosen
representatives. This being the
case, the presumption at the outset
should tie in favor Of its ratiflca-
ton.
There are but three long and
Eng. persistent and generally con-
CURED in demands, which induced
the call Of the convention For
some time the people had been de-
manding equal suffrage and full
rights for women. The rapidly in
creasing population in Chicago and
the urgent requests, covering q
period Of many years. for a re-
appOrtionment OF the legislative
districts. had brought about de-
mand on the part of the people
downstate for an effective limita-
ton upon Cook county in the gen.
cral assembly.
1.-THE othe. long-standing. per-
sistent and generally concurred IN
demand was for a modification Of
the article on revenue. which re-
quired all property to be assessed
on an ad valorem basis.
Meet Three Demands.
ut Is entirely safe to say that
except for these three demands a
convention would not have been
called. In the proposed draft all Of
these three demands have been met
and complied with in q manner
quite clearly in accordance with
the manifest views Of the great ma
jority O. the whole people Of the
state. These changes alone should
insure its ratification.
"The provision for restricting
Cook county, which makes 1t i'm.
possible for Cook county to have
more than one-third of the mem
hers Of the senate. is an effective
limitation. The change which make:
the basis for representation in the
lower house electors instead Of
population. also operates as lin.
itation upon Cook county. for the
reason that the percentage Of the
non voting population In Cool
county is much greater than thu
percentage OF the non-voting pop
ulation downstate.
THE new plan does away with
the scheme OF minority representa-
ton. which permits each voter tt
cast as manv as three votes for on,
candidate. The pumping" of thes,
votes for one candidate has lons
been recognized as political evil
By this method frequently Their,
were elected candidates who wer,
not the choice Of the majority, an<
the rule Of the majority was de
feated.
'In addition to abolishing minor
ity representation. the new plan re
quires that the whole state be di
vided into AZ many legislative dis
tricts as there are legislators to b,
elected. Under this arrangement
each candidate will be obliged Il
seek election on his own merits
without the assistance Of politica
cliques and combinations. Not onl.
that. but. inasmuch as he will b,
chosen from smaller district, b,
will necessarily be closer to ant
more responsive to the will of hi.
constituents.
Gives Women Fights.
Illinois is the only state in tn,
union which has ever had minorit.
representation. TeDr reasons which
are plainly obvious to those il
touch with public affairs at Spring
field there has been a persistent
and quite generally concurred il
demand that It be abolished. This