The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-03-04

NeUFdShd W WdICH the success OF Idll-
ure of its new unicameral, or single
house, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS jan
uary under notable auspices and with
the blessing of Senator George w.
Norris, its most ardent sponsor
citizens of Maryland have been hearing
some faint STRINGS on behalf of a
similar experiment for this State.
A bill on the subject has been intro
duced in the House of Delegates by
Speaker Emanuel Gorfn, proposing
constitutional amendment which would
provide for Maryland a single house
of thirty-ive members-one from
each of the counties and two from each
of the six legislative districts of Balti-
more. But the bill has attracted scant
notice. If the words of the politicians
most closely in touch with what is 60
ing on at the State House may be ac-
cepted as prophetic, the idea is not
likely to cause much of a stir at this
session. For in Maryland, as in most
other States, the politicians are against
it.
Contrary to popular notions, the in
novation now receiving practical test
in Nebraska is not brand-new idea at
all. Senator Norris has been so promi-
nently identified with the movement in
his own State that he has become, by
popular consent, "the father of the
unicameral legislature" AS a matter
of fact the idea is very much older
than the venerable Progressive Sena-
tor. Not only did it receive consider
able discussion in the early days Of the
republic, but three States-Pennsyl-
vania, Georgia, and Vermont, actually
began their existences with unicameral
legislatures.
Nebraska's adoption of the single
house legislative body was not a sud-
den inspiration. 1t had been debated
and discussed there for quarter of a
century before its adoption, and in that
same period at least twenty-five other
States discussed it. In 1912 the Ne
braska Legislature appointed a joint
commission to recommend legislative
reforms and the unicameral idea was
among the recommendations that body
published in 1918. The State rejected
it then, and again at the Nebraska
Constitution convention of 1920.
Two factors were predominantly
responsible for the success of the plan
in the Cornhusker State in 1854
whirlwind campaign in its behalf by
Senator Norris, who stumped in every
hamlet, village and cross-road, and a
general sentiment of revolt among the
people of Nebraska over the conduct
of their bicameral Legislature in 1888.
In that year bicameral legislators be-
gan their biennial session with high
resolve-publicly proclaimed-to ex-
pediate the business before them, pass
as few bills as possible and generally
imp owe On the record of preceding
sessions. They ended up, however, in
one of the longest, bitterest sessions
in the States history.
***
That ill-starred performance caused
a revulsion of feeling throughout the
State, and it was in this fertile ground
that Senator Norris and his coworkers
labored prodigiously. In the vernacular
of the salesman, they sold the unicam-
eral idea to the people of Nebraska in
the face of stiff opposition from most
of the politicians. The plan won by
a margin of 286,086 to 1913, 152.
Nebraska thus becomes the first of
the United States to break away from
the traditional two-house legislature,
but seven of the nine provinces of
Canada have unicameral legislative
bodies, and all the major cities of
America have single-chamber city
councils.
In the early days of American indie
pendence the two-house legislature
was adopted largely as matter Of
course-not only because it had been
the distinctive form in Colonial days,
but because the principle of checks
and balances was then paramount in
the considerations surrounding the es-
tablishment of governing bodies. The
State Senates represented aristocracy
and wealth, and in many instances high
property qualifications were fixed for
membership. The houses were re-
garded as more directly responsive to
the public will.
Singularly, a majority of the early
cities had single council, but only
three State had unicameral legis-
latures. Two of these, apparently,
were persuaded to the system by the
example of Pennsylvania. That States
Constitution of 1776 provided a single
House of Representatives The follow
ing year both Georgia and Vermont
provided the single-body legislatures
IN their new constitutions, the former
retaining the system twelve years.
until 1889, when it adopted a