The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1943-05-29
25-cENT-A.YEAR MEN

| A good many years have passed since
complaints have been made that the house
of representatives in Washington is alto
gether too ponderous" too unworkable",
but, instead of any action having been taken
to reduce the membership, it has been in
creasing steadily from congress to congress.
1t would be an easy matter to cut down
/ the size of the representation in the house
! by constitutional change that wodldoatih-
crease the number of population that eaeh,
member would represent, but it is the same
cid political game, as The Citizen has rtL
marked on sundry occasions, of ihcreasing,
not decreasing, the number of seats. :
And now comes the Florida senate,
voting 33 to 3, to add three more senators
to the SO we already have. 1t may be point
ed out that our population is growing, and
il may be said that the people of Key West
are dissatisfied over being represented in
the senate by man whose home is in Fort
Myers, but the first objection may be met
easily by requiring each senator to represent
more people, and, as to our being represent
ed in the senate by an out-of-towner, we
should not forget that Key Wester, from
the time this senatorial district was formed
till David Elmer Ward, Fort Myers man,
was elected in 1888, represented Fort Ny
ers. and other mainland cities nfthe senate.
But we are noW ,,pdte6ted5 as wenfor
many years o0tvoted, that partafl thee sena
torial district outside off NJ onrue county,
would prefeffb have 6uf own senator, But
only the largest counties in the state have
their own senators. The 67 counties are
split up into SO senatorial districts.
So if three more senatorial districts are
created, they will not in any way affect
Monroe county except to reduce the proper
tomato influence, through his vote, of the
senator from this district. But, aside from
that phase of the question, the old political
game is at work again in trying to create
more public offices that will draw more
money from the taxpayers pocketbook. It
is the same old thing: Reduce the number
of office holders? Oh, no, nor You hear
the familiar voice of the politicians
Drew Pearson's predictions of things
to come" are not the only ridiculous things
he blares over the radio In his broadcast
of week ago, he suggested (his language
was forceful enough to be that of an advo-
cate) that the salaries of congressman be
increased from the present $4,000 asyear
each to S25, O00
~ ''They have to maintain two homes, one
kin Washington and one in their district,
Pearson blurbed, and cited other instances
Why each should pocket salary of 1000
year.
Practically every newspaper in the
land and many radio commentators too have
declared that the present congressman have
reduced themselves to figureheads, with
out an outstanding Figure" or an outstand-
ing "head" either in the house or the senate
The Citizen does not wish to be person
al, so it will not say Florida it will say it
knows of certain state not more than
couple of thousand miles from Florida that
has a senator and string of representatives
who are not worth 25 cents a year in their
present capacity. They may be good IN
other callings, but they are extremely bad as
the delegates sof the people in the senate
and the house of that Us 8 ststa h0talzhre
than a couple of thousand miles from Flori-
da. !, ~ EhSbkIhIF4fkkg
Moral. Put no faith in liar, no mat