Milford chronicle., 1949-02-04
lowing to say:
UNFAIR REPRESENTATION

UNFAIR REPRESENTATION
"The Women's JOinst Legislative Com
mittee, meeting at Dover, listened to the oft
repeated story that Wilmington is not fairly
represented in the House of Representatives.
How true it isl What surprised us was the
identity of the person bringing it up: Gov
ernOr Carvel from Sussex County. We can |
not call TO mind any Sussex or Kent COun-
tian who has ever before made public rec
ommendatiOn that northern Delaware should
get better break in the General Assembly. |
''Thank you, Governor! Wilmington can
use a little moral support from down the
state-plus any political support you can
dig up.
at is perfectly true, of course, that the
Governor may have some ulteriOr motives
for his current stand. DOwnstate Democrats
are coming to regard Wilmington as Demo
cratic stronghold. The Democrats probably
would have a better chance of winning con-
troll of the General Assembly if Wilmington
were given a larger share OF the legislators In
the House.
The Governor, therefore, takes longer
view than his Democratic colleagues (dOWn-
state) who vigorously opposed giving the
upstate areas a fair proportion of the dele
gates to the party's convention last summer.
And, in any case, what Mr.. Carvel says is
right. Wilmington, with tWO-fifths of the
states OpulatiOn-eXcluding suburbs-has
only One-Seventh of the representatives five
out of 85.
"Here's a contrast: On the average, a
Wilmington member of the House represents
21 400 persons. He has one vote. So has the
member from Blackbird Hundred, who rep
resents only 1,17O. There you are, ladies.
It's discOuraging battle to fight, but you're
welcome to come on in"
What they say has been said hundreds of
times in the past-by residents of Whining
ton. Baltimore city yelps the same way in
Maryland. So does almost every large city
in the Nation. We can agree with the Morn
ing News, however, when they say that they
are surprised that the suggestion should
come from Governor Carvel, who lives in
Laurel. Coming from a dOwn-state resident
it is surprising. You may recall that several
months ago the Chronicle warned that an
effort might be made to revive this question
of representation in the General Assembly
DOWNSTAIRS, whether Democrat Republi-
can or mug Warnp will do well to remember
this one little thing-pOlitical eXpediency OF
no eXpediency once Wilmington should gel
in position to dominate the legislature your
chances of equitable legislation in Kent anC
Sussex Counties will be Just about zero
Bear this in mind, Kent and Sussex Counties
residents-it is a danger that you dare no
encourage regardless Of your political affil
iatiOn. The issue has been raised. AlertneS
on your part will be necessary from now on
&1O@G
LUXURY Is BEING IMPOSED ON Us
We are a luxury loving people, and tina
fact underlies not only most of our industris
progress but a good many of our curren
public problems.
Part of the high cost of housing in thes
times stems from the fact that we deman
many more refinementS in our homes tina
formerly. The final cost reflects not Onl
higher priced material and labor, but mUc
more of it.
A recent comparison made by one of tn
big automobile manufacturers show that tn
lowest priced car in it's 1948 line is longer
wider, faster and more powerful than tn
second highest priced car of the same con
panys line in 1929. Ut is also nearly g
expensive)
The demand for improvement is leadin
to the elimination of what the British ca
"austerity" products from our market. Pc,
pie tOday.wOuld not buy tin lizzies, no matte
how cheap they might be- People will NJ
buy new houses that are inadequately plumb
: ed and wired and heated, even though the
]. could thereby get hOuses-as we did a ge
I Grafton agO-mUch more cheaply.
This demand for improvement is the bas
u ONA AAAANOGA 4csA OJAClASCIl oIlu OuI luII OI
I plOyment and our prosperity, but as with
= 7 progress, it is uneven. There are times VIII
l. we might be better off it we were less accu
e toned to comfort
: AS it is in industry, so it is in cover
= ment. Whether we like it or not, we ha
y to buy and pay for thousands of gOvernme
n services and activities that are not essenti
4 Since government is nOn-prOductive, there
not the same benefit from expansion to ser
luxury demands there as is the case Wi
productive industry. 1t is in the field
lg government that our unwillingness to lin
p ourselves to utilitarian services are hurti
u the most.