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6 NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
tical strife, it would be well to pause and reflect upon 
the event of 1853, And here I would quote to you the 
words of Marcus Morton, a Democrat, a former judge 
of the Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth, 
an advocate of the convention of 1853, and a delegate 
to the convention, who, when it closed its sittings, went 
back to his constituents and urged them not to aecept 
the new constitution offered to them. He says: 
“The question of a convention assumed the form of 
a heated party contest and a fierce struggle for ascend- 
ancy between the contending parties............ I will 
not shrink from my share of the responsibility for hav- 
ing called the convention. But I need not now say, that, 
had I foreseen the course which the convention adopted, 
and the resuit to which they came, I would have voted 
differently. But although I saw the political contest in 
the election of delegates, and the party character of the 
delegates themselves, | still clung to the hope that, when 
we entered into the hall a constitutional legislature, we 
should remember that the revision of the Constitution 
and the introduction of new or the modification of old 
principles of organic law, required the coolest judgment 
and the most dispassionate consideration; and that on 
passing the threshold of the temple, we should shake 
from our feet the dust of party spirit, party prejudice 
and party interest. But in this I was disappointed.” 
There is no reason to believe that a convention this 
year or next would act otherwise than that of 1853. The 
debate on the floor of the House on the question of sub- 
stituting the bill for a convention for the adverse report 
of the committee on constitutional amendments, degen- 
erated into a purely partisan one, The question became 
not one of the interests of the people and what the con- 
NORTH SHORE MOTH WORK. John L. Thorndike ......... 100 Is Root To BLAME? 
Wms» Hooperns fai sie ees oe 100 : 
(Continued from page 4) Exrs, Newer CO Wicth nah eee 100 6, Jt has been discovered at Wash- 
T. Dennie Boardman ........ 109 (ington that former Secretary: of 
Gordon Dexter ............ SO cry gecesi 109 State Root, who now accepts Nobel 
James-Le ¢ Baines ses 2 ion eine 90. e RH. Biles eee roo. Prizes, Senatorial togas, Carnegie 
Mrsaiqvliasbeabodyighe ie. > 50 S Pp Shak Bias ee roo | «SOft snaps—and at the same time 
Hon. Geo. H, Lyman ....... 50 ok ess OF aan stands up unded more expressions 
_ Jefferson Coolidge ....... 100 Ae gas 
Ton! RichidcH panei 100. 60! appreciation of the extraordinary 
Total $12,250 The Mj ; ability he is supposed to possess, 
e Misses Bartlett ........ 50 th th PE 8 a 
WOODS ROADS Mrs. Edward Wigglesworth a the ficet 46 dice 
Miss Marion L. Blake ...... $30 (Sarah A. Wigglesworth) ... SOe ‘ r a4 ie neat i a oa 
The Misses Strugis ......... 50 Hons, should De 
MANCHESTER RotanddGereaaiin 6 administration of Panama Canal 
George R. White ........... $500 WRichand ican eae 2° tolls. England, it is said, would 
Harrison. KCaneriant a cee 250: dinr ear Atta len eA aan 5 ps “never have thought of it had it not 
Wm Walker wtyr sy ieaces B50) ane REL sate 2 been for Root.” The latest an- 
Edward. S:-Grews 250-. Mrs “Alice G ‘To Ye eee 5° nouncement is that Root has a new 
George Wigglesworth ....... 250 AREY Wigan ct ee Ra 4° canal act ‘ready in case the Adminis- 
: = anal Nelson S. Bartlett: 0... 07. 25 ° . 
Flenrictta (ss Fitz’ cee 250 Russell T az tration plan, which the New York 
Charles EeCottine. 06 [ej 250 Alex. § aay iy jt jest ching ee eat = Solon supports, should not be speed- 
Lestereland” 5:5" sein ark 250 satay Jam os TB figs virion tite . ily enacted, 
Walter J. Mitchell .......... 250:<" Tone Huet meee ene cae aa 5 
Mrs, James McMillan ....... 250 DERMIS nat tetris Cate tes i Smile a smile; 
Gardiner’ Mw Lane tic as. foes 250 While you smile, another smiles 
Henry L. Higginson ........ 250 age $6,615 And ee there’s miles 
Mrs. Charles S, Hanks ...... 250 MAGNOLIA And miles of smiles, 
Francis M. Whitehouse ..... 250) <Misai!Haullcener stench sees $200 And life’s worth while 
Wm.-H. Coolidge 3, .a04e0, 250 Edward C. Richardson ...... 100 If you but smile. 
George N. Black .......3... 250 —JANE THOMPSON. 
Mrs, Mary R. Bremer ...... 200 ‘Total $300 
Misses Amy & Clara Curtis . 200 ——_——_———_ Concentrate. Reserve your ener- 
Mrs. S. Parkman Blake ..... 150 That which pleases us in people gies. ‘The tea-kettle served to point 
Robert -UcPatey 2d-aee mean 150 who are rising pleases us less in the the way to a great invention, but es- 
Mrs. Charles P, Hemenway .. 150 case of people who are falling—  caping steam never moved a train of 
Gordon Abbott Victor Huco. 
vention might accomplish, but merely an attempt to gain 
party prestige and party capital. In the light of what 
happened in 1853 and in the light of the recent debate 
on the floor of the House, no sober-thinking man could 
doubt that a constitutional convention would degener- 
ate into an attempt merely to gain some party advantage 
and would be used in an effort to artificially build up 
one party at the expense of the others, 
One other significant fact should be mentioned. For 
years the people have been fighting for equal suffrage, 
the Initiative and Referendum and other measures which 
make for the prosperity and self-government of the peo- 
ple, and now for the first time is there a prospect of 
success, and now for the first time does a legislative com- 
mittee submit a favorable report on these measures. Is 
the attempt to get a convention brought about by the 
desire of some legislators to avoid their own responsi- 
bility on these questions? Here is a peculiar conjuction 
of facts to say the least. They deserve careful scrutiny. 
In conclusion then, the convention may be unconsti- 
tutional, it will be very expensive, it will likely accomp- 
lish nothing, even if called, it promises already to de- 
velop into a bitter partisan struggle for supremacy and 
it bids fair to defeat in the present legislature those 
measures for which the people have been fighting for 
a long time, and which without the calling of a conven- 
tion, have every prospect of a successful passage. 
Let those who in this manner and by such ari 
cial methods seek to build up their party, take heed, for 
in the long run such methods will react upon their spon-— 
sors, If the cause of the people is just it will be pro- 
moted more surely by an adherence to sound principles 
and to righteous and wise measures. 
cars, 
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