| Show gerrymandering ELBRIDGE was a great and good man in some respects he was a signet signel of the declaration of independence which politically considered ought to be regarded in all ages in this country as glory enough but when the long aad ba bloody p ody a struggle with great britain was over and independence w was as firmly established on this soil the patriotic impulse which lit the fires of revolution and blazed the patk path to liberty commenced to dwindle because the fight was ended ard aad those who had fought it were entitled to a rest the enervating effects of a prolonged struggle ending iw in a peace that must ifor for a time have been insipid were noticeable and that disposition in man which prompts him at times to shake himself and go out for a walk when ennui and ana lethargy are making thet thel world assume a dreary blankness ROE got hold of some of the patriots and they branched off into political parties thus they could go on contending in a milder way and the blood would not become so ao sluggish as it would it treated to no greater excitement than purely domestic life afforded in that early day gerry was not unlike others who preferred activity and he found blin himself self in a short time in the massachusetts legislature having havin previously been in ia a similar body buring during the latter part of the war he was a born politician as the sequel shows and was clever in the matter of organization by means of geographical lines and mathematical equations when his party was not in power he could by looking upon townships pre atcas the squares of a chessboard and ana the voters as the titular dignitaries by which the game is played so arrange the s situation tuat on that the enemy would encounter defeat when least leaah expecting it and if his friends were already holding the reins it could be so arranged that they need not give them up he was the richelieu of the colonies for he had force of character and bignal ability he be became governor of the state and vice president of the united states but the system by which those who knew less of political methods and men than himself were defeated set them to complaining it is related of as an aspirant for congressional honors in the southern part of indiana who had bad some kind of hold on the machinery of his party the democratic in that state I 1 that he nad the legislature recon reconstruct t his district two or ol three times but it was no do user he got the nomination only to be upset at the polls finally wearied with his importunities the the leading A lights of the party told him to pick out a district to suit himself ead and they would have bave a bill passed la in conformity with his plans lie he then selected a township here another one forty miles off took in a whole county where the precincts precinct a were all democratic and rd left two out of the same radius because they were all republican and thus nad himself thoroughly secured A section ot of the state had bad to be rearranged arranged re pull pulled e d apart and riddled until it resembled a crazy quilt in order that his personal perso aal ambition might be gratified thea the instance referred to is hotl not much if any worse than making up a legislative district out of a slice of salt lake city and the whole of park city and all such schemes in this intelligent and enlightened age deceive nobody it is putting patting power ahead of principle and aad opportunity above merit in order that the majority may be relegated to the rear and the insignificant minority gain positions which they thus admit they cannot fairly win gerrymandering Is a dangerous practice and as we have already seen in the hanis hands of unscrupulous loen men bent upon the spoils of victory it aitos ds apt to be a flo cause of wrong the method crops out clearly in the late redistricting of the territory |
