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ASSAULT ON HARTAGNEW LAW Suit Brought in New York Courts Against Constitu ¬ tionality of AntiRacing Legislation New York November 12 Legal action has been begun to set aside the HartAgnew antiracing bills and restore racing to the calendar of sports iu this state Service ot an order to show cause why the It07 apportionment act should not be set aside was obtained ou Governor Horace White at Albany AttorneyGeneral Edward R OMalley iu this city George H Cobb president pro tern of tiie State Senate and James W Wadsworth Jr speaker of the Assembly AssemblyTliis Tliis is in reality a dignified sensible effort to upset the reapportionmcnt act of 1007 as an out ¬ growth of which the legislation hostile to the rac ¬ ing interests was jammed through 1111 extra session of the legislature by the vote of an alleged un ¬ constitutionally elected senator from a district created by a reapportioimient act that is alleged to have been unconstitutionally passed The action is taken at the instigation of five peti ¬ tioners William S Reynolds F Granville Munsoii Godfrey Lippe Daniel Hogau and Bache McE Whit lock lockThe The order to show cause why the apportionment act should not be reviewed which was served on the state and legislative officers was granted last Monday by Justice Bischoff in the Supreme Conrt to Messrs Coll in Wells Hughes attorneys for all of the petitioners except Reynolds the principal petitioner who is represented by Frank K Johnson a former member of the Assembly AssemblySeven Seven bases of action are given by the petitioners as follows 1 That the act passed at the extraordinary ses ¬ sion of the legislature iu 107 reapk rtiouing the state is unconstitutional because the constitution makes it mandatory that a reapportionment act be passed at a regular session 2 That the present apportionment of the slate into Senate districts is also unconstitutional because it repeatedly violates tlic provision of the constitu tion of the state in that no district shall contain a greater excess in population over an adjoining dis ¬ trict in the same county than the iKinnlatioUj of a town or block therein adjoining such district Coun ¬ ties towns or blocks which from their location may be included in either of two districts shall be so placed as to make said districts most nearly equal in the number of inhabitants excluding aliens 3 That the Senate districts of New York Kings and Erie Counties are not as compact as possible being laid out under the present apportionment for the convenience ot i arty iciterusti aul pJrnitiing gcrryiuandcrlng 4 That the present apportionment of the slate into Senate districts H void because It violates the constitutional rlut lf Wcatcucster County on a basis of imputation to be represented by two sena ¬ tors instead of one as It U at present 5 That the rcapportioinncnt is Unconstitutional because it joined Richmond and Rockland Counties In one Senate district whereas formerly it was joined to one of the counties bounding 01 the ocean That the upstate counties are not joined to ¬ gether Into Senate districts so us to make the nearest equality in population as the constitution provides but instead one county is taken out of one district and put in another district for the purposes of a gerrymander Various counties up the state can be taken out of the Senate districts in which they are and placed In other districts arid still be contiguous territory 7 That Assembly apportionment Is not made in compliance witli the constitution in that some coun ¬ ties arc given too many members and other counties not sufficient sufficientTo To make this newlv instituted action easily under ¬ stood a brief chronology of the antiracing legisla ¬ tion is necessary The HartAgnew bills were passed bv the legis ¬ lature on June 11 1008 the vote standing 20 to 25 Tin deciding vote was cast by Senator Wallace rlecled from the NiagaraOrleans district on May 12 of that year by special call of Governor Hughes HughesA A fight on tliereapportionmciit law consequently involves this Important point pointThat That the HartAgnew bills received but twentyfive constitutional votes because Governor Hughes had m right to call a special election in the Niagara Orleans district to fill a Senate vacancy due to the death of a member the constitution providing that a special election shall be called only when a mem ¬ ber has been ousted from his seat The district from which Wallace was elected was dissimilar from the district that had elected his predecessor Franchot because the reapportionineiit had been carried out meanwhile and in consequence Wallace was named to fill a scat that had no legal existence The elec ¬ tors of the NiagaraOrleans district really had fifty senators representing them and one special senator thus prejudicing the rights of all other citizens to equal rights under the constitution that in this case there was no office to fill as the representative of any particular district Had anyone of twenty four of the fiftrone senators died Instead of the senator from NiagaraOrleans no special election could have been held as the lioundarles of no dis ¬ tricts were I he same in that old apportionment and the reapportioimient reapportioimientThe The pet H ion sets forth tho claim that the appor ¬ tionment act of 1007 possessed in oven greater degree the vices that led the Court of Appeals to condemn the apimrtionmcnt act of 1100 The petition also alleges that the apportionment of assemblymen was not made in accordance tvith the constitution The state constitution makes special provision for speedy consideration of apportionment cases and it is unite likely that a decision will be handed down within two months
