Weekly North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1858, 1851-10-01
THE ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.

ident and that paper, proceeding upon this assump
tlon desires to know why the Districts not laid
oh under the late census by the last Assembly, and
also inquiries what course the Governor Of the State
designs pursuing under the circumstances thus set
forth<
We have looked into this matter, and will now
show that the Register is mistaken the state OF
the facts.
The Constitution of the United States provides
that " each State shall appoint, in such manner as
the Legislature thereof may direct, number of FL
ectors equal to the Uho number of Senator's and Rep
resenatiues to which the Stale may be entitled in the
Congress- We have already elected, under the
sus of 1910, nine members of the next Congress,
who will take their seats in December next, and hold
them until the 4th of March, 1853; and the other
States will return to the next Congress the num-
ber of members they had in the last. This view of
the subject gives in tine ensuing Presidential elec
ton, eleven Electoral votes, and is of itself conclu
sive; but tor the satisfaction of the Register and of
those who may agree with it in opinion will fur
nsh additional evidence of the correctness of our
position.
The act of Congress Of May 23I, 1850, (section
24l alluded to by the Register provides that from
and after the third day of March, thousand eight
hundred and iftythree, the House of Representatives
shall be composed of hundred and thirty three
members, to be aprortioned among the several States
in the directed in the next section of this acts
and the section provides that after the
ton of inhabitants shall have been completed and
turned the Secretary of the Interior, that officer
shall proceed apporion the MEMBERS in accordance
with the act, among the respective States and that,
having done so, "he shall, as practicable,
NAL nd uDdpr the zeal Of his office.
to the House of Representatives, certificate of the
number of members apPortioned to each State under
the then last enumeration; and shall likewise make
out and transmit without delay, to the executive of
each State, certificate, under his seal of office, Of
the number of members apportioned to such State,
under such last enumera,ion.'' The act of 23d May
directs the returns to be made BY the Marshas
by the lst of November, 1850; but supplemental
act, passed August 1850, extends the time for max
ing to the lst January. 1851. Now, the Sec
retary of the Interior has not yet performed his
duties, according to the act as above quoted-he has
neither certified the number Of members under the
late census, either the House or the Governors
of the States and he has done so, for the simple
reason that the made in time ena-
BILE him to do So far this State is concerned,
we believe the returns not made until some time
in January or February last.
From the election for the seventh term, commence
ing 4th of March, 1913, down the election for the
ourteenth term, commencing 4th of March, ls41,
North Carolina cast fifteen Electoral votes but in
he elections in 1914 and in 1s4s, of Polk and Tay-
lor, she cast but eleven votes. This was under the
census of 1910, the Electoral Districts havirg been
laid oil by act of Assembly at the session of 1s4243
The proper time f-r laying of the Districts again,
will be in 1928; and this duty will therefore be
performed by the next Assembly. If the Editor of
the Register will consult the tables, he will find that
all the States voted in 1874 and in lS49, according
TO the same rule which governed North Carolina
and if it be necessary ID change Districts again
before the election in 1852, it will also be necessary
to alter those of the other States, make them
conform to the results of the last enumeration.
The whole of the Registers article, therefore, falls
to the ground.
The Register, in its anxiety to find fault with Gov.
Reid asks if he intends " wait until after January
next" before he convenes the Assembly consider
of this business and if so, what is his purpose in
SO doing. is there any object,'' inquiries that pa
per, " beyond the legitimate business OF remod-
cling the Electoral Districts -! Now, what does
this " beyond" mean! What sense, indeed, is there
in the above questions generally! We can tell the
Register that Gov. Reid knows his duties, and ,ha,
he will perform them honestly and faithfully, in &C.
cordance with the laws and with reference to the good
of the whole State; and if he should discover any
duty 10 be performed in this matter, he will certainly
not the discovery to either the learning the in
genuity of the Register.
The Register also wants to know why the " Dem
ocratic majority - of the last Assembly did attend
to this matter. Here is subject which concerns
the whole State, and in which all, both Wings and
Democrats. are equally interested; yet the Register
is full of the poison cf party tina, it canno, discuss
it, nor offer light upon it, without striking and snap
ping at its political opponents. We have already
answered for the people generally in this matter and
having done So there is occasion for answering fol
the Democrats. Judging from the Registers article, il
the Wings had possessed controlling voice in the
f last Assembly, they would have remodeled the Eec
toral Districts for the pupose merely Of "keepins
their hands in '-they had taste of this remodeling
business in l846-'47, and We imagine the Register
would have drawn blood, if it's friends had beer
f in power just for the pleasure of seeing it run.
The Register appears to be anxious to give up ar
Electoral vote, as it does years before the loss
is claimed. What does that mean! Is there any
thing "beyond"2 Does that paper fear that the State
will vote for the Democrats next Fall, and is it desr
Gus, therefore, to diminish their strength {!
The Editor of the Register is ''some " on statute
and Constitutional law. The very act of Congress
which he cites in his article justify his position,
directly against him But this is not all. The Con
sfitution as have shown ia ali ano;ne, nr