, 1859-02-01
PRESS AND TRIBUNE.
MORNING, FEBRUARY /, 1853
I he Apportionment Bill.

nc Airport ionment Bill.
We re publish Senator Goudy's Apportion.
ment bill with corrections which We find in
the oflcial report Of the Stale Journal The
coy which appeared in our yesterdays issue'
was taken from tue Chicago 1iass aud con-
taipcd the radical errors Of making the whole
number Of Representatives seventy Ave in
stead Of eighty-giving the Districts Of La
sale, Winnebago and Boone, and Adams one
representative each instead Of two, and omit
ting several counties altogether The whole
number Of Senator'S IL twenty-five, and Of Re.
presentatives, eighty.
While thess corrections remove eome Of the
gTossest features Of nnfairness aud Illegally
in the proposed Gerrymauder, the scheme re-
mains, IS whole, more unjust to the mnjor-
ity Of the voters as shown in the State cleo
lions Of 1856 and 1858, than The apportiun.
1nent which We arc now suffering under-ft-
ted to q population existing ten years ago.
Every one familiar with the geography Of the
State will comprehend this by glancing
at.. the thirty-third Representative District,
where Champaign county is linked in mon
strous oblong With Ed1ngham .county-the dis
trict extending from north to fouth through
nearly two degrees Of latitude By this ar-
rangement it is hoped to effcctually crush
the Republican usjorities in Champaign, De
Witt and Piatt counties, which arc represent
cd under the present law by Republican
member, 4 similar fraud is perpetrated On
the counties Of Coles and Edgar, and d like
swindle is sought to he Impressed on St. Clair.
Cook county il butchered by dividing the
town Of West Chicago into West Chicago and
South Hea Chicago-the latter precinct being
novelty not laid down in my of our maps.
"1South- West Chicago is believed to CO: tain
uiberniaus1nough to overslaugh tic Repub-
lican majority in tue south half Of the county.
To oonsu inmate this fraud it becomes ncccs-
sazy to enact special law creating the town
Of Southwest Chicago" which is being
doue as rapidly as may he.
We do not apprehend anything more dire
full from the introduction OF his bill at this
eleventh hour Of the session, than arelapse to
tue former statas quo. 4 new census will be
taken next year, which the constitution makes
the basis Tor still another apportionment.
The returns will probably In ready at
ths ns1t meeting of tho Legislature
in 1861, or If not, special session
will be necessary, to rc-district the State for
Representatives IN Congress, and both joba
can be done at tue same time. There is 30
sufficient reason why the people should he
shuf1ed out Of their accustomed places for a
single elec ion. The population of the Stale
has undergone grebt changes since 1856
the census Of that year being the basis Of the
present bill. The Democracy cannot gain
more than two or three members even by
this shameless carving. So small an acces
sion Is not worth the battle they will have te
make to secure the enactment Of Mr. Goudy's
I'LL They will he no more able tv defy the
people and trample down constitutional privi'
leges then, than they nrc now.
We snfjoin the sections Of the Constitution
having reference to Apport:onments for mem
bers OF the Legislature:
AR11clE LII, Sec Sin the yesr one thousand
eight hundred ind hfty-tive, and every tenth
year t6ereKtter, IN enumeration Of all the in
hRbitants Of this State shall be made IN suct
manner az shsll be directed by Law; and in the
year eighteen hundred aud fifty, and every
Lenth year thereafter, the census taken By tht
authority Of the Government OF the Unitet
States, shall be adopted by the G neral Assem-
bly, Is the enumeration of this State; and thl
numneF Of Senators and Representatives shall
at the first regular session holden after the re
S1n1 e. l..