The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1867-02-08

pt'79oSS VI ~ law uulillttlnS lnc SluUc
without first having the question sub
mitted to a vote of the people, for the
reasons
First, That we have right to voice
in the selection of the character of our
government.
Second, That we have not sufficient
population to support the expenses of a
State government.
For these reasons we trust that Con-
gress will not force upon lis q govern
ment against our will.
Upon information which l considered
reliable 1 assumed, in my message of
the fifteenth of May last, that the pop
ulation of Colorado was not more than
thirty thousand, and expressed the
opinion that this number was entirely
too small either to assume the response
bility or to enjoy the privileges Of
State.
1t appears that previous to that time
the Legislature, with view to ascer-
tain the exact condition of the Terrific
ry, had passed law authorizing a CEN
sus of the population to be taken. The
law made it the duty of the assessors in
the several counties to take the census
in connection with the annual assess
ments; and in order to secure correct
enumeration of the population, allowed
them liberal compensation for the
service by paying them for every name
they returned, and added to their pre-
viouS oath of Office an oath to perform
this duty with fidelity. From the ac-
companying official report it appears
that returns have been received from
fifteen of the eighteen counties into
which the State is divided, and that
their population amounts in the aggra-
gate to twenty-four thousand nine hun
dred and nine. The three remaining
counties are estimated to contain three
thousand, making total population of
twenty-seven thousand nine hundred
and nine.
The census was taken in the Summer
season, when it is claimed that the pop
ulation is much larger than at any 9TH
er period, as in the autumn miners in
large numbers leave their work and re-
turn to the East with the result of their
Summer enterprise. The population,
it will be observed, is but slightly in
excess of One-fifth of the number requir-
ed as the basis of representation for q
single congressional district in any of
the States, that number being one hun
dred and twcnty-seven thousand. l
am unable to perceive any good reason
for such great disparity in the right of
representation, giving, as it would, to
the people of Colorado, not only this
vast advantage in the House of Repre-
sentatives, but an equality in the SEN
ate, where the other States are repre-
sented by millions. With perhaps a
single exception, no such inequality has
ever before been attempted.
know that it is claimed that the
population of the different States at the
time of their admission has varied at
different periods, but it has not varied
much more than each decade, and the
corresponding basis of representation
for the different periods. The obvious
intent of the Constitution was that no
State should be admitted with a less
population than the ratio for Repre-
sentative at the time of application.
| The limitation in the second section Of
the first article of the Constitution, de-
clarng that Each State shall have at
least one Representative" was mani
festly designed to protect the States
which originally composed the Union,
from being deprived, in the event of a
waning population, of voice in the
popular branch of Congress, and was
never intended as warrant to force a
new State into the Union with repre-
sentative population far below that
which might at the time be required of
sister members Of the confederacy. This
bill, in view of the prohibition of the
same section which declares that "Thc
number Of Representatives shall not eX-
ceed one for every thirty thousand" is
at least a violation of the spirit, if not
of the letter, of the Constitution.
1t is respectfully submitted that, how
ever, Congress, under the pressure of
circumstances, may have admitted two
or three States with less than a repre-
sentative population at the time, there
has been no instance in which an appli'
cation for admission has been entertain
ed, when the population, as officially
ascertained, was below thirty thousand
Were there any doubt of this being the
true construction of the Constitution, il
would be dispelled by the early and
long continued practice of the Federal
Government. For nearly sixty years
after the adoption of the Constitution
no State was admitted with population
believed at the time to be less than the
current rates for Representative, and
the first instance in which there appear:
to have been departure from the prin
ciple was in 1915, in the case of Florida
obviously the result Of sectional strife
we would do well to regard it as a warn
ing of evil rather than as an example
for imitation.
| think candid men of all parties viii
agree that the inspiring cause of thi
wholesome principle of restraint is to b.
found in vain attempt to balance thes'
antagonisms which refused to be recon
ciled except through the bloody arbitra
ment of arms. The plain facts of on
II thnt thn trrnDt