The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1870-07-30
IFrom the New York Times, July la
The West and Congress.

tionment question as hostile to its
claims; and the shape which the dis
satisfaction assumes foreshadows the
growth Of new sectional difficulties.
The number of Representatives under
the present census has mainly engaged
! attentions; while the date at which the
| fresh apportionment comes into force
| received less than fair consideration
although it is a point which vitality
concerns the States acquiring increased
representative influence. These Sta ties
ask. properly enough, that whatever
additional members they may be found
entitled to. shall have seats in the next
Congress-; but their request, though
strenuously urged at Washington, aud
ably sustained by the leading western
journals, has not been favorably enter.
tanned. The result is a feeling of
discomfort which no statesman can
treat with Indifference. For section
alism, once begun, grows apace; ana
iu this instance its action will be di-
rected against the East, which. in the
future, will be the weaker part Of the
Union.
Equitable reasons alone should have
secured for the West the earliest posi-
bile en- joyment of whatever representa-
tive strength tho official record Of its
growth may confer upon it. What
ough: to be done cannot be done TOO
soon A very moderate amount Of
official energy would have rendered
the results of the pending census avail
able for the elections this fall. The
failure to do this may be only conse-
quence of the feebleuess and uncertain.
~ of purpose which has marked the
proceedings of the present session. in
regard to every important subject that
has arisen; but the West, with its
exuberant vitality and its characteristic
,impatience Of delay, attributes the cir
cu,nstance to sectional! greed and jeal~
ousv and from this imputatien we
fear that the East will ultima tely suffer.
Hence the failure to make the re-
vised apportionment the basis OF the
representation to be provided for this
fall, is as inezpedient ns it is unjust.
The governing power in the Union
tends Westward. 1t is the West which
profits most by the accessions to our
population from emigratl ton, and which
moves with giant strides toward nu
merical supremacy. The dreams which
make it the future seat of empire may
never be fulfilled ,-other conditions
Than those of area and numbers enter
into the problem to be determined
But there can be no doubt that the
legislative strength of the West, al
ready large, will so rapidly increase
that it will hold the balance of power
in a very few years. The coming ap-
portionment will in this respect tell a
story which each succeeding census
will repeat. The East therefore can
not afford to provoke the hostility of
the West. As q matter of prudence,
it's good will and hearty allianc should
be secured. Its interests are those Of
the Union, which knows no East or
West; but to avert sectional differences,
the causes which contribute to sense
Of sectional wrong must be studiously
avoided. The misfortune Of this ses:
sion is, that Eastern Senators and Rep
resentatives have so handled the
question Of apportionment, that it has
become a ground of offence, an occa-
sion of complaint, instead of being
made the means of inspiring confidence
in the generosity and the just instincts
Of the older States.
We can but hope that the next Con-
gress will be wiser and more liberal
than the present, and that, to the
extent Of its opportunities, it will INIT
igate the consequences Of the blnnder,
which lends semblance Of justification
to the better complaints now heard
in the West.