Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-01-06
senatorial Misrepresentation.

Senatorial Misrepresentation
twas suggested in the National
House of Representatives yesterday,
that it would not be long until an
attempt would he made to change
the basis of Senatorial representation.
The time was when such a PROPOSE
ton would have been the signal for
general upraising Of hand. in holy
horror, from one end of the country
to the other; but the events OF the
past few years have rudcly jostled
quite a number Of notions, sacred
only because of their age and origin.
There are now few people who look
at the map of New York, and then
at the map OF Rhode Island, who do
not at once perceive the injustice and
the anti-democracy of allowing the
latter TO have equal power in the
United States Senate over legislation
for the nation, with the former. II
the principle of minority representa-
ton comes TO be generally recognized
as the true basis Of representative
government, some way will be found
to apply it to the correction Of the
gross inequality involved in the
present apportionment Of Senators.
The first difficulty that lies in the
way OF reform IL the provision Of the
Constitution itself that no State shall
be deprived Of its qcual representa-
ton in the United States without its
consent. Since, therefore, it is not
likely that sufficient number Of the
smaller States will be seized with a
simultaneous willingness to surrcn-
der their advantages, the rectification
Of tho Senatorial basis may seem to
be attainable only at the end Of a
successful revolution, unless SOW
ereign delegate convention, which
would be competent to make new
Constitution, and prescribe the mode
of qualification, or, indeed, proclaim
it the fundamental law Of the land,
without submitting 1t at all, be a
legal method Of reaching the result.
But it need not be said that there are
things more terribIeto the American
people than the idea Of revolution
and one OF these is long suffering
Of wrong, in Difference to timidand
old fogy conservatism.
It will be well for the small States,
now using their Senatorial power to
thwart the wishes and Cypress the
interests Of States containing many
times their number Of voters, to take !
this truth into mature consideration.
Those who suppose that the great
central, wealth-producing region Of
this country, destined, within a gen.
Grafton, to be populated with fifty
millions Of people, will long suffer
itself to be outrageously taxed by q
narrow seaboard strip, simply be-
cause there is decree to that effect,
eighty years old; or, in other words,
because the Constitution, made by
men who, wise as they were, never
even dreamed of the injustice the
provision would work, declares that
the States in the Senate shall be for
ever Of equal power, know little OF
the forces that are now moulding
human affairs. The States that use
their privilege in the Senate to per-
petrate and pcrpetuate such wrongs
against the agricultural interests Of
the country are annually set forth in
Commissioners Wells reports, con-
stantIy invite public attention to the
fact that their influence over legisla-
ton IS out Of all just proportion to
their intrinsic weight. And we do
not hesitate To say that, when forced
10 look this matter in the face, by
the pressure Of unequal laws, har-
RAISING, cranping and robbing the
leading interests Of the country, the
people OF the West, soon to be the
majority, will not shrink from the
duty Of applying the most effective
remedy. Fifty millions Of such peo-
pIe AZ ours, cannot, for any great
length OF time, be robbed by laws
deriving their force from accident.
There Ii no power SO odious, and
which sc. courts its own destruction,
no matter how old and sacred the
tradition upon which 1t Is founded,
as that which, unjustly possessed, is
tyrannicalIy employed. Let those
Senators who have made up their
minds 70 resist such legislation as
the popular voice demands, bear this
in mind. The, day is passed when
the Constitution can be made an in
strunient Of oppression, and at the
samo time DO held in religious ven
Grafton. When the livery OF Heaven
is stolen toserye the devil, the livery
Of Heaven is very apt togctscorched.
We revere the Constitution of the