The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-02-26
Minority Representation.

SS---rsr.-z----r----------------- 80,
Minority Representation.
The theory OF minority or complete repre-
scnt,,ion is a very plausible. one. IL mas INC
.,,,ors Of Mr.. GREELEY and Mr.. MEpILL and
other rrea. rcfsrmcrs in this country, and OF
Ian, STUART MILL and other leading political
economists in England. The new charter
prepared for New York city provides Tor IT,
It is undergoing a trial in Illinois, where,
under her new Constitution, some OF all OF
the members Of one or both Houses OF the
LEGISLATURE are elected under It's orcTat'ol''
W. wore much taken with it sonn<SEs ago,
but arc not so confident now tiiae IL "''eu
work well, Perhaps we might 90 SO 'al d
To say that we should, as it presents i1sei ~
us now. be afraid to try II.
The reader who pays no attciilioi " "u'"
.,,r;octs mist have the system explained 10
him once more. We can hloS' c''s''l ii'''n' -
Main by illustration. Thus: There arc 'ihl-
teen thousand voters in Richinono. Inc
Conservatives have seven thousand ana INC
p,5co,s six thousand. Under the existing
plan of voting, the Conservatives elect hNc
members of the House Of Delegates ana Tue
Radicals none. Six thousand voters seem 10
have no representative in that BODY. inns
wrong is offset Ivy silcncnS the voices OF III
equal number of Conservatives IN refers
b,,raand elsewhere. Two wrongs III wrongs
thew be) arc made to constitute one iish.'
Minority representation would DO away WIZ
these wrongs. 1t would provide thae eaci'
,oter in Richmond should have the pIl'l-
le"c Of voting either once Tor cach oi 1--we
mon or five times for one man. The Conser-
vatiyes would thus have $4,000 votes 10 cast
and the Radicals $4,000. The result Woulu
ho tho election of three Conservatives anu
two Radicals. Forif the Conservatives lrieo
10 elect five men, each man could receive
only sovcu thousand yotcs-3j, 900 in the az
rrcgate; whereas, as the Radicals woulo 'o'e
for only two candidates, each k1dlcai "ou'o
no able TO give to each candidate two ana il
half votes, or fifteen thousand cach-Hiirt!
thousand in all. Or, if the Conservatives
should vote for only four candidates, they
could give each Of them but 500 votes.
The two Radical candidates would still he
elected. In fact, the Radicals could elect
three i; the Conservatives voted for even four
candidates. But if the Conservatives should
vote for only three candidates, each one
would receive II ,GGG votes. The two Radl-
cal candidates would still be elected. If,
however, the Radicals should vote for three
candidates. each would receive only ten
thousand votes. SO two would be rs many
rs the Radicals could elect. and three rs many
a. the Conservatives could elect, provided
neither party voted for more candidates than
il ought to. The voters of both parties
the whole community, in wordsworth be
represented in the House of Delegates.
What objection can there be to scheme
that promises results SO good! This lnsil-
peraiylc one: Taking the case Of Richmond
again. one more than one-tifth Of the voters,
let their character or their purposes be what
these might, would have the power to elect
representative to the House Of Delegates.
The knowledge of this fact would inevitably
tend to split the community into factions.
For instance, the negroes here would no
longer have occasion to seek the alliance f
even one white man. They would know
their strength. They would be perfectly
certain that they could elect two members
of their own color to the House Of Delegates,
and they would do it. Any denomination of
Christians numbering onc-tiith of the popu-
lation would have the power (and would |
often be strongly tempted to exercise |
iD of electing ono delegate. So as to
any class in the community-s;y, the
merchants and their employees, OF the
mechanics. So rs to any large society of any |
knd--religious, social, benevolent, mcchani-
cal, or what not. Minority representation
would lie the fruitful mother of discussions,
ill-will, cliQucs, and cabals. The knowledge
of the facts as to population which were con-
tanned in the census tables OF the Federal Go
vernnent enabled General GRANT to conquer |
General LEE. The fact was known to GRANT |
that he could allow two or three of his men |
to be killed for each one Of LEES that was
killed and still come out victorious in the
end. But for the census, the South would !
havesgained her Independence. The tree of
knowledge still bears fruit of this kind. So
the knowledge that one.tifth of the voters in |
Richmond could elect any man they might |
fix upon to the House of Delegates would he
akin to that knowledge which ADAM and |
EVE gained by eating the fruit of that for
"bidden tree whose mortal t;,ste brought |
."death into the world and all ourrwoe." 1t
might bring upon us much trouble.
Let us wait to see how minority representa-
ton works in Illinois. '@''5 - <''"z
THE NATIONS SHALL LEARN WAR No
II 4 ~ L., L.