New-York tribune., 1873-05-26
TIE NEw APpORTIoNMENE.

divide the State into Congressional dls'Ilc'S
is certainly far less Objectionable measure
than the one passed last year. The improve
mept however, simply consists in giving Tue
County of New-YOrk the member VINO was
last wear elected from the State at large anu
in q new arrangement OF the river couh'cs'
The Republicans have taken whatever au
vontages the distribution OF ma1orltles ailo"eu
tbem. and if there is not as much gerry
Wondering as in some other States 1t IS because
tho Democratic maiOrities are massed IN tho
COMMITTEES bordering on the Hudson River ana
salt water, the Republicans having long heiu
undisputed and almost universal SUPREMACY
over tbe rest of the State. In Newly Iork they
have carved out for themselves two districts
tbe With and the Xlth. These, under
ordinary circumstances, they viii doubtless Dc
able to carry, leaving the other hye equahy
sure for the opposite party. hlngs county H
left as it was fixed last year. with one dlslrict
nunched out of the city in such way as to
concentrate therein the bulk of the RepuD-
lican strength.
Going into the Interior the only serious OBJ
lection we have to find is to the disposition
made of SchOharie County. That county shoulu
have been put with Delaware and Otsego, IN
stead of with Greene and Ulster. This would
have made necessary the Encouragement OF
three other districts, but 1t would have gwen a
better division. The four districts, containing
thirteen counties, should have been arranged
as follows:
XVIII District.-This should have been com
nosed of Greene and Ulster Counties alone.
XXIst Observation-Disclosures 0tsego, and Scho-
harie. These counties border on the Albany
and SusGuehanna Railroad, and would make a
district politically very closely contested. The
Legislature, by putting SchOharie with Greene
and Ulster, leaves the XXIst District indisputa-
bly Republican, but connects Schoharle with o
territory with which it has no railroad COM
municatiOn.
'XXVIIth District.-Tlis should have been
composed of Schuyler, Yates, Ontario, and
Livingston
XXVIIIth District.-This should have been
made up of Cbenango, Broome, Tloga, and
Tompkins Counties.
1t needs but a comparison with the aid of o
map to show that geographically this division
is more compact and convenient than thai
adopted by the Joint Committee. 1t is also
farer as a division of population. The tota
population of the 10 counties composing the
four districts is $4,000, giving an average OF
1Gs,OOO to a district. The population of the
four districts as proposed by the bill is: XVIII
$4,000; XXIst, $4,000; HAVllth, 10000
XXVIIIth, 127,000. AS proposed here the
XVIII District would have 10000; the XXlst
125 900; the XXVlIth, 122, 900, and the XXVlllth
14S,000. The latter arrangement gives the larg-
est population to the districts which are grow
ing slowly or not at ALL and the smallest to that
which is increasing most rapidly. The Legis-
lature gives the smallest population to u dis
trct which has been decreasing steadily since
1850, and the largest to the district which in
cludes the thriving county of Ulster. The
XVIIIth District, composed of Warren, Essex
and Clinton, contains less than 100000 inhab-
itants, and the XXXlld, or Erie District
10000; but these inequalities could not vel
have been avoided, and they balance each
other
We judge that political divisions in this
State for the next ten years will be very diff
ferent from what they have been in the last
ten. 1t is not, therefore, worth while tC
make any elaborate conjectures as to how
many Democrats or how many Republicans
may be sent to Congress as the result of the
apportionment. The Democratic party, in it
best condition, ought not, however, to carry
more than the LIST, Id, IVth, Vth, With
With, IXth, Xth, XIIth, XIlIth, XIVth, XVIII,
and XVIth-thrteen districts in all, against
twenty for the Republicans. But it is idle to
speculate on the resulting compound when the
political elements are undergoing a chemical
reaction. Very little opposition is made al
Albany to the proposed arrangement of the
districts, and the Democrats have no cause
to complain, considering that new apportion-
ments of Congressional districts are always
made use of to secure partisan advantages.
TILL I'D ANCDn pr 4TInA npnnrr,r