Litchfield enquirer., 1873-05-15
RsRREsEkrArloh.I

K the management of our moneyed corpora tioas. Here the intelligence of the indi- vidual stockholders and the pecuniary in- terest involved would lead us to expect that those corporations would be much better governed than the state or nation whose legislatures are elected by mixed constituencies large proportion of which are illiterate non-property holders. Such is not the case, however. There are no American governing bodies in which the interests of minorities are more ruthless ly sacrificed, where even majorities are so often powerless, and wheresthe represen- tative so habitually consalts his own in- terest at the expense of the interest of his constituents, as in the boards which manage our great railways. That this evil is owing in great degree to u vicious system of representation must be obvious to any one who has examined with any degree of care the remarkable proceedings of the notorious Erie railroad company, and has noticed the fact that it is the man. agers not the stockholders, as a general thing, that profit by the investment of capital in railroads.
 The earliest phase of the representative system derived its strength and popular ity from the fact that it protected the cities and boroughs wherein most of the personal property of Old England center ed from excessive taxation This system was brought by our New England .ances tors to this country and still fingers in the form of town representation in the lower Houses of this and some other States Borough or town representation, however, long since gave place throughout the Uni 1 popular representation. It was found l that towns as towns had no special inter- ests to protect, nor no danger to fear, from the giving to population its proportional representation; so that, in this country, representation is everywhere based on population, unless the older form has been bound on communities by constitu- donal restriction as is the case with the United States Senate and few New Eng land legislatures. Out. of New England, few, we imagine, would think of denying the right of proportional popular repre- sentation. Even in Old England the un- fairness of the old borough system finally excited popular indignation to revolu- tionary pitch that carried through the great Reform bill against the opposition of the Tories and the House of Lords.
 The common form of popular represen- tation known as the District system is however open to two serious practical objections: 1st, it provides only for the representation of majorities; 2d, it opens wide door to partisan injustice through the practice of ''gerrymandering"
 We have so often shown the gross in- justice done minorities by the District system that we need now only advert briefly to the violation of the fundamen- tai principle of popular representation in- volved in the fact that nearly half the voters are left without representation in scheme claiming to give all propor- tional representation; and to the further most important fact that the intelligent property-holders of our cities are pHcti- cally misrepresented by persons elected by maiorities made up mainly of foreign immigrants, without education and without property, voting en masse at the dicta- ton of unprincipled party leaders. From these two facts have arisen the chief evils that have afflicted American politics. The misrepresentation of minorities has com pelled the division of our voting popula- tion into two parties only. Minorities showing considerable strength in the ag- gregate, but not large enough to control any one district, go entirely without rep sentation. Hence rises that American contempt for the rights and opinions of minorities so often noticed by European ! writers, and that necessity which is on every person who desires political in- fiuencNto belong to one or the other of the two great parties who quarrel for place and power, often with conspicuous disre- gard of principle. Indeed, in no other self-governing nation has the honest, in- dependent thinker, intent only on the cor rection of the evil tendencies of popular government and on the improvement of itsmachinery, 80 little political influence as Tn America In our cities, especially, ma lority rule has driven our best citizens out of politics. Subserviency to such ma lorities as control them breeds an infe- rior and corrupt class of politicians; while property and intelligence, despairing of political influence except by dishonorable means, go practically unrepresented.
 'tGerrymandering" is one of the most serious evils that have grown out of the district system. Of course changes in population require occasional reap portionments of representation, usually after each census. In making these ap- apportionments political partisanship has learned to gain an unfair advantage by heaping up opposing majorities in a few districts, and scattering it's own ma- iorities over. many districts. Thus the control of representative apportionment IS always relied on by party in power to continue it's ascendency even against large maiorities on the the popular vote. In.the older states, and especially in those where the parties are nearly equally divided, the party that controls an apportionment of representation can safely calculate on a long lease of power.
 Although, therefore. the district system was an improvement on the old borough system, and comes much nearer the true