Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1874-12-03
NEW LEGISLATIVE APPOR-
TIDNMENT.

We are afraid that i, is waste of am
4aunition TO talk of a new appor.ionment
OF representation of the various counties
II the Legislature. hG: the present ratio
il. some eases is so cut of proportion to
population as to be absolutely preposter-
ous. Indeed. we :hinl, the ratio entirely
too hight there may be said to be any
ratio at all in the manner Of our present
apportioument. 1. is usually the Gus
tom to fix a rate of representation, as.
that, for such and sach q number of
votes there shall be one or more repre-
scutaiives as the case may be. But
when the convention which framed the
Constitution and otherwise setin motion
the machinery of cur State government
was in session. it Jumped the job Of ap-
portionnent. or lodged il, rather, alto
celher fy aliot;ins this county SO many
Senators and AssemhIymen and that one
50 many, AMI SO on. Under this lump
ing process EsmeTalda County. which
was then in the enjoyment Of It's Hush
times, got two Senators and four Assem-
Llymen. OF Legislative delegation of
six. That numerically strong delegation
has never been reduced. Acting with 3
similar looseHess, and ilInping the job,
the Legislature which passed the bill
creating White Pine county gave it the
over-geaerous representation in the
legislature Of two Senator's and four
Assembiymen- The manifest unfairneSs
OF these big delegations from Esmeralda
ard White Pine, presents itself when
reference is made to the comparatively
slim representation of Ormsby county
with its vote of 1.150 and upwards as
contrasted with the vote in those eoun-
ties White Pine has a representation
Of seven in the Legislature; Esmeralda
has two Senators and four AsseInblyInen.
White Pine cast, at the late election. less
than nine hundred votes; and Esmeralda
less than seven hundred. To fact, the
voting population Of Esmeralda and
Douglas are about equal in numbers:
yet Douglas has but one Senator and
two Assembly.nen- The fact is, these
irregularities in representation arise
from the arbitrary fashion employed by
the constitutional convention ard copied
therefron by tie Legislature. of award
i1g each county a given number of SEN
stors and Assemblymen without reference
to census and regardless OF Ike future
The convention did wise thing when
!. limited the number of Senators and
Assemblymcn to seveutv-five: but il
would have done more wisely il it had
placed the limits q good deal lower than
that. THE convention itself consisted
Of thirty members. 1t strikes us that if
thirty men were enough to tackle rs pom /
d=TOus thing as q new constitution. an
aggregate of thirty legislators ought TO |
lie enoG,h to do what lav-makina this |
State requires. \ Senate OF 10 and q !
House Of Assembly of % members |
would be quite numerous enough for a I
\ smaller body than the
present one of 10 members would lie at /
tended with very much less expense and |
would be much less cumbersome |
machine than il is nov. But at any rate |
there should be an attempt at equalizing
the representation SO that each county
would have its just and equitable share
o. Senators and ASsernb,ymen. The at
s1rd AMI senseless inequality OF the
present loose plan is manifest in tie fol-
lowing approximate figures: White Pine
has T. delegation of in the Legislature.
Calling the vote of that county 600
which is in excess Of the actual vote
nd We find that she has one repress ota-
i've to every 10 voters. or thereabout;
Ehile Storey county, with n delegation
Il IS, has less than one representative
o every $40 voters We need 50 no fur
her than this to indicate the ''prepos-
crosby" Of the present method.