The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-11-07
THE CENSUS. The APPORTIONMENT
AND THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
CONSTITUTION OF LOUISIANA.

Art 20. Representation in the House OF
Representatives shall be equal and uniform.
and after the first General Assembly elected
under this Constitution, shall be ascertained
and regulated by the total population, each
parish of the State being entitled to at least
one Representative. A census of the State by
State authority shall be taken in the year
eighteen hundred and seventy fVe and every
ten years thereafter Ia case of infornality,
omission or error in the census returns from
any parish or election district, the General
Assembly may order new census taken in
such parish or election district; but until the
State census of 1875 the apportionmert of the
State shall he made on the basis of the census
of the United States for the year 1870.
Art. 81. The General Assembly at the first
session after the making of each enumeration
shall apportion the representation amongst
the several parishes and represe NATIVE dis
tricts on the basis of the total population as
aforesaid A representative number shall be
fixed, and each parish and representative dis
trict shall have as many representatives as the
number of its total population will entitle it
to have; and an additional representative for
any fraction exceeding one-half of the repre-
sentative number. The number of represen-
tatives shall never exceed one hundred and
twenty, nor be less than ninety.
Art 2S. The General Assembly shall divide
the State into Senatorial Districts whenever
it apporions representation in the House Of
Representatives.
Art 90 The number of Senators
shall be thirty-six, and they shall be appor-
toned among the Senatorial Districts accord
ing to the total population of said districts.
Art 80 In all appointments of the Senate
the total population Of the State shall be d.
vided by the number thirty-sx and the re-
suit produced by this division shall be the
Senatorial ratio emitting Senatorial District
to a Senator.
After an enumeration has been made as d.
rected in the twentieth article, the General
Assembly shall not pass any law till an ap-
portionment of representation in both houses
of the General Assembly be made.
Such are the provisions of the State Con-
stitution on the subject of the census and ap-
portionment.
The last sentence of Art. 80 would at first
glance, appear to imply that the General AS
sembly at its meeting in January is precluded
from transacting business until an apportion-
ment is made. But reference to Art. 90 will
show that until informaitles are cured, omis-
sions supplied, and errors are corrected, the
enumeration can not be considered as ''made"
in the sense of the word as used in Art 80.
The fundamental fact on which the appor-
tionment is to be made is the total population
of the State in 1875. If the General Assem-
bly finds numerous and manifest errors in
the census of 1875 it cannot ignore them, and
assume number as that OF the total popula-
ton. The new census bears internal evidence
of errors, some SO gross as to appear In
tended, others so absurd as to look like wan
ton guesswork. Our Representatives and
Senators will be in no haste to incorporate
these blunders and frauds into an apportion-
ment which will give representation to i'm
acinary constituencies and leave real ones but
half represented
In matter of such grave importance the
General Assembly will not act in hasts. L IS
of vital interest to the people of all classes
and of all parties that they have fair and duly
prcportionate share in representation accord
ipg to their numbers. This is right as
sacred ss free government itself, right with
out which free government would degenerate
into farce and delusion. Between mlsrep-