The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1876-01-17

RE-ArpoRTIoNMEST OF REP
PRESENTATION IN TIE
LEGISLATURE,

A"S S""S bJ"s'Se ptlFetiuteu
upon Lewis. Taylor. Barbour, and
tiher couutles, by the Constitutional
Convention, in the matter OF the an. /
'pointment of representation, WI,
prolific sosrco Of opposition to the
Constitution submitted by tina, body :;
ono it was mot at all surpri:ing that
tkc people of this county should r scnt
she indignity aud injury attempted to
he perpe'rated upon them, By giving a !
large majority against the proposed
Constitution Not the. they favored
tho p7oscrip;ive instrument under
which We had lived since tho forma.
ton Of the new Stale they had suffer.
cd long aud weary years under the in
famous policy Of the Republican party,
US pronounced by the decision Of Radi.
cal Courts and Legislatures but il an
infamy had TO be Perpe,ratcd upon
them. it was nonc the more acceptable
because it was perpetraicd by Demo.
Gratis
The county Of Lewis. by all The
rules of fairness aud propriety, and b i,
all principles Of mathematics and DID.
ulstioa, vas entitled to ut least Two
delegates. The oOuuty of Matshall.
with a population less than that Of
this county. secured two delegates ;
and other counties and delegate dis.
,r;cts Jared equally we'll hut i, seems
tha, IN intentional slight was cas-; up.
on this county. for the reason, that
owing to the ahsev &c Of our delcgssc
We had no local representative in the
Convention.
The intelligent citizen. theu-be he
Democrat or Rcpablican-will not
wonder that our people should resent,
with beesalipg indignation, the unjust
and rnqriucipled discrimination at.
tempted to be imposed upon them.
During the session oil tho Convcn.
ton, Hon. j. NJ. Bennett, ,hena..private
citizcn, seeing the glar,ug Injustice
attempted to DO petpe:rated upon US,
went to Charleston, and used all tho
efforts in bis power to secure the rights
TO which we arc entitled but without
avail. We had no county representa-
tive upon tho floor of the Convention,
and by whip and spur, the infamy was
carried through to its oondemuatiou-
only to receive the endorsement of the
people BY a majority so insignificant as
to create very reasonable doubt as
to the ps9p,iety of its provisions.
Upon his election to the State Sen.
ats, Mr.. Bennett. in behalf Of tho pco.
pie Of this and other counties 10 his
Senatorial District, introduced meas.
u'es looking to proper re.appoint.
men, Of representation in the Legisla-
ture, and urged them with force thut
attracted the attention Of the people Of
the State. The immense task Of leg.
islation. however. imposed upon the
Legislature by tho adoption Of the
Constitution, postponed The action Of
tho Legislature of 1928, upon this
important subject; but during the
session of 1875, Mr.. Bennett again
urged the prorricty Of the re.apportion.
,nent. Upon his motion, special
committee was nppoiuted--consist,n
Of lessrs Bennett. Of Lewis. Golf. Of
Randolph, N S. Grantham. Of Berke.
ley. Loomis. Of Wood, McGinnis, Of
Cubell. Shelton, OF Nicholas, Dennis.
Of Greenbrier, and Caldwell. of Ohio,
TO report to the Senate such matters
pertinent to tho subject az might be
deemed proper by the Committee.
Mr. Bennett. who had heretofore
carefully studied the subject, prepared
the maturity report Of The Committee.
which was laid on the table. We aId
tho report OF Senator Caldwell, as a
minority Of the Committee, in order
that both sides Of the question may be
fairly presented to our readers.
While We may conccde to Senator
Caldwell an ardent devotion to the IN
tcrest Of Ohio county, as part OF bis
constituents. yet it is apparent that be
has not consulted the inmu,ablc laws
Of mathematics. For i. appears from
the tables Of population annexed to the
report, that each and every member Of
Ohio county. by the advancement in
population. only represents 9.4Sl in.
habitants. which gives 9 6sl excess TO
each Of an average representation ; yet
We,zel county. the lowest in the scale
Of advancement, has q population Of
l0,Tll. mud IN excess Of SOIL, which
is also in excess Of Ohio county by
1870, without regard to territory us
an element IN the upportionmcnt. The
four delegates Of Taylor, Grccnbrier.
Richie and jackson represent 522.la0
inhabitants. which exhibits an excess Of
"a $40 unrepresented, and the aggrc.
quito excess in Ohio is 1l.725. This
is tue rule on population, and this is
the result, without begging the .ques-
ticn on account Of territory:
Mr.. Bennett, from the Special Com
mi,tCc on the lI=apporIionment Of Rep.
Icscntatiou, made the following report ::
70 Tie Senate Of Hest Virginia:
The Special Committee appointed to
INQUIRE into aud make report on the