The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-01-26
sfrengsh Il the House.

RacnInSndS SgISAiSss 80 =. - a. ~
Tne nonuliaation 81 Virginia IN 1870 was saas
scearsling 10 one Federal census, 1,sso los.
n is;s committee oi the Legislature es.s-
r.ates it atS j, 44ss, SEA- gain y, eigns
svs,a.s 81 aas,aa0a or some eighteen pei
. cent The population d Richmond 1n1
1sya according 10 tie same censass ~
&. e3s. IL 1878 II Is Estimated by enc boaro
+. IIealth Ill n "a gain Of over my per
rens. ia eirht years. Under the plan based
mon tbe census 81 1s7o Richmond. having,
attic over ohe.twensy sixth Of the popu..
Bation Of the State, was accorded q ilttie owe.
sore.swenty-sixth Of Che total numDef q
members Of the House Of Delegates onaer.
the plan lust agreed upon by the comnistee
osithe House OF Delegates Richmond, which
now has about one-ntneteenth Of the pop [ IS
lasion Of the State, will have one.twenty-
flfth Of the members Of the House OF peio-
gates or, to state the case in other y WORDS ,o,
Richmond will have four delegates repre-
scnting 57,9a2 OF her people, whilst y, ooo
O, her people will be totally unre presented J!
Ia Richmond it will require over 5000 .ss
persons to send one delegate, whilst In some
counties it will require only about lo,ooo'
and the average for all the rest OF the Stale
fdeancting 1880 for the four deiegates
from Richmond will be but . little over
1900. .4
II Richmond paid but her due proporttto'h
OF the taxes which support the state gov
eminent and the public schools this 10 aus
elimination against her would not be SO ma
GRAVITY unjust. But when we recall the
fact that she pays about one-eigheh OF all
the taxes. 1t does seem to be manifest
wrong that she should have only one-twen'
ty-fifth Of the voting strength OF the body
which lays those taxes. She pays one-eIghtf
and votes one-twenty- fifth.
Again: Take the counties OF Appo'mIa't-
toS. Botetourt, Fluyanna, Gloucester, and
Isle Of Wight. and compare J., their repre-
sentation underline plan reported by the
committee with the representation allowed
To Richmond. These counties in 1870 con-
tained population OF 4S,675.- Ccncede that
they have gained 20 per cent. since-Which
is some 9 per cent. above the average gain
and they have now q population OF only
5s.4f0. These counties are allowed hve
delegates, or one to every 1852 of popula'
ton, whilst the capital of the Common
wealth, which pays one-eighth OF her reve.
nues, and which has population OF q, 800,
is allowed only four delegates, or one fol
every 1885 Of population.
We call the attention Of the General AS
sembly to this matter in the hope that that
body will see that justice is done to every
county, city, md town in the State. NO
body in this city desires that Richmond
shall have any greater representation than
she is entitled to according to her popula-
ton. We throw out altogether her heavy
contribution to the State Treasury. We OPP
posed from the beginning the reduction Of
the number OF the members Of the LeSisa-
ture, for the reason, amongst others, that it
would be difficult to- give Representative
to each OF good many counties which
would think themselves entitled each to one,
without doing injustice to other counties or
to the cities and towns. Surely Richmond
ought to bage five delegates. With that
number OF delegates and two senators, she
has but feeble vote as compared with the
interests which she so often has at stake in
the General Assembly.