The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-03-06
The Appor,iommcnt Bill.

Mr. ALVORDs appurtiunmcnt bill gives
New York tvcrty-thrcc members of the
Assembly and Kings twelve. Every honest
man who understands the subject, whatever
may be his politics. knows that this Is not
just. The basis Of representation III the As
scmbly is al,ilj. Under the allotment OF the
ALVORD bill Ncw York would have sur
plus representative population of 12l0jj.
and Kings of.5l,D7l, making an aggregate
i'll the two counties Of 1905. This. it will
BE- seen. would cntitlc them 20 five members
moro than the bill assigns to them, and still
leave surplus representative population Of
1901.
Is it not fair that New York and Kings
should have these five members? The an
swer that ArvoRp and his followers give to
this question is, that under his hill there
are spmn counties in the interior Of the State
which havca surplus representative pOpula
ton over the mombcrshipin the Assembly
allowed to thcm 10y the bill; and they insist
that inasmuch as such SURPRISES must.
under any apportonmcnt he scattered
through the State New York and Kings
ought to bear their share OF them. To this
il may be replied in the first place, that in
no instance, except New York and Kings,
does the ALyoRD hill give Il county
smaller number of Asscmblymcn than its
representative population entities IL to.
And accepting the equitable view Of the
subject upon which ALvORD and his sup
portcrs 50 much rely, We may reply. in the
second place. that there are ten interior
counties to which the ALvoRD bill gives
two members each, neither of which has n
p.ppln 4, fai.inpt g., L.. To
the aggregate deficiency of population in
the ten counties is l6S,si2. Moreover. there
are twcnty-onc other interior counties that
get one member each by virtue Of that
clause Of the Constitution that insurce to
every county n member. but neither OF
which has Il representative population Of
a,i45 their aggregate deficiency OF popula-
ton being j7s.3j}.
Under the ALvoRD bill the two classes ~
rural counties above mentioned. numbering
thrty-onc, are allowed forty-onc members
of the Assembly. With such membership
their total deficiency Of population is 7i7.l7j.
Taking an equitable Wow of the subject in
the light Of these facts and figures. we see
that these thlrty-one counties, on basis OF
81, AS for member, would be entitled to
only nineteen Asscmblymcn instead of forty
one And when is remembered that seven
eighths Of the forty-onc always turn up Re-
publicans in the Legislature, even the most
bigotcd partisan OF that political faith
ought to permit New York and Kings to get
the five members which the ALvoRD bill
seems disposed to cut them out of.
Whore, then, can our two great cities get
the five? They cannot obtain even one
from the twcnty-one counties, for though
neither Of them has representative
population sufficient 10 give them
member, the Constitution secures
to them this boon. New York and
Kings must, therefore, look for the five
among the other ten rural counties; and
they should take them from the five that
show the largest deficiencies and here they
are. with their several deficiencies, viz.
Cattaraugus, 22,5l9; Columbia, q .972; Wash
ington, 2l.9lG; Broon.e. 2l,455; and Wayne
20GG4 The total deficiency OF these five
counties on an allowance Of two Assembly
men each, is los, j2G, and they had better
surrender five Of their ten to New York and
Kings.
Tho Republicans Of New York should not
forget that honesty Is the best policy and
that in tho long run no party ever suffered
for doing exactly right