Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-21
MINORITY REPRESENTATION.


have taken the preliminary steps towards
Reproducing the State into legislative
and Congressional districts, and the COM
mittees to have charge of the work will
be appointed in the course of day or
two. That they will be partisan COM
mittees there is no room to doubt, for
both houses are in control Of the Repub-
lican party, which Will seek to perpetuate
its power by such an arrangement of the
districts as will increase the representa-
tion of the organization in the legislature,
and if possible make Minnesota solidly
Republican in the national House of Rep
resentatives This will be done on the
plea of party expediency, and on the
theory that anything is fair in politics.
But there are equities in this matter
that even Republicans should be bound
to respect. There are more than fifty
five thousand voters in the State of Min
nesota--two-tift of the voting popula-
tion--who will, after the expiration of
the present Congress, be unrepresented
at Washington. These voters are as in
telligent as any in the Northwest. They
own property, pay taxes, and bear their
full share of the burdens of civil govern
ment, yet they are as completely disfran-
chised as are the peasantry of Ireland;
for their complaints and grievances are
never heard in the halls of the lawmakers
of either the State or nation. They 60
through the farce of voting year after
year in the consciousness that it will avail
them nothing, and submit to defeat with
philosophy that would have done credit
to the ancient stoics. They continue to
bear their burdens as citizens as cheer
fully as others, though they have no con-
troll over the appropriations nor voice in
the manner of their expenditure.
There is rank injustice in system that
permits so large body of citizens to be
unrepresented in our national govern
ment. 1t is substantially the same prin-
ciple that gave rise to the revolt
of the colonies against Great Britain
Dover hundred years ago-taxation with
out representation. Yet it is probably
useless to appeal to Republicans for the
redress of these wrongs, They will turn
| deaf ear to all arguments in favor of
fair play, and proceed to gerrymander the
State in the most approved style, so as to
prevent, if possible, any representation of
the minority whatever.
The plan of minority representation,
at present in vogue in Illinois, seems to
have worked well in the way of partially
overcoming the evils of the prevailing
system. 1t is so planned that in districts
where three representatives are to be
chosen, one shall belong to the minority
party. Every voter has number of votes
corresponding to the number of the Off
GERS to be elected. He can distribute these
equally between all the candidates OF
give them all to one as he shall see fit.
| Thus Republicans in Democratic dis
trict can cast all three of their votes for
a single Republican candidate, while Dem
ocrats in Republican district can cumu-
late their votes upon Democratic candi-
date. One third of each legislature is
thus made up of representatives of the
minority party, result that tends TO di-
minishing many ofthe evils that now pre-
vail in other States where the majority is
| larger on one side or the other. 1t might
be well for the committee on apportion-
ment of the Minnesota legislature to in
vestigate the workings of this system, and
apply it both to the legislature and Con-
gressional apportionment law. The ex-
pertinent is certainly worth trying. II
would be simply an act of justice to a
very large portion of our citizens who
are at present practically DISTINGUISHED
who have no voice ip the conduct of our
affairs, but who pay as much as any other
class into the public treasury.