The daily gazette., 1881-02-26
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 20, 1851.

derGt0, OF Friday:
The obstructive tactics of the Re.
publican members when Mr.. Cox at.
tempted to put the Apportionment bill
on its passage yesterday admits of no
decent apology. There may be occa.
sions when parliamentary filibuster-
ing is justitiable; but this is not such
an occasion. 1t is only when some
great question is involved or some i'm.
portant right put in jeopardy that it
is exeusable to obstruct and block
legislative action by depriving the
majority of it's regular and ordinary
control of the business of the House
The apportionment of members under
new census is, properly viewed, a
mere matter of routine depending on a
simple application of the rules of arith-
metic. The constitution requires that
the assignment of Represen atives
shall be in proportion to the popula-
ton. 1t is not political problem at
r al, but mere question of compli-
ance with a plain requirement of the
constitution. Yet the Republicans of
the House are not only making it
party question, but are elevating it to
the rank of one of those burning aud
paramount questions which some
times permit the utmost stretch and
strain OF the rules. This looks too
much like making the extreme med
icine of the constitution its daily
bread"
Our Republican contemporary, the
Times, in leading editorial yester-
day, put this subject i'll the true light
by showing that party politics have
no legitimate bearing on il and prov
ing that Mr.. Cox's bill is a close APP
Proclamation to absolute arithmetical
fairness. The controversy raised by
the Republican members hinges on
the relative gain of the North and the
South under the new apportionmept.
it being the aim of the Republicans to
reduce the additional representation
to which the South is entitled by its
lncressed population as shown by the
: tt5nsus. But inasmuch as the consti-
tuition gives it clear right to have its
actual population fully represented
hIibustering attempts 10 deprive it Of
this right are unwarranted by any
principle of justice. The Times makes
precise calculation by which it is
demonstrated that the number of Rep
resentatiVes proposed in Mr.. Cox's
Dill almost perfectly fuldls the require
ment of constitutional apportion-
ment. BY putting our Republicans
contemporary's results in a tabular
form they can the more easily be tax
en- in by he eye and their argumenta-
tive cogeney be more readily appre-
hended. The comparative population
OF the Northern and Southern States
gives the following percentages:
Northern populaliou....62 so per cent
Southern population....37 A per cent
The apportlonment under Mr.. Cox's
bill, fixing 307 as the number of Rep
reseniatives, would give each section
the following percentage of mem
bets:
Northern members. -. 80 "a per cent
southern members. .....37 AS per cent
comparison of 'hese two tab es show
that on the basis of 50H proposed in the
pending bill the apportionment between
the two sections would be almost ideally
perfect, so closely would the number Of
members correspond with the figures of
the census. The republican obstruction
lists are making war on the constitution
and on the rules Of arithmetic by their
perverse opposition to al apportionment
which is so siDgHlarly exact in giving the
two sections the relative weight in Con
sress to which they are entitled by tLej
population. But the republican filibus-
ters are determined that the Soutb shall
have fewer members than belong To II
aIder the census.
They have ascertained that ifthe num-
Der Of Representatives Is fixed at 3l9 in
stead Of BOT, the distribution of the laro-
est fractions will so operate as to MAXI
an equal increase of Northern and South
ern Representatives over their presen.
numbers. This is an unconstitutional
attempt to combine the census of 1870
with the census of 1880 as a basis of the
new appotionment. The constitution
requires that every new apportionment
shall be governed solely by the figures of
the Immediately preceding census. The
Representatives are to be distributed pre-
eisely as ifthe last census wers the opl,
one ever taken. The mixing and com
pounding of two census as a means of
reaching basis of representation is a
violation of one of the plainest provisions
of the constitution. The census of IN.
preceding decade becomes obs lete except
for purposes Of history, when Congress
comes to discharge It's duty of making a
new apportionment under fresh emu
meration Of inhabitants. II is absurd TO-
ahp republicans To insist ou hendipo ~ =