The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1882-05-03
"aERYnrANDERING."
Soneething About Old Elbridge Gerry,
Whose Name liz Thus PerPoeuated.
IRosteca Travelerl

lBostsa Traveler.l
Gerrymendering has become sert oil
rage, and one party is about as rad rs anoth-
er in having resors To it. There is no ex-
cuse for 1t, and il should be condemned by
men of all parties. The word gerrySaandcr
is of Massachusetts, origin, bat the prevalent
belief that it originated in an Unfair dis
tricting Of this State in order TO control
the election of members of Congress
is Gnfounde& Elbri&Se 'Gccry-who
was ssgner Of the Declare
ton of Independence, for Massachn-
setts-was . man of mach note here for
abc1t forty years, he &ying in 1871. while
holding the Office of Vice President OF the
United States. He was Governor of Massa-
ckusetts from May. 1880, 10 Nav. lSl2. The
late Mr.. William Sullivan. in his lively
Familiar Letters" says: las there is moth
ing TO be said of his administration, which
one could take pleasure in saying, so the
pain of speaking OF it as II may have de-
served may be avoided. When the time
comes fcv writing the sober history of Mas
sachusetts, the historian viii find abundant
materiai for his work in these two years;
and the exercise of party power i'll district
ing the Commonwealth for the choice of
Senators is particularly commended to his
notice He viii find the English Ian
guage enriched by a new term (gerry man
deriRC) which may often find n suitable ap
plication when the origin of it may hay
been forgotten. He may find it in the pat
riotic labors of the two years in which Mr..
Gerry wa Governor of Massach asetts. Al
the election which followed the introduc
tioz of the Gerrymsnder to our poitic-
Governor Gerry was defeated, and the
House of Representative was carried by
the Federalists; but the Republicans (Dem
ocrats) carried the Senate, showing that the
Gerrymanderss back was equal to its burden
1t was a question: Did the GeTymander
save the Senate, or did il cause the loss of
the Governorship and the House
Of Representatiyes?'' Probably il did
Eederalists was not large. picture
of the Gerrymander was published, and
q most comical-leoking beast it provedto be
Copies of this production are occasionally TO
be seen. even now, they having survived the
wear and tear of seventy years. 1t was re
produced years later, in at least one news
paper, where we saw it about half a century
since. We remember having heard old
Democrats say, in our youthful days, that
whatever the dement's OF the GerTymander
1T was unfairly christened, for they asserted
Governor Gerry had as little to do with the
offensive districting as man in his position
well could have. But he was Governor of
the State, and the highest member of the
offending party, and so he was made to bear
his party'S burden of SIM as being
that party's representative man.
Then hrs name came so pat that
there was no such thing rs missing its use
fulness in what seemed to be a natural carl
cature-that is, a caricature that is net
forced, but proceeds easily from the occa-
sion. Had the Governors name been Hicks
or Howard, Simpkins or Sydney. it would
have been impossible to employ 1t in the
way that Gerry was employed. Mander
was We suppose, from the Latin mando, or
from mandatory, and the Governor was re-
garded as mandator. or director. German
der is scientific word. and relates to Ger.
tain plants Gerrymander is one of the
very few of our political slang terms that
have survived, and. apparently it is des-
tined TO last as longas the base practice it
satirizes-that is to saw. for many ages.