The daily gazette., 1883-01-20
FAIR AND EQUITABLE.
NEW CASTLES NEED OF MORE
REPRESENTATION.
FIGURES THAT FURNISH FACTS.
The Question OF Increased Representa-
tiOn Fully Discussed From the Stand
points of Population and Assessment.
Especial correspondence Of the Gazette. !

mittee next week, ana probably before the
Legislature adjourns over for Sunday, bill
| viii be introduced. The bill will be brought
| up In the House first most likely, and It Is
understood that It will be drawn by Speaker
Bates after consultation with other members
of the bar. The committee on increased
| representation OF the House, in which body
| whatever fight there will be, viii take place,
is a very good one, being composed of
Messrs. Justis and Cooch Of New Castle,
Lowe and Watson OF Kent and Risler and
Messick of Sussex.
This committee is generally in favor Of
| giving New Castle some increase, and
Messrs. Justis and Cooch are just the gentle
men to get In committee meeting as much
| as 1t Is possible to secure. As have already
| stated there is general feeling In favor of
New Castle countys claims, and Governor
| Stockley will use his full influence to secure
just what he recommended In his inaugural
| address. Great difficulty will be experienced
| In arriving at the number of additional
members to give New Castle. Andithis will
exist In reference to the Senate as well as to
| the House. If the representation is only in.
creased in one body 1t will be In the House
| and here five or seven additional members
are hoped for. There is disposition to in
crease the Senatorial delegation in all the
| counties from three to five each, because 1t
/
| to have such great power In its hands.
REASONS FOR AN INCREASE.
The reasons for increasing New Castles
| representation are of such weight as to
probably surprise even those who have been
| strongly advocating such course. Te hew
to the line of the Democratic platform and
give the upper county "a representation
| according to population" would give it
such a preponderance over the other
counties as to allow New Castle to con-
trol everything in the State.
A friend of mine, a leading citizen Of New
Castle county, and prominent Democrat,
by the way, has suggested to me careful
computation of what increase should be
made according to population. According
to these figures a showing to make one won
der is derived. The census of 1880 shows
the population by counties to be as follows:
hent, 1911 M
sussex So,Ool
Total. ....................l4 .l46, ,054
Take the aggregate representation In
Kent and Sussex counties at about 5000 for
each member of the lower House-the popu-
latiOn of the former county being little
below that amount, and of the latter a little
above it-and you have the following mem.
bers in that body
From New Castle. .16
From Kent ..-----..----'.-...----.-. 2
From Sussex. ....-..................
Total House members. rs....................2 20
Now 1t may be argued, Gas 1t has been
argued already that to give New Castle
this representation would be to place too
much power in the hands of Wilmington's
floating city population. But suppose that
on the basis of equality fer the whole repre-
sentation, ia Senate and House, in the rural
districts of New Castle county and equitable
representation be given say at the same
ratio as that on which the above computa-
ton was made, and allowing a equal num-
ber OF Senators, as now. The population Of
the three counties, New Castles population
having that of Wilmington, which in 1880
was AZ, ,947 deducted from it, is as follows :;
New Castle minus Wilmington. .......... 4,947
Kent ...''.'..'......''''..... 5z,Ia
Sussex .............''....''t... So,uol
This, according to the present basis Of
population gives 10 Senators and Reprenta-
tives to the upper county, (not counting
Wilmington and an equal number to the
other counties, making 30.
In order now to get over the objection,
already stated, of Wilmington's floating
population, it may be deemed we'll to
allow q smaller representation in pro-
portion to the number of inhabitants. The
pro rata representation just calculated, 1t
should be borne in mind is one to each
5000 people. Then in Wilmington just
double that aud make 1t 10000 to each
member, and Wilmington is entitled to one
man In the Senate and three representatives.
This would make the Legislature stand
New Castle, Senators and 10 Rep's......... "a
Kent, SENATORS and Rep's................. 10
Sussex, 3 Senators and Reps. 10
Total Senators and Rep's................ 81
OF course no argument will be urged
against such an increase, for much more
than this would not in any sense take from
the lower counties the control even were an
opposing political delegation sent from here,
which, in view of the passage of bill giving
the increase, would be dim and remote
probability.
THE MATTER OF VALUATION.
It may be urged, however, that New
Castle county is not entitled to any more
than this, but the fact of property valua-
ton, amount of business and manufacturing
Industries show that she should have in JUS
tice larger representation even than that.
The facts and figures on the two latter
points have not at hand just yet, but on
the subject of property assessment they are
available. | have before me the report of
the State Auditor for 1881 that Tor 1882 is
not as yet accessible, being in the hands OF
the printer-and the following.is its showing
of the value of property in the several
counties
New Castle. o93 lO3
Kent ..,.,.,.....,',.'''..''.''' l2,o4z,Z4g
Sussex. ex...................5 commune. 953S2so
-Total, $64, ,873, ,e3S
This would make q fair proportionate rep
resentation of:
gBA
New Castle. ~
Kent. '.'.'....'''.'.'..''...''.
Sussex. ''''.'''....'.'
Total. Observation-Disclosures. 45
This will be too large if the other Is too
small, and 1t now remains for the Legisla-
ture to equaliZe matters and strike the
happy medium. The representation given
for Wilmington as approximated would no
doubt be too small to be anything like salts
factory, and her delegation should be at
| least two or three over the calculation made.
But this is q matter for future considera-
tion.
1t Is an old maxim that figures won't lie,
and these handsomely back up Wilmington's
claims in this case. They give pregnant
| facts.
FRIDAYS PROCEEDINGS.
The House did no business yesterday
morning, the quorum being broken by Mr.,
Dukes being granted leave of absence. In
the Senate the following bills were
read a second time and properly referred :;
House bill to enable William Mckay to
convey a certain real estate; bill encoarag-
ing immigration; to incorporate the Pusey q
81