Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-01-10
Approximate Equality Of Repre-.
sentotiOn.

Approximate Equality Of Repre-
sentati0n.
"An approximate Of equality Of rep
resentaiion for thepeople ofall portions
a the State"
Tho shove appears to be = quotation
from . speech made by Mr.. Pilling In
the Legislature Of 1881, on the subject
Of fair and equitable representation In
the Legislature, and because he made
that speech and used the language quo.
ted, the Every Evening argues that he
ID inconsistent In his opposition now to
the proposed constitutional Amend
ment which grants what he advocated.
Az In . former article our contem-
porsry, while speaking on the ssme sub
ject based Its argument upon the words
fair and equitable" 60 in this in
stance the word approximate" comes
to the fore ~ the basis Of an attack on
Mr.. PillinRs impregnable position. As
before we turn to Webster and find the
definition Of the word approx
mate tn he, ITO come near to car.
~ or advance near ; to cause to ap-
proach." Now then let Us ses If the
proposed representation Constitutional
Amendment measures up to this defini-
ton, and also rec II Mr. Pilling and
every other honest man in the County,
10 not justified In opposing the Amend
ment even though they should have
expressed themselves In favor Of zap
proximation Of equality of representa-
tiou." First, We will take the Senate
representation and snalyze 1t to see
how Ii shows In this new ligh. theory Of
approximation.
Under the old and the present con.
stitution each County In the State Is
entitled to three Senator. no more, 10
less. Referringto the c7usus Of 1880
we find that Kent County had . popu-
lation Of 32,874, Sussex County four
thousand moro, but We will not use the
odd thousands In our calculation as
they come legitimRtely within our idea
of the true meaning Of approximation.
Kent County has three Senators or one
Senator for 1o,6A Of population.
Turning to New Castle County we And
that by the same census It had II ,6l6 of
population and ~ also has three Sena-
tors, but the proportion Is one Senator
to every %, 800 Of the population.
New Castle County since 1880 has In.
creased some 7, 900 In population, but
We are willing 10 let that increase
slide to bring us within the true scope
Of approximation. This was the state
Of AFT ,irs when Mr.. Pilling was In the
Legislature of 1881 and when he made
the speech referred 70 in favor of "an
approximation Of equality Of represen.
taion."
Sine, then another Legisl AZURE has
undertaken to remedy this unequal
representation, and lot US See how they
did 1t. Any reasonable person would
have supposed that the way WAS per
fectly clear to do it There should have
been no difficulty in arriving at the
conclusion, that as Kent County, with
population of 80, s74, had three Sena.
tors, New Castle County, with popu
lation Of 77,716, should at least have
seven, and even then tho proportion
would only have been approximate
How does the Legislature propose tt
remedy: this inequality? Let Us 700
1t proposes that instead of each County
having three Senators, each shall have
four, a. If by some newly discovered
system Of srithmeticai calculation foul
compared to four bore entirely diff
ferent proportion than three did t.
three. Tho remedy Is that, whereas
New Castle now has three Senators as al
offset to three from Kent under the new
order Of things, If the people accept 4
New Castle will have four Senators t.
offset four from Kent. Reader, do 20,
smile at this kind Of approximate,
70 equality of representation We or,
not surprised that you smile. W.
smile, too, and we imagine that tn
buoolio shepherd, who would lead u
into these new and exceeding,
green" pastures Of approximation
must have smiled too when he penne,
his attack on Mr.. Pilling. If this |
approximation of equality, how grea
then Is the distance ! How far tn
people Of New Castle County are re
moved from the true realization @
equality
But says somebody you cannot unde
the Constitution have seven Senator
from New Castle County. because it
expressly forbidden that one Count
should have more representation tina
the other parts Of the State combined
We are perfectly aware of that. but tn
Legislature could have very easily hav
permitted the rural districts of Ne,
Castle County to have retained its thra
original Senators and have given Wi
mington two Senators IN addition
making FIVE In all. AMI Kent and SUI
sex left with their original three eacl
This would have come within the scor
Of the constif ution and would hav
really gwen true approximate represer
tation. We are surprised that a Legi
lature would deliberately insult a dow
trodden disfranchised people by otfe
ing them anything less than this. 1t
this Insult that Mr.. Pilling repudiat'
with righteous scorn and indignatio,
and which every honest man in tt
country should repudi ate with the san
scorn and Indignation.
But how about the Representative
proposed for the Lower House of II
Legislature, We are asked ? That v
are frank to say has some faint resen
blance to approximate equality In rel
resentation, but even 1t is so far off tn;
I,.t, -s, "a