St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-27
THE CENSUS BY DISTRICTS.
Some Interesting Facts TO be Gained
from Its study.

Some Interesting Facts 10 De Oatheu
from Its study.
The returns from the various counties of
the state being all in, it is possible to de-
duce many interesting facts and hgureS,
some of which have more or less bearing on
the question of a reappOrlonment Inc
number of inhabitants i'll the state Is given
as / 11S.4 With the present number OF
representatives. this would give the num-
Der of citizens entitled to one vote in the
lower house as TO- 500 and a fraction,
if the apportionment were made without
regard to county lines and simply on the
showing Of population. The apportlon-
ment of 1881. while it followed this basis
as nearly as possible, was not abS0-
Lutte. and in many cases a representa-
tive was given to a smaller number
in some districts than strict figures called
for The same statement applies III some
degree to the senators, though as there Is
but one of the latter in district there was
less inequality than among the representa-
tives Taking the above given figure,
10. $50. as the number Of population en-
titled to a representative and applying II TO
the districts as at present constituted ana
it will be seen that there will still be in
CAPABILITIES. In the First district. Houston
county. there are -, 4S5 population, about
one and One-half times the number ell
titled to a representative. The same Is
true Of Faribault county. the Seventh dis
trict. with population of 16, 1853; of Wa
basha the Twenty-third. with a population
of II. 99S: of the Thrty-first district, with
14,1SG: of the ThIrty-second with Is, 96S;
and Of the Forty-second, with 1920. In
other districts, the Thirty-seventh, the
Thirteenth. theSiXteenth and theFOrty-first
are the nearest to the average or numerical
district Of any, and with these and one or
two others there is considerable differ
ence.
AS CONSTITUTED NOW,
and under the appOrtionment Of 1881, there
is a wide difference in the value of a vote
in different districts. In the Second dis
tTict. with 26,01S people, a vote cast at the
polls counts more than four times as heav-
lily as the one cast in theFOrty-fifth district
with 81, 75S population. the former having
five representatives and the latter one. In
the Second district ). 216 people have a rep
resentative in the legislature; in the Third,
1858 are necessary; in the Fourth the
number is increased TO S6S2, and
in the Fifth nearly three times as many as
in the Second are required. In the TWEEN
ty-SiXth district, in Ramsey county, the votes
count for more than twice as much as in
the Iwenty-SeVenth, also part OF Ramsey,
as, on figures alone, 9,4S4 people are repre-
scented in the former, and 2l,944 in the
latter. For the three districts of Hennepin
county 11,S47 are required for each repre-
sentative, about an even thousand each
over the average. The most marked dis
crepancy occurs in the two or three north
ern districts, the Forty-siXth. Forty-iifth
and Thrty-ninth, and it is from these that
the cali for an extra secession has been
lOudest. Just how many inhabitants are
allowed a representative in each district
is shown in the following table, giving the
number of representatives in each district,
the population in each, and the number of
population necessary for vote in the house.
on figures strictly accurate. 1t shows
clearly where the present appOrtiOnment
gives advantages and disadvantages.
COMPARISON OF DISTRICTS.
From these tables it will be noticed that
should reapportionment be attempted
without change of boundary lines. and a
pretty complete Encouragement Of the coun-
ties in districts, it would be almost impos-
sible to obtain anything like an equal dis
tributiOn. The same differences in the
value of votes for senatorial representation
exist, and to a greater degree if anything,
owing to the fact that but a single senator
is chosen from a district. Below is the
statement. which may not be uninteresting
in this connection.