Los Angeles herald., 1890-11-11
REPUBLICAN CHIcANE-HILL AND NOBLE

REPUBLICAN AND NOBLE
Governor Hills demand for new
census OF New York city was perfectly
legitimate one, and Mr.. Secretary No
ble's attempt to ride the high horse, in
his reply, was in keeping with the arro-
gance that has so often characterized
the official representatives OF the Repub-
lican party. The special enumeration
ordered by the city authorities OF Gotham
has shown that the federal census was
grossly false representation of the actual
population of the leading Democratic
city of the United States. The census as
whole is fraud, but Governor Hills
assumption that there was a partizan
animus in the underestimate of the
Democratic section of the empire state
is warranted by the uniform course of
Republican officials. There is nothing
sacred about the census, and as repre-
sentation in the state and national legis-
latures is based upon it, as well as the
representation of state in the electoral
colleges, the executive of great COM
monweaith like New York has has e perfect
right to comment upon any injus-
tice that may be worked by it.
Secretary Noble would in all likelihood
not have been so clipper in his reply to
Governor Hill if he had been acquainted
with the history of his party in manip-
ulating the districting of New York.
There is provision in the constitution
of that state which calls for state
census every ten years, the design being
to have it fall midway of the decade.
Thus. the federal census being taken on
the even years 1870, 1880, 1890, and so
on, the state enumeration would be
made in 1875, 1886 and 1895. The pro-
vision of the constitution was manda-
tory that such census should be taken,
and the idea was that by this device any
injustice in the apportionment OF state
and national representation, through
fluctuations of population, might be
corrected, and a gerrvmander thus pre-
vented. The intentions OF the people who
framed this admirable provision were
no doubt excellent, but the result was
another illustration OF the fact that the
best laid plans of men and mice gang aft
agley. The trainers of the constitution
of the Empire state had but faint con-
ception OF the subtlety of the leaders of
the Republican party. Those astute
personages simply met the situation by
converting the law into dead letter.
The constitution could not operate it.
self; and the Republican legislature, by
simply declining to pass law for what
might be called this intercalary census,
enabled its party to control the !egisla-
ture of New York ,and thus send an unin-
terrupted succession of Republican SEN
ators to Washington.
There is no question of the fact that
an honest enumeration of the people of
New York in 1880 would have resulted
in Democratic legislatures and in
Democratic United States senators.
The New York World, anxious
to throw into special relief the present
grossly partizan Republican census, has
conceded that the census of 1880 was an
honest one. This was not true, as was
abundantly demonstrated by the World
itself, the Sun, and other Democratic
journals, at the time. The Republican
party could not afford to allow that por-
ton of New York which lies below Har-
lem bridge fair show. Its leaders re-
allied that the moment fair play was
accorded to southern New York,
region in which population was increas-
ing at an unprecedented rate, their long
ascendency in the senate Of the United
States would come to an end forever.
This was an unpatriotic attitude, and in
defiance of the express letter as well as
spirit of the law, but that counted for
very little with the leaders OF the Re-
publican party OF New York, who are
imbued with what is supposed to be
Jesuitical aphorism, that "the end JUS
titles the means"
Our faulty census has not only been
made the medium of injustice to the
Democracy of New York. but it has been
so manipulated as to diminish the dig
nifty and prestige of the people of the
United States. We are made to figure
as a nation OF so 100000 people, while,
as matter of fact, sixty-fve millions
would scarcely adequately express our
population. The great mistake was
made of placing at the head of this
bureau aforeign-born citizen. While no
Democrat has any objection to a foreign
born citizen, in work SO peculiarly ma
tional and special, some thoroughly
equipped native-born person should
have been selected. AS it is, the census
is not only botch, but, as Governor
Hill pointed out, it is gross partiza n
fraud.
THAT there is an Ilrrent demand for