Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-24

Ol representation 1Or This uecaQe. Tne cOun
ties of Lackawanna, LuZerne and Schuyl
kill will abundantly serve to illustrate wha
conceive to be deliberate purpose to ap
ply principal to one political division o
the State, which is ignored OF reversed il
another.
Different Systems Are Objectionable.
"The representation in these three coun
ties is largely grouped in boroughs. Yet
is to be seen that the Single District sys
tenn is applied to two of them. Lackawannt
is put into five single and separate districts
and Luzerne into seven, while Schuylkill'
six members are apportioned among onl,
four districts. The Single District system
is not applied to Lancaster, with foul
members, outside of Lancaster City; tt
Berks with three members outside of Read
ing; to Montgomery with five members; Il
Westmoreland with four members-thougl
all of these have over 100, 600 population, ant
could practically have been divided into
single districts If the principle of representa-
tion applied to LuZerne and Lackawanna
had been consistently adhered to.
"In the division of Montgomery county, i
1t were for any reason expedient to divide
the five members, otherwise than among sin
gle and separate districts, it was altogether
for three, and the other for two members
The bill under review, however, cuts the
county into two wholly unequal districts
one with four members and the other with
majorities of one political party are al
| grouped together and crowded into this one
| single district. The executive is not dis
posed to make partisan advantage the test
of ofapproval of an apportionment bill, yet
| when one presented to him contains such an
| outrageous gerrymander as this, so mani
| testify in the interest of political organiza
| tiOn opposed to that of which he is q mem
Der, he feels it to be public service, as well
| as political duty to protect his fellow-citi
Zens of his own faith from the unjust conse
| quences oft
Not Countenanced by the Constitution.
1.-THE constitutional direction for the di
| vision of everV county having over 100 900 in.
| habitants while it does not expressly pro-
hibit such division of counties of less than
| 100000, has always been regarded as practi
| cally making such prohibition by implica.
| tion, and until this bill no attempt has ever
| been made to divide county of less popula-
| tion, unless it contained a city with a full
ratio. In this bill an exception is made OF
York county, circumstance that is not
| without political significance. Not only is
this county, with less than 100, 900 population,
| divided, but glance at the geographical
lines of division discloses an utter disregard
of the constitutional consideration of COM
pactness and contiguity.
| "The division OF counties containing less
| than 100000 population ends with York
county. Chester, with IS, 81; Erie, with 6074;
Fayette, with S0,006, and Northampton, with
"a 900, not to mention others of considerable
population, are left out in the act. This dis
elimination was not made without a design
that is not countenanced by the constitu-
ton.
u might notice in detail other objection
able features of this bill, such, for instance,
as the putting of the Twenty-fifth and
Thirty-third wards of Philadelphia in d
double district, with two members, whereas
they are of nearly equal population; and in
other parts of the city the system has been
almost uniformly followed of making single
a -saA, ,f,
ditions would permit: So too, there is wide
variance between the system applied to the
city of Philadelphia, of making many single
districts with separate representation, and
that upon which Pittsburg is comprised,
chiefly in large districts with four members
each. Enough illustrations have been fur
nished to demonstrate that this bill is not
such an apportionment as the Constitution
contemplated, or as fairness and common
justice demand. In view of this would not
be justified in giving it my approval"
The Congressional Apportionment Bill.
The Governor refers to the Congressional
apportionment bill as follows:
"This bill ought to be a fair division of the
State, without regard to partisan advan-
tages, into Congressional districts, based on
the census of $780, and upon the representa-
tion to which Pennsylvania is entitled un-
der the act of the Federal Congress. The
number of Representatives thus assigned to
the State is 30, and the contemplation of the
act of Congress, as well as the spirit of our
apportionment laws, is that the Congress
siOnal districts of the State should be single
composed of contiguous territory, conven-
lent of arrangement and containing. as
nearly as practicable, an equal number of
inhabitants.
"The present bill is Objectionable 1t is not
an apportiOnment based on the census of
1890. 1t is an re-enactment of the apportion-
ment of 1887, which was based on the census
of 1850; with the modification, that instead
of two additional members allotted to Penn
sylvania, one is assigned to Philadelphia and
the other to Allegheny county. With this
exception and the excisiOn from the present
district consisting of the counties of Fay
ette, Washington, Greene, of that portion of
Allegheny county now connected with them,
this bill Is a re-enactment of the act to or,
ganize and define the Congressional dis
tricts, under the census of ten years ago.
The apportionment of 1887 was highly objec-
tionable in many features and abounded in
glaring violations of the spirit of fair as
signment of Representatives
An Utter Disregard of Equality.
'Dividing the entire population of the State
by the number of Congressman allotted to
it, the Congressional ratio is ascertained to
be liza, ,267 In the districts made by the bill
before the variation from this the ratio
ranges from 129,2O4, which is 46,363 less than
ratio, to 245, ,756, which is 7O,479 more than a
ratio, the difference between these two dis
L
two of the districts show n difference in
population of 1905. The Twer ty-third dis
trict in Allegheny county contains 1853 999
population, being II, ,26S less than ratio.
while the Twenty-second district, adjoining
it, and extending over four counties, with
widely diversified interests, contains 245 746
population. There are six districts in the
State, in which the average population is
2ll, 776, while there are six other districts in
the State in which the average population is
only 140 732. 1t is idle to contend that such
disparities are unavoidable; the startling
comparisons serve to suggest with what utter
disregard of the principle of equality of
population the bill was framed. OF the 30
districts provided for in this bill, IA of them
have more than a ratio of population, and
these II contain ., ,828 of the people of the
State, an average of 19S,27S; Is districts con-
tain only 2 2472, 1876, more than 300 600 less than
the number represented by fewer Repre-
sentatives, and the average population of
each of these districts is only l6i,5ll.
He Is willing to Postpone the Matter.
"There is an average surplus of over 5000
in IL districts in the State, and there is an
average deficiency of about 2l, 900 in 16 dis.
tricts am fully persuaded that such dis
crepancies and fragrant Inequalities could
have been avoided, had the Legislature un-
dertaken, in a spirit of fairness and freedom
from the spirit of partisanship, to frame dis
tricts as nearly equal in population as prac-
ticable. While it is true that in the arrange
ment of the Congressional districts the Cen
eral Assembly exhibits no such disposition
as appears in the Judicial apportionment, to
wholly disregard contiguity of territ ory vet
a glance at the maps of Pennsylvan ia and
cursory examination of the manner in