Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-03-25

tionment, and the ass amblv districts
should be bounded by county lines I'M
til the necessity arises for bounding
them by town or ward lines which are
not county lines also. This necessity
only arises because the constitution pro
vides for choosing members aof assembly
by single districts, and some counties
have a sufficient number of inhabitants
to entitle each Of them to more than one
member of assembly. Such counties
must necessarily be divided into the re-
quisite number of assembly districts
The external boundaries of such districts
or some of them, will still be county
lines, but the interior boundaries there
of will necessarily be town or ward, and
not county lines. But for the necessity
Of dividing some counties into two or
| more assembly districts there would
have been no necessity Of mentioning
town and ward lines in Section 4. Ar
| ticle 4.
! Before the constitution was adopted,
lit had never happened in Wisconsin that
a county was dismembered in the form
nation Of a legislative district If
county was entitled to more than one
representative in either branch Of the
| legislature, both or all of them were
| elected on a general ticket. If the same
| district extended into two or more COun-
! ties, both or all of such counties were
| invariably included therein entire.
! Furthermore for nearly a quarter of
century after the adoption of the cOnsti-
! tuition with single possible exception,
no attempt was made to diSmember a
! county in an appOrtiOnment of members
/ of the assembly, although during that
time four such appointments were
made.
There are most satisfactory reasons
why the unity of counties was thus uni
versally respected and preserved. The
/ county is the chief civil subdivision of
I the state. 1t or its equivalent has eX-
/ listed from the first in all the states and
! territories of the Union. 1t has always
! been the medium through which the
state performs some Of its most import.
ant functions, particularly that of rails
ing revenue. Its governing body has
always been clothed with important
| legislative powers, Of a local character,
directly affecting the welfare of all the
! people within its borders. 1t is Il sort of
| imperium in imperiO, as regards local
self government in many particulars
! These functions were regarded so i'm
| pOrtant that the constitution expressly
gives the legislature power to . confer
upon the boards Of supervisors of the
! several counties Of the state, such powers
of a local legislative and administrative
character, as they shall from time to
J time prescribe" This is one Of the most
ample grants OF power in the cOnstitu-
ton, and its insertion therein proves the
| importance Of the county and county
! government, in the estimation of the
people who adopted the constitution.
( The people of a county have common
interests and objects, peculiar to them
/ selves. and intimate public relations
with each other. The electors thereof
vote for the same public officers, are
subject to the jurisdiction Of and attend
the same courts; some OF them sit upon
the same iuries and on the same board
/ OF supervisors, and all have a common
interest in all county affairs, hence,
when the constitution was adopted it
was deemed of vital importance that dis
memberment Of counties in the forma-
ton of legislative, especially assembly
districts, should be avoided. to the end
that each county, having sufficient pop
ulatiOn, should have its own represen-
tatives in the legislature, chosen by its
own electors and them only. and owing
no divided, perhaps conflicting al
| legianCe to any other constituency.
True, because Of the sparse population
in some portions Of the state, it was and
| is necessary in some cases to include
more than a single county in one assem-
bly, district But the autonomy of the
county could still be preserved, and the
evils of county diSmemberment in a
great measure avoided, by making such
districts consist Of whole counties. This
may easily be done in the apportion-
ment of the state into assembly districts,
without infringing any constitutional
requirement,
The single legislative district system
was incorporated into the constitution.
This rendered necessary a division Of
those counties, the population of each of
| which entitled it to more than one mem
Der of the assembly. But under that
system there is no difficulty in avoiding
the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of counties, by con-
filming exterior lines of such districts to
county lines where they extend to county
lines. By SO doing the county will be
saved from dismemberment and pre-
served rs the primary territorial unit of
the assembly district
To the above mentioned condition it
may be added, that the debates in the
convention which framed the constitu-
ton, and the earnest protests of the
leading members of that body, and of
many other citizens contemporary with
them, against such dismemberment
when proposed in later years (all which
is matter of history, furnish additional
evidence that the convention which
framed, and the people who adopted the
constitution, intended thereby to pre-
serve the integrity of the counties in the
formation of assembly districts.
Considering all the facts and circum-
stances above stated, and having due re.
gard to the language of the constitution
in that behalf, we are impelled to the
conclusion that it was not intended
thereby to permit the legislature to dis
member any count: in the formation of
assembly districts. That is to say it pro-
hibits the legislature from placing one
county, or more than one, and a portion
of another county in portions of two or
more counties in the same legislative dis
trict, and that such prohibition is found
in the provision which requires that as
sembly districts shall be bounded by
county. town or ward lines.
! As already stated it is quite impossible
to uphold the apportionment of 1891, in
part and declare it invalid as to the
residue. 1t must be held, therefore. that
the violations of the constitutional rule
prohibiting the dismemberment of
counties vitiates the whole act.
Chapter 4S2 of 1891 violates another
constitutional requirement. Sec. 8, art.
", Ordains that appointments of legis-
lative districts shall be made according
to population" excluding therefrom GER
tain classes of persons therein specified.
Because the county is the primary ter