Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-07-31
ULTIMATE UNION OF STATES.
VIII the Final Number Re the Sacred
Forty-Nine?
niarner's WeeklYl

Whatever may be said OF the wisdom
OF the addition of six new States to the
Union within the last four years. and the
proposed addition Of four more, IL brings
within view the end of State-making
from the territory now belonging TO the
United States. The ultimate union OF
states seems to be in sight There is
little likelihood Of the division OF any
existing States into more than one or
OF the consolidation OF two or more ex-
isting States into one. The consent OF
their people would be necessary. and
there are strong popular predictions
against either process. Neither is II
likely that there will be any combination
or division of existing Territories in max
lnr new States.
There are now forty-four States. and the
proposed additions are four-Ctah. New
Mexico. Arizona, and Oklahoma-named
IN order Of population so far as officially
ascertained. There will remain only the
Indian Territory and the great outlying
domain of Alaska. WIN the civilized
remnant of the abOrigines finally become
an Indian Commonwealth in the heart of
the Union, the last 10 be fitted in. the
keN-riece. as IL were, OF the great com
b'nauonT II so. the States of the ulti-
mate Union will be forty-nine. From old
Assyria through ancient Israel the num-
Der seven has come down to US with IL kind
of sacred significance, and there is
multiplied sanctity in seven times seven.
Israel celebrated. in its law il not in it's
practice, the completion OF the cycle of
seven times seven years with a jubilee on
the httieth WIN our final union be that
u the sacred combination of numbers with
tne jubilee number represented by the
District Of Columbia. which contains the
national capital. or perchance by the far
OF territory Of Alaska, a dim satellite
beyond the confines of the Respondent
galaxy.
Already the Union has been more than
a hundred years a making. The original
thirteen Of 1870 had just doubled in nifty
years AMI were twenty-six in 1850. The
additions in the next fifty years or prior
To the new process of admission in 1892
were one short OF thirteen. making a
uniol of thiriy-eght States after Colorado
came I'm, In 1875. There was then period
without change in the number, longer
than had occurred before since the actual
union OF States was established
The most significant political incident Of
this "indissoluble union Of indcstructble
States H. the equal representation Of
all in the Senate. II is the chief strength
of the Union. and the chief weakness ~
the Senate. II was the main inducement
TO the earliest accessiOns. and the main
objection to the latest. II was one Of the
compromises by which the Union was
brought about. one Of the forces by which
IL was imperilled. one Of the factors by
which II Is made rprtual. The equal re-
pre seutatiOn OF States is an unequal repre-
sentatlon Of the people This inequality
has varied AMI Widene1 amazingly in Il
hundred years.
When Delaware and Rhode Island in
sisted upon the same footing In the Senate
"a Virginia and Pennsylvania. the small
est State had a population Of 1901 and
the largest 1850 by the census of 1880.
The ratio was about one to thirteen. Our
least pOpulOus State in 1880 was less pOpu-
lous than Delaware In 1870. for Nevada
had but 800 inhabitants when the last
census was taken. But New York in 1889
had more than eight times the population
that Virginia had In 1890. When the Union
Was established Virginias two senators
represented thirteen times as many people
as Delaware'S two senators. but to-day
the two senator's Of New York represent
almost exactly one hundred and thirty
times the population represented by those
of Nevada. Has this disparity reached its
limit. or will IL increase I'm the ultimate
union? II may increase as between the
extremes, FOR Nevada gives little promise
OF future growth, but the general in
equality among the States Is likely TO
diminish. However that may be. nothing
is so firmly fixed in the Federal Consti-
tuition as the equal suffrage" of the
States in the Senate.