Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-24
ULTIMATE UNION OF STATES.
Will the Final Number be the Sacret
FOrty-NineS


FOrty-Nines
From Harper's Weekly.
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. it brings within view
the end Of state-making from the territory
row belonging to the United States. The
ultimate union Of states seems to be In
sight. There is little likelihood Of the di-
vision of any existing states into more than
one. or Of the consolidation Of two or more
existing states into one. The consent OF
their people would be necessary, and there
are strong popular predictions against
either process. Neither Is 1t likely that
there will be any combination or division OF
existing territories in making new states.
There are now fOrty-fOur states, and the
proposed additions are four-Utah. New
Mexico, Arizona and Oklahonna-named in
order Of population SO far as officially as
certained. There will remain only the In
of Alaska. Will the civilized remnant OF
the aborigines finally become an Indian
commonwealth in the heart Of the Union
the last to be fitted in, the key-piece, as II
were, OF the great combination? If SO. the
states Of the ultimate union will be forty
nine. From old Assyria through ancient
israel the number seven has come down to
US with a kind of sacred significance, and
there Is multiplied sanctity IN seven times
seven.
Israel celebrated in it's law II not in its
practice, the completion Of the cycle of sew
en- times seven years with a jubilee on the
hftieth. VIII our final union be that of the
sacred combination of numbers with the
jubilee number represented by the District
Of Columbia, which contains the national
capital, or pe-chance by the far-off territory
Of Alaska. a dim satellite beyond the con-
fines OF the respondent galaxy?
Already the Union has been moro thar, q
hundred years a-making. The original thir.
teen Of 179O had just doubled in fifty years
and were twenty-six In 1850 The additions
in the next fifty years. or prior to the new
process Of admission in 1890. were one short
OF thirteen, making a union of rty-eigh,
states after Colorado came in In 1876 There
was then a period without change in the
number longer than had occurred before
since the actual union of states was estab-
lished.
The most significant political incident OF
this ''indissoluble union of indestructible
states Is the equal representation of all in
the senate. 1t is the chief strength of the
Union and the chief weakness of the Senate
1t was the main inducement to the earliest
accessions and the main objection to the
latest IL was one Of the compromises by
whicn the Union was brought about, one OF
the forces by which 1t was imperiled. one of
tie factors by which 1t is made perpetual
The equal representation Of states is an IN
equal representation of the people This in
S4udhty ana WlOencu amazingly
in a hundred years.
When Delaware and Rhode Island insisted
upon the same footing in the Senate as
virginia and Pennsylvania, the smallest
state had population of 5a,G4 and the
largest I4I,6lO, by the census of 11!D. The
ratio was about one to thirteen. Our least
populous state In 1880 was less .,oculous
than Delaware in 1850. for Nevada had but
40. d6l Inhabitants when the last census was
taken. But New York in 1870 had mere
than eight times the population that Vir-
gina had in 1Nn When the Union was cs-
tsblished Virginia's two Senator's represent.
Ell thirteen times as many people as Della
wares two senators, but today the two
Senators 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
1t increase In the ultimate union? 1t may
increase rs between the extremes for Ne
vada gives little promise of future growth
but the general inequality among the states
Is likely to diminish. However that may be.
nothing Is so firmly fixed in the federal Con-
stitution as the equal suffrage" If the
states in the Senate.