New-York tribune., 1894-10-31
I FAIR 1PPORTIONMENT.

PARTISAN CONSIDERATION" iN->Or'i-N ID '
coxvEyrroN-XEw-YoRK AND BROOKLYN AS
WELL, TREATED As BY HILL-WRoNGs TO
RE R1GurEp-ALl INTERESTS GUARDED
THE UDICIARY-sCHOOLS AND
CHARiTIEs-oTHER REFORMS.
IN the Editor Of The Tribune
Ctr. gladly avail IN self OF your request to
,ut in writing my views Of the Reapportionment
.r,icle for the benefit of your readers and of all
,,zens who may be interested In the subject.
IN nv judgment it is by far the most impor-
,.nt question to be submitted to the people at the
oonng election. The welfare of the State for
the next twenty years will. believe, be greatly
,,,n,oted by its adoption. Great pains have been
taken By Senator Hill and his echoes TO create
tho impression that this amendment is partisan
1, rs character. and was devised by the Repub-
ucans I'm the Convention for the purpose or
n,o,ntajnjng the ascendancy Of their party in
tho Senate and Assembly by means Of its pro-
,,.;one The statement is absolutely without
foundation in fact and Is the pure offspring OF
his fevered and embittered imagination.
II is not true that any Republican caucus
undertook TO control the conscience to bind the
Judgment or to dictate the vote Of any member
~ the Convention upon this or any other Con-
stitut,onal Amendment adopted or rejected. The
Anportionment Amendment is the result Of the
natient and deliberate study and discussion OF
the question in many protracted sessions IN
which Democrats and Republicans shared ana l
believe It 10 be in every respect just, fair ana
equal as a division Of the political power OF inc
STATE as represented in the legislative body
among the various sections and interests which
cornose the state. Its freedom from partisan
ship depends upon the determination OF the
question: What is the true principle upon which
an apportionment should be made? II. as Sena-
TOR Hill insists. the true object of an apporton-
rosnt is to deal out the seats In Senate and AS
senblv between the parties that exist to-day. so
as 10 make an even division Of them as party
spoils the Convention cer,ainly lost sight Of that
principle But if the true and essential standard
Of an apportionment is to divide the political
nower Of the State fairly and equita5ly among
the different sections and portions Of the people
ocounv,nq It's territory upon a substantial basis
OF numerical equality. 50 that every section
every county, every interest. shall have It's fair
share its fair influence in the law-makins power,
the Convention certainly has not erred
REApPORTIONMENT DEMANDED.
It is. in the first place objected that the Con-
vention should not have made any apportonment
at all but should have left it TO future Legisla'-
ures 10 reapportion the Senate and Assembly
upon rules prescribed by 1t; but every previous
constitutional Convention had made a reappor-
tionment and this Convention found itself con-
fronted bv a state of affairs which imperatvely
demanded action on its part to enable the people
"a urdo a Aagrant political wrong ana outrage
nerpetrated by Senator Hill and his associates
through the medium of the Legislature of 1892.
&c xrei stolen
bv the theft Of the seat in the XVIII Senate
District consummated by the act OF Maynard,
dictated by Senator IInl as is already matter
of history Almost its first act assembling
uas n nrovide for an enumeration OF the inhab-
,.ants NJ the State approved by the Governor on
January 90 1892 providing for State census
which should be completed prior to the 18th day
~ February. That census taken under cir
cu,ostances and in a manner not calculated 10
ohtain a fair enumeration Of the people ot the
State. II was notoriously unfair and fraudulent.
and Was publicly denounced as such. II was
taken at season OF the year when the rural
population could not be fully reached and ascer-
tanned in the thirteen days allowed by the act,
and so the population in the rural districts was
minimized. while the figures OF the population IN
the great cities Of NewYork and Brooklyn were
exaggerated and no pains were taken TO dis
criminate with accuracy the alien population.
Such were the charges made publicly at the
time and they have never been successfully
contradicted.
This hasty enumeration having been completed.
at a special session Of the Legislature called for
the purpose after the adjournment OF the regular
session. which special session lasted only two
DAYS. and which. as the journals show. exclusive
Of adjournments. occupied in the whole only a
very few hours, the Democratic managers. under
the inspiration Of Senator Hill. without debate
or any opportunity therefor with no time or
chance given TO the minority to examine its de-
tails by brute force carried through an Appof-
tionment Act which is the one under which the
Convention found the State to be still living
THE WORK OF THE STOLEN SENATE.
The journal OF the Senate shows that the
extraordinary session called by the 'oN-
ernor convened at the Capitol at $50 p. m on
the twenty-ffth day Of April, 1892. The com
mittee appointed to wait upon the Governor ana
10 inform him that the Senate was ready to
organize and proceed to business reported that
they had performed that duty and a message
Of the Governor was read stating that the ex-
traordinary session had been convened TO con-
slider the subject Of the reapportionment; that
the long-neglected enumeration had been taken
and that IL was now the duty OF the law-mak-
ing power to apportion the members; where
upon Mr. Cantor moved that the Senate take
recess until II D. m. At that hour Mr.. can
tor introduced the Apportionment bill when
was ordered printed, and an adjournment was
taken again until II a. N. Tuesday. AT ii a. m
Tuesday. the 26th of April, the Senate met
and Mr. Cantor moved the third reading or 'he
bill. The Republican members were permitted
10 file their protest against the consideration oil
the matter sundry clerical bunders were cor
rected. and the question was put upon the hhai
passage of the bill and decided in the aNlrna-
tive by a bare majority Of the Senators-seVeh-
teen in number. all Democrats-Osborne' OF
Dutchess County who occupied the stolen seat
being one Of the seventeen. and his vote belhg