Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-20
A Representative for Every 10000
Inhabitants.
FAVORED BY THE CENSUS COMMITTEE
Views of Representative Hopkins,
q thssY Shai'ma".
PROBABLE LEGISLAT ITO n

Representative Hopkins of Illinois. one of
the republican leaders of the House and
chairman ofthe committee on census, is in
Washington. AS the ranking member of
the census committee Mr. Hopkins will
have charge Of the proposed bill to reappor-
ton the congressional districts of the va
rious state In speaking Of this subject
to Star reporter today, Mr.. Hopkins said
that the committee would agree upon
measure designed to effect such reappor-
tionment, and that in all likelihood 1T would
pass the House during the coming session.
The committee on census will meet dur
ing the first week of the session and will
go to work at once framing bill providing
for reapportionment.; Just what the details
of this bill will be cannot, of course, be pre-
dicted at this time, although think that
proposition will be adopted which will
Increase the present membership of the
House. This measure will provide for
member of Congress for a given number
OF inhabitants. A pro rata basis Will be
decided upon which will be equitable to
every state in the Union. At present there
is member of the House for every no.
ooo and fraction of inhabitants. That
number will have to be increased to meet
the demands of an increased population.
Just what ratio will be determined upon
cannot be decided until the director of the
census furnishes us authentic figures upon
which to base calculations. 1t has
been suggested, however that we author
lie one member for every 19S, 600 inhab-
itants. That seems to be the ratio that
is IN general favor among members of the
committee: This will cause a decrease in
membership in some states, while the repre-
sentation from other states will be in
creased On the whole, this proposition
would entail an increased membership Of
from fifteen to twenty members.
Votes Cast Taken as n Basis.
1t depends entirely upon the nature of
the bill as to whether this proposition will
radically affect the representation from
states where certain classes of citizens are
not allowed to vote. There is project
on foot to make the amount of representa-
ton proportionate to the total number of
votes cast in elections instead Of the num-
Der of Inhabitants If this idea were car
ried out some of the southern states would
no doubt suffer. In states where the
groes and iliterate whites are disfranchised,
for instance, the representation would be
materially decreased. This idea. predicat-
Ing the proportion of representation upon
the total of votes cast, will be projected In
committee, but just what will be done with
it is uncertain. am inclined to believe,
however, that the committee will favor the
idea of basing the rate of representation
upon the number of inhabitants.
Changes in Apportionment.
according to calculations I have made
recently, the reapportionment proposition
basing the number of representatives on the
total number of Inhabitants would add
members TO the House from New York and
Illinois, and perhaps other states. States
like Nebraska and Maine might lose mem
berS by the proposed law. That, however
would depend entirely, upon the exact num-
Der of inhabitants designated for each
membership. Some of the southern states
aside from the general proposition to de-
C: ease their aYote In the House on account
of the Acknowledgement of certain classes
or citizens, might also suffer from the pro-
portion agreed upon, although to what ex-
tent cannot now be ascertained.
The general idea of the committee, how
ever, is to cause little decrease in the
membership of The House possible, while
seems just and equitable, so as ultimate
ly to increase the total membership. The
increase, of course, will go to the states
which have shown a growth of population
while those states which have not kept the
pace in enlarging their population will be
obliged to stand the consequences.
Southern Representation.
AS for the proposition to decrease the
southern representation, considered per Sc
l think there will be some discussion of
the subject during the coming session. In
my opinion, however, there will be no de-
cisive action taken, as this is a matter
that cannot reasonably be disposed of dur
ing a short session The subject of reap
portionment will oMer members an onnor
tunity to be heard the southern repre-
sentation problem. but of course the two
subjects are distinct and no vote can be
taken upon it unless a separate bill is re-
ported for action. ..-
Probable Legislation.
Il am sure that the House will pass the
ship subsidy and army organization bills
Both the House and Senate, have bills
pending providing for ship subsidies. Their
provisions are Identical, and l am conf
| dent that both bodies will dispose of the
| matter favorably before, adjournment
There can be no doubt that the passage of
the subsidy bill would be good thing
Our merchant marine needs it, and the in
terests of the American people in general
require the enactment of such a law Be
sides, the republican party is committed to
this proposition, and is morally obliged to
pass the bill.
The military affairs committee will put
| It's ideas on army reorganization into shape
and present them to the House The House
generally will be guided by such action as