The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-11-22
..P0LIIICS..

Two members of the incoming Cover
nor White administration were In the
city yesterday, Professor T. c.. Miller,
OF Morgantown. superintendent-elect OF
schools, and Arnold C. Scherr.j of Min
eral county, auditor-elect. Mr.. Scherr
ran up from MoundsvIllr. where he had
attended meeting OF the state prison
board, Of which he is member. Last
night. at the Mcclure. Messrs Miller
and Scherr and State Labor Commits
sioner I. V. Barton were discussing the
coming reapportionment of the state,
and all agreed that there should be no
glaring strife for party advantagr-
the Republican party should rather cx-
hlbit spirit OF fairness by redistrlcting
according to the geographical advan-
tages and natural local affiliations. II
the present basis of representation for
congressman. $4,000 population to the
district, is continued which seems like
ly West Virginia will be entitled to an
| ot'ANt SOhbi kHC lNGpuDlSdH
leaders seem to be of one mind as to
the proper procedure-instead of livId-,,
Ing the state into five congressional
districts, they believe that there should
be q congressman-at-large. Just rs
| In Pennsylvania, Kansas and other
states. This is advocated by Auditor
elect Scherr for the reason that the peo-
pie have become accustomed to the
present four congressional districts, and
1t would be a difficult matter to divide
the state into five we'll balanced dis
trlcts. On the other hand, with one or
two minor changes the present four dis
tricts could become well balanced both
geographically and from the population
point of view. As the congressional
districts are now arranged. the Third Is
the most populous, the First coming
next and the Fourth and Second on
about even terms. A county or two
taken from the Third and given to the
Fourth would balance things up In the
way of population very nicely. To ex-
tricatc the districts from their geo
graphical mix-up, however, Is matter
that will involve many changes.
Mr.. Scherr also holds that every coun-
ty In the state should have at least one
member of the house OF delegates, no
matter how small Its population. At
present there are eight delegate dis
tricts made up OF seventeen counties.
In the late election each party carried
four Of these districts for house of dele
gates, and OF the seventeen counties
eleven gave Republican majoriiies. On
the basis Of delegate for each county,
this would mean gain OF seven dele
gates for the Republicans and a gain of
two for the Democrats. or 4 net Repub-
lican gain of five members. or course
the Democrats will Immediately set up
howl that this would be taking q
siarinS party advantage" but as a
matter of fact 1t Is only a matter Of
justice. Without regard to politics each
county should have its own representa-
1--WE IN Inc legislature.
AT present there are thirteen senator
ial districts. with two senators from
each, or twenty-siN In all. The propo-
sition to redistrict the state into fifteen
or even into eighteen senatorial dis
trlcts is meeting with favor throughout
the state. Eighteen districts would
mean thirty-sia senators, which; is not
an unw!eldy body, and many smaller
states than West Virginia have senates
of much larger membership. Speaking
of senatorial districts, there is ut least
one district-the First-that cannot he
changed. Hancock and Brooke, OF
course. are not populous enough to
form senatorial district and neces-
sarily they must be In the same district
with Ohio county. And Just here, with
fifteen or eighteen districts instead OF
thirteen. there would be problem. AL
ready the First senatorial district casts
many more votes than the average Of
the present thirteen districts. and with
the increased number proposed the dis
proportion would be even greater, while
the fact that Brooke and Hancock
would be far below the requirements
from the population point of view for a
senatorial district by themselves would
make It impossible to cure the evil.
One Of the most glaring Instances OF
Democratic unfairness In the last APP
portionmcnt was In the assigning OF
Mcdowell and Wyoming counties into
one delegate district with but one dele
gate. In the late election Mcdowell
county cast almost 5000 votes anu gave
4 Republican majority of $500, yet she
hasn't her own member of the house of
delegates. On the other hand small
conference.-the principally for their
steadiness In giving Democratic ma Jor-
ities-l!ke Boone Calhoun, Gllmer,
Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas and
others are given n delegate apiece,
Boone Pocahontas and Nicholas coun-
ties combined cast about as many votes
US Mcdowell, but they have Three dele
49,. LII