The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-27

| Daniel Webster declared, is SECOND y
the ialportaRce,~velu and wisdom OF II
provisions only to the constitution itsei'
This was the famous ordnance OF lso
for the government of the Northwes
Territory.
Il This ordinance provides for the futur
=, division Of said territqSy into not NOR
| than fiven less than three states. an
il fixed the boundaries of three OF them
InameIy, Ohio. Indiana and Illinois. III
| fifth article of that ordinance provide
that
Whenever any Of said states sha.
have eO.eo9 free inhabitants therein susi
Estate shall be admitted. BY its delegates
into the congress OF the United tSate
on an equal footing with the origins
states in all respects whasevef. and shat
be at liberty to form a permanent consti
tuition and state government.
1T is thus seen that the fathers ever
in the eighteenth century. provided
First. for very large states as to are'
and resources (for it was then wei
known that the No-thwcst Territory va
rich in agricultural resources and til
natural home OF a mighty popuiation)
and
Second. that each of these states nusi
have a population which. in comparison
| with the population OF the rest OF the re-
public at that time. was very heavy in
deed.
This rule was referred to by President
Washington in his message transmitting
TO congress the constitution OF Tennessee,
and President Washington added that
entitie all the territories south OF the
Ohio river 10 be admitted as q state into
the Union. Governor Blount has trans
mitted a.return of the enumeration OF
its Inhabitants. etc
This number however. was not inten-
ded to be a permanent requisite, but a
standard referring TO the population Of
| the rest of the nation at the time. BY
comparing 60,000 (the number OF people re-
quired for statehood in 1851, with the pop
uiation OF the nation at that time we find
the ratio which the statesmen of that day
deemed essential as between communities
applying for statehood and the nation
itself AT that time the population of the
United States was less than 4,c00.0la. f
60,05o were required as sthe first requisite
for statehood when the population Of the
nation was less than 100000. the same
rule would require a population at the
present time of over 1.153.0J0; and every
reason supporting the rule of 100 estab-
lished by the fathers ordinance of 1871
requires as many more than 6oe)o now as
the population OF the nation itself a pres
ent is larger than it was one bundled
and fifteen years ago
In fixing the boundaries of the three
states of the northwest territory the
, authors Of that ordinance also established
q precedent IN favor
First, of large areas in any future
state and against small areas and
Second in favor of natural and scien-
tifc boundaries and against accidental
and eccentric boundaries
Gould the vast development west Of
the Mississippi river have been forseen at
that time. il is plain from the precedent
established in fixing the boundaries OF the
states of the northwest territory that the
fathers would have indicated yet much
more comprehensive boundaries; for if
states as large as Illinois indiana. and
Chic Were the least which the nation re-
quired of any communities coming into it
at a time when the nation was confined
to the thirteen orOginal states. il is plain
that still larger areas would be required
when the nation has grown as it has
grown during the successive periods Of
it's history.
This rule was observed down to the
admission of Michigan -ac was referred
TO by President jackson in his message
of December 9. 1886 That the rule Of Co.
600 was not considered permanent, be-
cause too small, is shown by the fact
that the matter of the admission Of Kan
sas the new rule was introduced that the
population of the new state shall at least
equal the unit OF rep-eseptation in the
house of representatives This rule has
not been observed. and was neither scien-
tifc nor based upon the principle Of
popular government for the nation.
For. despite the fact mat the different
sizes of the thirteen colonies and the
insistence by ambitious men from the
smaller states for an equal representation
in the senate with the larger ones COM
peIled the anomalous compromise by
which small states secured as large
vote In the senate as the larger ones;
nevertheless the general theory. of course,
was that there should he a government
by population and not by area 1t was
intended that the state should never be
a large body. but yet tna;, remaining
small body. il should still stand for
quantity OF people and not n quantity of
land. For it was universally agreed that
the senate shond always remain as small
sf,fa for
its existence and the clements of its use
fulness in our scheme OF government de
manding this
But measured even by the rule adopted
In the case of Kansas. unscientilc as il
is and negative as IL does the very pur-
nose and reasons of the organization OF
the senate. Arizona is not (and New Mex
leo is only Just within the rulel at pres
ent entitled 10 admission into the Union.
For the unit Of representation, according
TO the census Of 1aoa. IS 1919; and Ari
zona. by the census Of leoo has l2e.9S1, and
NV Mexico 1880
Measured BY the statesmaulike rule
laid down in the ordinance of 17S7 as
applied Ia existing conditions. both Ari-
zona and New Mexico fan far short 4
the required population, while oklahoma
and the Indian territory about measure
UP 70 it. bar no more; Tor the population
Of Arizona. hy the census Of 1saa. is l22.
ssl. thar Of New Mexico is lsJSle while
that Of Oklahoma Is 80 2gl and the Indian
territory Ss2 o60 or together 791.ssl: and it
requires only personal Inspection of
these two territories to demonstrate that
since the census Of isoo WAS taken tens
OF thousands of immigrants have arrived
there and established homes.