The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-15
QUESTION FOR HIGH COURT
App0rti0nment of Representa-. tion at l0-Year Intervals.
Alabama Man Thinks There Must Be . Wait Until 1910 Until There Can be Change in Number of Con-
 grcssmen.

congress.
 The resolution requests the Supreme Court of the United States to advise Congress as to whether the power to apportion representatives to the States Is continuing power, or Is dependent solely upon the happening of decen- nial census.
 Further, the resolution provides that the Supreme Court is requested to advise the Congress whether, under the powers granted to the Congress by the Constitution of the United States and the several amendments thereto, to apportion representatives among the several States, the Congress can exer- else that power at nll times. or Is Him. ited in the exercise of that power af- ter 1t has once been employed, to the taking of another enumeration of the people of the United States. as pro- vided for in the Constitution"
 Mr. UunderwoOd Talks.
 MT. Underwood today said of his resolutions:
 T do not believe Congress has the power or authority at this time to change the representation of the House. After tho census of 1900 had been taken a Republican Congress ap- portioned the representatives, and the bill was signed by a Republican Pres ident. At that time. many of the Southern Sttaes had adopted their new Constitutions. The resolution known as the Crumpacker bill was then ac- tually pending before the House and yet that Congress did not see fit to dis Criminate against the Southern States and apportioned the representation in proportion to the population of the several States.
 Now, without considering the ques- tion as to whether or not the four teenth amendment to the Federal Con- stitution has been violated, I contend that tho action of the Fifty eighth Con gress in making the present apportion- ment was final and cannot be changed or modified until after 1910, when the next census Is taken.
 "The constitution provides that rep resentatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers and that the first enumeration should he made within three years after the first Con gress met, and thereafter within every subsequent term of ten years.
 Tt seems clear from these provis- ions that the makers of the Constitu- ton contemplated the apportionment of representatives to the States at stated periods, that is every ten years. and only at such times.
 Fourteenth Amendment.
 The Fourteenth Amendment, If it Is not nullifed by the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment, contemplates the reduction of representation under cer- tain conditions. but it expressly states that this reduction shall be made by Congress based on the numbers of male persons denied the right to vote as compared to the number of male in habitants of such State over 21 years of age. It does not say when 1t shall be done. but clearly expects Congress to act under its terms when 1t ap- portions the representatives to the States after each decennial census as provided for in the Constitution, Should any other construction be placed upon these provisions of the Constitution. 1t at times might be pro ductive of great discord and political turmoil. the changing political parties would be continually attempting to change the representatives to produce partisan results.
 By a careful consideration of where the majority fractions fell in making the last apportionment. the Republi- cans succeeded in gaining ten or twelve votes in the Electoral College that could be taken away from them by changing the number of Representa- tives in Congress so as to make a greater number of majority fractions fall in Democratic States instead of Republican.
 The uncertainties arising from con tinual changes of representation would be harmful to the country and inju- rious to good business conditions. and was clearly never contemplated by the founders of our government
 will Go to the Courts. We people of the South. coming l from States that have adopted edu- catlonal and property qualifications to the right to vote. do not believe we have violated the Constitution of our country. We believe we have acted wisely for both races, and in the in- terest of law. order. good government and good morals. We are not willing 1 to submit to the decisions of a polit- | ical tribunal the most sacred rights of our people. Should Congress act adversely to what we believe to be our rights, we will not submit until the Supreme Court of the United States has 1 finally decided the question. and now that there is a serious controversy as to whether Congress has the power to act at this time, I think 1t wise as well as expedient for us to submit that question in advance to the Supreme Court. and secure a decision, which all will be willing to respect and abide by" R. H. Watkins. Good Roads in Tennessee.