New-York tribune., 1911-01-10
rHN "TOO LARGE",

our npiphbor "Thc World says that
the Crumpacker reapportionment Dill
.nroyides for the increase TO 433 mem
hers of a House already too large II
holds that the membership of the lower
branch Of Congress could be rcdncen
"to 300 with manifest advantage III
"the transaction of the public busi-
"ness" Assertions Of this sort are often
made vet those who make them would
be hard pushed to find any historIcai OF
practical basis for the contention ulat
q House of Representatives Of 43" mem
bers is "too large" for a nation OF forty
six states-soOn 10 he increased to forty
eight-with a population Of more than
ninety millions.
Compared with the popular branches
Of the legislatures of other nations the
House of Representatives Is not large
bodv The British House OF Commons
has GO members. the French Chamber
of IDENTITIES 592 and the German Rcichs-
tao 3oT The representative ratio in
Great Britain IS G1.000, In France about
10000 and in Germany about l6''oo.
Our ratio is 1M.1S2, and the Cr7un-
packer bill aims ut increasing II |" III
500. To reduce the membership oi the
House Of Representatives to 800 rauo
botwoen 100000 and 100000 would have
to be established.
The tendency of legislation since the
beginning Of the government has been
to keen the lower branCn of Congress
fairly large body compared with the
Senate After the first census the mem-
hership of the House was fixed at 100.
while the Senate had 80 members
proportion Of 81 10 I. In succeeding
apportionments the size Of the House
was rapidly enlarged until in 1888 II
comprised 2iO members the Senate hav-
ing only 4s, the proportion thus beng
exactly ) 10 /. When New Mexico and
Arizona are admitted there will he 96
Senators. hut under the terms OF the
Crnmpacker hill there will be only 4@G
Representatives. q proportion or only
abont AZ 10 I. For more than a nun
dred years tho two branches Of Congress
have expanded in membership at nearly
the same rate. II would he n violent
disturbance Of that equilibrium now to
limit tho House 10 800 members.
Compared with the nations increase
i'm population the expansion or the
House roster has been moderate. The
r,tio up 70 1890 was never larger than
10000 70 = district BY 1850 1t had in
creased 10 l27 .3s1 and in 1911 it is pro-
posed 90 carry II for the first time bc-
yond 200 600. Instead Of thirteen states
there will soon be forty-eight. and the pop
ulation Of the Union has been multiplied
since the first census more than twenty
two times. Tho membership OF the
House If fixed at i33 will have been
multiplied only four times since the
first census. From the historical point
Of view any overcrowth in that body
has been diligently prevented.
The superior advantages for lcGiSla-
five purpo,eS Of Il small chamber over
large one are by no means obvious. Tho
House Of REPRESENTATIVES has always
been more economical in appropriations
than the Senate and more responsive TO
Tie wishes Of the people. \ small body
is more manageable than large one
hut the nation might have good reason
fer prcfcrrinc a popular branch not so
rqs silv managed from the inside more
truly representative Of the many varied
constituencies which. In vast country
like ours. ought 10 have their spoRcsmcn
ir NJ least ono house Of Congress.