The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-28
|REAPPORT|ONMENT MEASURE IS SPASSED House Raises Membership
 to 433 DEFEAT AMENDMENTS Both Parties Had Champoins of Im- portant Amendment, But the
 Bill Is Passed in Its Original Form
AMENDMENTS

Washington. April 27.-A bill providing for the enlargement of the National House of Representatives from 391 to i33 members and the apportionment of those members to the different states on the basis of the population shown by the re- cent federal census, passed the House early this evening after vain efforts of members of both political parties to amend it in important particulars.
 The proposed size of the House is identical with that provided fol in the Crumpacker bill passed by the House at the last session of Congress, but not acted upon by the Senate. The Hous- ton bill. passed today leaves to the leg islatures of the different states the pow CT to re-arrange tte congressional dis tricts in their respective states on the new population basis of one member for each 211,S77 of inhabitants.
 The two important amendments pro- posed today and defeated after long de- bate were to put the redistricting power in the hands of the governors of states when the legislatures had failed to act and to limit the House in the future 70 a membership of 4SO or 4s3, leaving future reapport,onments to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and labor.
 Both of these amendments were vigor ously championed by the republicans and had some democratic support. MT. Sher- ley of Kentucky first offered the "Crum- packer amendment as 1t was known, 70 restrict the size of the House to i3) in the future and later MT. Cruinpacker submitted it again a part of formal motion to recommit the bill to the com mittee on census to have the amendment put into it. On a record vote on this motion the democrats voted it down IFS to go.
 The amendment offered earlier by Mir Crumpacker, formerly the republican chairman of the committee on census which has charge of the reapportionment subject, to give the governors of states power to carry out the encouragement of congressional districts was declared oy Mir. Hamlin of Missouri, democrat, to be a deliberate effort of republican poli- ticians of Missouri to give the republi- can governor of that state to make up the new districts so that republican dls- tflctS 1niSHt De constructed by gerry mandering methods
 Mir. Hamlin declared that with the Crumpacker' amendment as a part of the Bill the republican governor of Mis- souri could veto the reapportionmeu5 made by the democratic legislature and could then carry out the reapportionment Himself. Nr. Barthcidt republican, also from Missiuri, challenged this statement and asserted that the last democratic legislature that reapportioned the con gressional districts of Missouri had vio- lated the federaal statutes by making the districts of greatly varying size The increase of the size of the House was agreed to by members of both parties, but many republicans attacked it on the ground that it would make the House moro unwieldly. Inslrgent republicans were particularly vigorous in opposing the increase, declaring if II wers not for the demand of those states that would otherwise lose members, there would be q general sentiment in favor of keeping the membership at the present size cf 591.