The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-14
IN THE SENATORIAL MAZE.
An Attempt 70 Explain the System Of
SURPRISING q New York Majority.

ton to the hideous complexity of the
constitutional rules governing Sena-
torial a~pportionment in this state it will
have accomplished a valuable end.
The present size OF the Senate ID
fifty-one members. of whom twenty
come from New York county, Kings and
The Bronx combined and t%hirty-one
from the rest Of the State. The pres
ent population OF the state Is some
thing over 5000. 900. Let us suppose,
simply for the sake Of illustration. that
at some future date the population,
excluding aliens, shall amount to 49,
200, 900, OF whom 2.7SO,O0O are in New
York county, 2.44O.000 in Kings and
4,9S0.000 In the rest of the State. The
complications produced by the cutting
Off Of Bronx county from New York
county may be for the moment ig-
nored. Simple mathematics will show
that under these circumstances, II the
existing size of the Senate were pre-
served. New York county would be en-
titled to 1873 Senators. Kings to 1873
and the rest of the state to 249 Sena-
tors.
What to do with fractions of lcgis-
lators has puzzled a"pportionment
mathematician since the republic be-
gan. In the above unusually simple
case the rule of taking the nearest
whole number happens to work often 1t
does not. It would seem entirely rea-
sonable that New York county should
have ~ Senators. Kings 12 and the
rest OF the State 25. Thus the two
metropolitan counties, with "A combined
population OF 100000 in excess Of the
rest OF the State. would have 26 mem
bers as against %. II the ngures
were changed to 90 and &c. or 20 and
20. under the absolute limit rule. the
practical Importance OF the change
would be trihing.
What would actually occur. however,
under provisions of Article III, Section
4, OF the Constitution OF 1894 left I'M
changed by the recent Constitutional
Convention. would be AS follows
In the first place II should be noted
that one way Of performing the simple
mathematics already alluded to. which
resulted in a theoretical a"pportionment
Of 1879 Senators to New York county
and 1872 to Kings, il to multiply the
population of each county by the size
of the Senate. 81. and then to divide
by the total population Of the state
The Constitution, however, provides In
effect that for all large counties the
multiplier shall always be so. Perform
Ing the calculation we find that New
York county's theoretical representa-
tIOn IL tNeIeby ltuuCet from 1919 10
1876 and in Kings from ~ 2 to 1i9.
This would not be eriou II the
nearest whole number rule were applied.
But the Constitution again provides
that for all large counties this rule shall
not be applied. but the entire fraction
dropped. Thus 10 New York county are
given only 10 Senators and to Kings
only II. The W combined receive
only - Senator'S instead OF the &c TO
which they would he entitled under "A
system of equal representation.
These are only preliminary steps.
however. The real point of the pro-
vision appears al the end in the follow
ing words:
The senst. shall always be
composed OF fifty members except that u
any county having three or more senators
at the time Of any appottionment shalt
be entitled 80 an additional
Senator or Senators. such additional sena-
tor or Senators shall he given 10 such
county in addition TO the nifty senators,
and the whole number Of Senators shall
be increased 10 that extent
Never was language more sNilfully
constructed to disguise It's real mean
ing, \ hasty reading suggests that
as "A set off to the absolute limit pro-
vision New York and Kings are here
actually to receive something for Moth
ing. A moments reflection Will show.
however. that were IL not for the pro-
vision just quoted. that is 60 say, II
the size OF the Senate remained UNI
changed. then for every Senator that
a large county gained, the rest of the
state would lose one. The effect OF the
provision is merely to peg the total
Senatorial representation OF the smaller
al the figure at which this
originally stood. Thus, returning TO
our original Illustration. Ne find tina;
New York and Kings couutics. under
the first Senatorial a-pport!unmout Of
1894. received ~ Senators L the test
OF the State 81, out OF a total Senate
consisting N that time of 30 members.
In the apportionment Of 1907 New York
and Kings became entitled 10 20
Senators. which would have left 30 for
the rest OF the state, The total size
of the senate was. however. increased
by one, 10 It's present figure of u, 50
that for the Rest of the state there
were still left 81 Senators. In our
imaginary instance the New York and
Kings representation Is increased by
four more, from 20 to - therefore the
total number Of Senators must also go
W I. from IL to 81, leaving for the res,
of the state again n. The equitable
figures ~ 20 in these two count es to
% outside. r-epresentlnr n Senator 70
every 100000 OF the population throug''-
ont the state. become converted into "a
here, one Senator for every 2l7.jUO OF
the population, and 81 outside. one
Senator for every 10000 Of the popu-
lation. Two counties containing a popu-
lar majority OF 2i0. 900 over the rest Of
the state are I'm a minority Of seven
in the Senate. And in case. as = quite