The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1920-10-22

The opponents of limitation OF Cook
county OF the Legislature make the
assertion that the proposed limita-
ton is not in harmony with the prin-
ciples upon which our government is
founded and therefore un-American.
We submit the following statement in
support of the proposition that pre-
cedents show that population alone is
not the basis upon which our repre-
sentative government is founded.
The Constitution OF the United
States provides that each state shall
be represented in the Congress by
two senators and at least one member
of the House of Representatives Tn
der this provision of the Constitution
one twelfth of the states in the union
at this time have each one member in
the House of Representatives while
the population in each of these states
does not equal Congressional ratio.
Thus the principle OF apportion-
ment FOR BOTH HOUSES OF
CONGRESS is combination of pop
ulation and territorial representation.
Each state also as a state is rep
resented by two members in the Elec-
torial College. the remainder being APP
portioned to each state according TO
population.
This is a Representative govern
ment not a pure democracy and it
sometimes happens that the action OF
majority of the representatives does
not express the will Of majority of
the people-as illustrated by the fact
that a majority of tic popular vote
for President has sometimes been cast
for the candidate receiving a minority
vote of the Representatives in the
Electoral College. In other words
the founders of the National Govern
ment were not so particular to frame
our Representative government so
that the majority popular will should
always be the guide as to see that
each state should be represented.
Should this principle be followed in
forming the Legislatures of the state !?
Certainly it can be maintained that
such Constitution OF our state Legis-
latures is not a violation OF the
principle upon which the Federal Gov
eminent is founded Nor that it is
un-Amercan.
If this principle is followed in form
ing our Illinois Legislature, what
should be selected as the unit from
which at least one delegate TO the
House of Representative should be
chosen? While it is true that the
county does not occupy the same his
torical or legal relation TIC the state
that the state does to the Nation, yet
socially and to at least some degree
politically it may occupy exactly such
relation.
The First Representative Assembly
In America
The first representative assembly in
the country approaching the character
of a state Legislature was called by
Governor Yeardley of Virginia in 1919,
and consisted OF two Burgesses out
of every town, hundred or other par
tcular plantation to be respectively
chosen by the inhabitants This
formed the principle of Representa-
tive government in this country The
towns or plantations were the unit OF
representation not particular num-
Der of people. The exact plan of Gov.
ernor Yeardley continues to this day
in most of the New England states !;
thus New Haven, Connecticut, has no
more representation in the state Leg
islature than the smallest town in the
state. The same principle obtains in
Rhode Island, Vermont and New
Hampshire.
When what are now our Western
states were constructed into territories
by the Federal Government they were
laid out in townships and counties
were formed by joining together
townships for administrative purposes.
So while the counties are purely arti-
not take away any support from Mr..