The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-01-25
|HOUsE MEMBERSHIP
NOT TO Be INCREASED
,noPT OF COMMITTEE REC
o,5MENDING NEW APPOR-
TTONMENT DEFEATED.
|TINKHAM PLEA REJECTED

TlNKHAM FAGA A>
,,.;oritv Committee Report Averse to
'" Move to Cut Down Southern Rep
-assrtation. Massachusetts, Mem
har Threatens to Go to Court.
WASHINGTON, D. C.-The house
- representatives voted today against
;ncreasing its membership, whcih is
The action was taken by adoption
80 amendment to the reapportion-
OF az hill which sought to increase
l me total TO 483. Under the amend
ln eo+ Twelve seats would be shifted
ino+o eleven to eight states.
i'G The vote to keep the membership
-. A.; was 1913 for to II against. The
Ceorg,a members voted Tor the small
Sneaker Gillett and former Speaker
C,ark were strong in opposition to
any increase; 40 H. foi
lowing states will lose seats two years
hence: So. -
kansas Kentucky, Louisiana, Name;
IIississiDpi, Nebraska, Rhode Island
anJ Vermont one each. California will
cain three, Michigan two, Ohio two
9end Connecticut, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Texas and Wyoming one
each.
Southern Representation
An outstanding portion Of the ma
;or;tv rcnort was that dealing with the
move OF Representative George H..
sT;nkham. OF Massachusetts, to cut
down the representation of the. south
because OF its alleged discrimination
Ssga;nst the negro voters. The caucus
Committee declined to include such
legislation in the bill, saying that the
question is one that should be given
long investigation, such as the com
mitfee could not give, and it doubts
that it would be possible to ascertain,
ANYWAY, whether there have been dis
examinations justifying reduced repre-
sentatlon.
Alter reciting that Representative
HTinkham, backed by a number OF col
ored Witnesses, appeared before the
81 mittee, only to have their claims de-
MED bv southern members of congress,
gress and after quoting the fourteenth
amendment covering the right OF all
nj citizens to vote, the committee report
says
Reasons Against Reduction.
This amendment was declared rati-
Il fed on June 28 1868. 1t is significant
that. although since that date five
y decennial apportionments have passed,
no effort has been made to reduce the
81 apportionment of any state under the
provisions OF the amendment. The
reason is doubtless to be found in the
exceeding difficulty of ascertaining
whether and to what extent, the right
to vote may have been denied or
abridged
The time necessary to make such
Investigation would extend over many
months. For this reason your commit
tee has tet justified and compelled to
follow the precedent adopted in pre-
Uous dccennial appointments"
Tinkham Is Obdurate.
Coincident with the committee. re-
port adverse to the Tinkham proposal,
II became known that Representative
% lmkham's insistence upon action on
the SouthS representation is enlbar-
RAISING to the republican leaders. Mr..
lmkham threatens to take his fight
N to the floor and if necessary to the
courts.
Republican leaders have been trying
to call off, the Massachusetts, mem
Der on the theory that since the G..
y: +. has invaded the solid south"
y THIS IS not the time to agitate the race
question in that section. So far, how
ever, Representative Tinkham has
been obdurate and is demanding an
SlnVestgation OF election practices in
me southern states with a view to
lneir reduced representation in con-
grcSs.
Georgia Districts May Be Realligned.
The action of the house means
mat Georgia will not get an extra
hgrcssman, but the twelve districts
~ the state probably will be realign-
tq so as to get 100000 people in each
SulsuicJ to conform to the new unit
on the basis Of the 1920 census.