Evening star., 1922-11-19
DY WILL r. KENNEDY.

~ portionate distribution Of
seats in the national House
Of Representatives among the
several states in accordance with the
/ decennial census as provided by the
! Constitution-is c one Of the most i'm
portant tasks before Congress. Re
turning leaders say 1t is imperative
| that legislation should be passed
promptly In order that the redistrict-
Ing may be made before the next
presidential election. In fact. some of
those who are recognized as consti-
| tutional and parliamentary experts
say that Congress violated the Con-
stitution in refusing to perform. be-
fore the election recently held. this
duty made mandatory by the organic
law.
| There is particular need for quick
| action by Congress because many
public leaders feel that In all fairness
a new. special census will have to
be taken before the reapportionment
is made. because the 1920 census was
taken during an abnormal period. and
1t is claimed that there has been a
big shift in population since then.
| Eject ON Conventions.
Urgency Of action on this question
is also emphasized by the fact
that the reapportionment will mean
| changes in the size of delegations to
the national conventions Of the big
political parties.
| A reapportionment bill which pro-
vided for increasing the present men,
bership Of the House from 435 to 4s3
members was amended on the floor of
the House, in 1920. cutting the pro-
posed 4S3 to 435. but this was killed
in the Senate. In the last session of
the present Congress the census COM
| mittee reported a bill providing for
460 members, and this was recon-
| mitted.
| An interesting situation has devel-
| oped in that Representative Isaac
Siegel of New York. the present chair
man of the census committee. which
handles this legislation. is daily ex-
pecting to be called to the New York
state bench and will not be in the
next Congress. Under the seniority
rule. Representative Louis W. Fair
field Of Indiana should succeed siegel
as chairman, and Fairfield led a
group Of six members Of the commit
tee who filed a minority report which
said:
I'VE are opposed to increasing the
membership Of the House Of Repre-
sentatives as provided for in the re-
ported bill, and favor retaining such
membership at the present number
namely. 4s5."
Speaker FavoFs Small House.
Significant also is the statement
made in a speech by Speaker Gillett
in his home city. Springfield. Mass,
in effect that q House half the size
Of the present House, and. with the
pay Of the members doubled. would
be conducive to better legislation.
II new census. or enumeration. is
made for the purpose OF reapportion-
ment 1t will cost approximately &c.
100000. There are about los, 100000
persons at about cents per name.
This new enumeration, if made, ought
| to be simply to establish the number
of persons of voting age The census
bureau has included in its schedules
a great many inquiries that are not
essential in q special census taken
for this purpose. So. il the new CEN
sus is taken. 1t should show the sex,
age, whether an alien, and II he has
taken out naturalization papers. The
great dimculty will be to hold in
Quiries down, because every one in
terested in an analysis Of our popular
ton will want to know something
more-nationality, mother tongue,
whether he can read and write, wheth-
er he lives in his own home or a
hented house. occupation. whether he
I attends school. etc.
To Determine Migration.
The principal reason for taking an
other enumeration is to establish
whether or not there has been such
a great migration from the rural to
the urban districts, and especially
from the south to the north and east.
A great many persons who presume
to know contend that the migration
I, which took place because Of the de-
Imands for war service has been equal
ixed. by the population returning to
the original localities. There are many
others who insist that the emigrants
have not returned in as large num-
bers. In these calculations 1t must not
be overlooked that the migration con-
tinued over several years and that it
would take many trainloads to carry
back hundreds Of thousands Of per-
sons. A great many men who were in
actual military service and drawn
from rural communities did not return
to those communities and the fact