Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23

increased. Thus the size of the House
grew from IS members in 1872 to 435
members in 1911.
The essential starting point Of all the
no State should lose q member OF Con-
gress. The principle upon which pre-
ceding reapportionments were carried
out was concisely stated last month by
Senator Gillett Of Massachusetts,:
Mr.. President, the real objection
which has been made to every decen-
NAL reapportionment has been the dis
satisfaction of some States because
they were going to lose membership.
II there is Q State which has 10 Rep
reSentativeS, and q new apporttonfnent
leaves it but 9, then of the 10 is bound
to be left at home and none Of them
know which 1t Is going to be. There
fore, every one Of those 10 Is earnest
and active to see that the bill shall
be changed so that he shall not be
dropped.
harmful condition was overcome by
enlarging the House to Just that point
where no State would lose member.
But this reapportionment started with
the basic assumption that the member
ship shall remain what 1t now is, Con-
sequently the grief over loss Of seats
had to express itself.
There was this metive that Senator
Gillett mentioned for resistance to the
reapportionment carried out last month
the motive OF individual members
reluctance Of all the members from Q
State to see any one Of their group
deprived Of seat.
Transfer Of Power Stronger.
But the far stronger motive was
reluctance to see large fraction OF
political power pass from farm to city;
pass. from South and West TO North
and East Qncluding California, which
profits by the growth OF LOS Angelesl.
That q considerable number OF seats
IN the Lower House should pass TO
States having large cities was unavoid-
able. The plain figures Of population
dictated 1t. ~
But something could be salvaged, the
transfer of political power could be
overcome IN part by excluding unnat-
uralized aliens from the enumeration OF
population (for purposes Of reappor-
tionment). In ell preceding reappor-
aliens had been counted.
The idea Of excluding aliens from the
count was generated out Of the emo
lions attending the present reappor-
tionlment, under the present conditions.
The Consultation uses the WORD
sS,.
Representatives shall be apporticn-
ed among the several States according
to Their respective numbers, counting
the whole number OF persons IN each
State"
About the word persons" hour after
hour Of debate reyolved ether per
sons As the equivalent OF inhAnisanLs
a. At ucitizeris" OF az sevcters." The
most elaborate Constitutional argument
was made by Representative Henry d.
George Tucker Of Virginia, who. con.
cluded that aliens could be excluded.
On the other side, much weight AZ
David Reed OF Pennsylvania. He said,
with sincerity plain. to. everybody, that
he favored the principle OF excluding
aliens from the count; but he felt oath
bo,,nd IN the other direction by his
Interpretation Of the Constitution.
Loxier Sums Up Situation.
The concrete situation involved was
put In words by the exceptionally able
Representative Lozier Of Missouri:
':By not excluding aliens, you are tax
ing from the native and naturalized
population 81 Representatives and 81
electoral votes and giving those 81 Rep
resentatiyes and 81 electoral votes 70
our alien population I do not think
this is fair to our native-born or TO our
naturalized foreign-born population.
with the concreteness Of one SPECIFIC
application, the case was put by Rep
resentatives Ayres Of Kansas,
"The State of Connecticut. which
State Is about as large as . good-sizea
1880 ,63l, Of which 233.634 were not
naturalized. /. :. /. While the State OF
kansas had 1862 asst, Of which there
were only 40, SOC not naturaIzed. Con-
necticut stands to gain one Representa-
tive, while Kansas, with practically the
same population stands to lose one,
II unnaturalized aliens are counted.
Again, the present article, In so mar
row scope. does not pretend TO recite
all the arguments on both sides, nor 70
make anv arrunents of its own. The
present article has no greater purpose
than the whimsical one Of pointing out
the unity OF the subjects treated by this
session Of Congress.
immigration has been main cause
Of the growth Of Eastern States having
big cities. immigration has been re-
etricted by q series Of statutes, begin
ming In 1921. And the last phase OF I'M
migration restriction was treated at
Congress, the question whether ma
tional origins" should be the basis OF
quotas.
Likewise, immigration is related to
the protective tariff on manufacturing.
Most of the aliens in the cities Of the
East were brought to America by the
direct action of heads OF industries,
who wanted them for cheap labor.
East Thrust Back.
Nor does this end the historical unity
of the session, the historical sequence
of which 1t Is part.
When the South and West, In order
to keep out representation Of the East.
proposed that aliens should not De
counted, the East thrust back. Repre-
sentative Tinkham of Massachusetts
proposed there should be excluded from
the count the Southern Negroes who DO
not vote-which would have reduced
the representation Of the South very
seriously.
Introduction of the Negro was pic
turesque, indeed. It Is some 500 years
since the first slaves were brought to
America and more than 100 years since
the last ones were brought, yet the
presence Of those slaves and their de-
scendants In America has determined
or Influenced more presidential cleo
tons and more politics than any other
one factor in American life.
To complete the link between the
present session of Congress and the
history OF the past, one should visualize
as refrain running through the whole
session Senator Helms speeches deal
ing with a question going back TO the
religious controversies OF the sixteenth
century
Meantime. reapportionment was en-
acted with both the non-voting Negroes
and unnaturalized aliens counted. How
many seats in the Lower House viii be
changed we cannot know exactly until
after the census of 1880. An estimate
often made is %. Whatever the num-