Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-19

The United States is not a democ-
racy. but a republic. It's House of Rep
resentatives Is composed of members
who serve as agents and representatives
OF the people-averaging I'll 900 people
per each Representative But certain
Representatives have only about $4,000
constituents Tin the heart of New York
City and others have 100000. The
smaller number of citizens who are
represented by their chosen agent pos
sess just as much aggregate power in
the Government as that larger body OF
100000. In other words, sometimes one
American individually exercises twenty
times as much influence and power in
Congress as some citizen in another
district Yet both are Americans. and
the man with the less power is just
as intelligent and patriotic as the other
This condition exists even where ciu-
zens have the legal right to vote; IT is
not a reference to the disfranchised.
such as the criminal who has served a
term for felony and poor fellow
who was born and reared in the Dis
trict of Columbia Those two birds
of A feather" Tin the eyes of the blind
law may flock together" for they are
not reckoned with the American clti-
zens who breathe the pure air OF free
dom, in Rhode Island or Texas. Still,
there are over 100000 citizens UNI
represented in Congress.
According to Mr.. William Tyler Page,
veteran clerk of the House OF Repre-
sentatives and author of the American
Creed" the Stacker vote is not SO
scandalous as has been generally quot
ed. He declares that 1t is unfair
- n1i vtnA
naturalized and so have no franchise,
nor to count Negroes in certain South
ern States where they are diSfranchlsed
whether technically or practically-as
forming part of the total voters eligible
to the vote. Instead, therefore, OF the
shameful record of only about halt OF
the eligible voters exercising the fran
chise. that false idea Is based upon an
estimate of our total population, nclu-
sive of the aliens who have never &C
uuired the right to vote; also INDECENT
Indians who are not taxed ana the
Negro of the South who has been jock
eyed out of his vote by some Ilteracy
test or the grandfather test or just
plain bulldozing and terrorizlng' ana
the felons who have forfeited their
franchise and the "denatured citizen"
labeled D. C. So instead of an estl-
mate of 60,00o00O or 100000 adults,
over 81 years of age, he estimates only
As, 900, 900 eligible voters; he has just
completed tabulating the vote IN the
last presidential election and finds that
it numbered 36,863,533 votes actually
cast. That leaves only about 8,0OO.0OO
eligible to vote, who failed to exercise
their right to do SO. If that 45,OOO,OOo
is the correct basis, then only Il per
cent of our eligible voters failed TO SHOW
-. of ri RIGHT
to vote is q sacred heritage of our cltl-
zenship; it is not lightly esteemed.
The percentage who neglect their fran
chise has little bearing upon the failure OF
Congress to adjust the inequalities or
apportionment in 1920, as required by
the Constitution, but the really low
percentage of vote slackers indicates the
high appreciation of the privilege OF
the mass of citizens to participate In
the government Of their country. ana
so demonstrates the cnormity OF the
wrong by Congress in failing to follow
the constitutional requirement. to re-
apportion the representation ACCORDING
to the 1920 census.
" II X
A bill is now pending in the House,
introduced by Mr.. Fem, chairman OF
the census committee, which PROVIDES
that after each decennial census the
Secretary of the Department of Com
merce shall report to Congress, on the
first Monday of the second session OF
the Congress. the legal representation
for each State, based on the last census.
and unless Congress makes its own APP
portionment before the close OF that
session, then the Secretarys apportlon-
ment shall stand as the basis for the
following election and until Congress
does make it's constitutonally required
reapportionment The total number IN
the House - 435 - is to remain as at
present.
The census committees report shows
that II the apportionment had been