The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-07-17
It's a Natural Follow-Up

Some time ago we commented ln these columns on the so-called rotten oor- ough' system of representation of Con- necticut as outlined and defended by Representative Noah H. SWayne ot Dar- fen, Republican House Leader at the re- cent legislative session. MT. Swayne's article on our system of apportioning representatives and senators went to great lengths to show how it was evolved and how similar it is to the makeup of the federal legislative body and how wrong it would be to attempt to change it today.
 His exposition was we'll done, but it left any readers who are familiar with the subject of representation still with an unanswered question. We mentioned It when we pointed out that, if, as MT. SWayne says, the Connecticut House ot Representatives and the United States Senate are similar in makeup in that ones members represent towns, the others states, why shouldn't there be some sort of equality in our State Sen- ate, since it obviously should conform to the U. S. House of Representatives.
 We pointed out the fact that our sen- atorial districts are far from equal in territory or population Efforts to rOalign the districts have failed Not so with the U. S. House of Representatives. Under the Constitution it undergoes change every ten years We had one right after the 1880 decennial census. To SUD- port our stand and probably that of many other interested persons in this state, we quote from "The Outside Column" by Nutmeg in the Hartford Times.
 "It is true that in theory the Connec- ticut House of Representatives represents towns as the Senate of the United States represents states and that the Connecti- cut State Senate represents population as does the national House of Representa- tives. However, the similarity ends with the statement of the theory. The manner in which the system works out in Con- necticut is hardly to be defended as plaus- ibly as stated by Mr. Swayne. The Fed eral House of Representatives actually does represent population. The country is divided into districts almost identically equal in population. Adjustments are made after the taking of each decennial census.
 "That is not the situation with refer ence to the Connecticut Senate. Our sen- atorial districts are not even remotely equal in population. They range in size from the 31st, which has population of 21 ,oo0, to the 27th, including Green wich and Stamford, which has popula- ton of nearly 90,000. Several districts have a population of less than 30,00o; several others of more than 50,000. New Britain, with population of 9,128, or more than three times the population of the 31st district, has only one Senator, precisely as that district has. ..
 "Practically speaking, the Senate of Connecticut cannot be said in any true sense to represent population. The con dition prevails because the Legislature has consistently refused to redistrict the State. It could be done after each Fed eral census. Actually it has not been done in nearly 40 years ..."
 This plus the fact that even represen- tation by towns is not equal - there are few with only one representative - still makes it clear that Connecticuts system of representation can be termed rotten borough" system.