Evening star., 1951-01-14
Apportionment Issue
New Struggle Looms in Congress Over
Redistricting Stotes to Fit Census
By Gould Lincoln

0eQGaVlOQ Oh Ckl6 ulQlVlQudl o6dVSi
Ia the House of Representative!
has again become the duty o1
Congress, following the compile
tion Of the 1850 census. The task
which in the past has been re.
sponsible for bitter struggles ir
Congress, is further complicated
this year by the demand Of Pres.
ident Truman that Congress.
tighten up on the States and CO.
cree them to redistrict so thai
the districts would in the future
be more equally representative o.
the people within the borders o1
the States.
From present indications. a new
struggle over apportionment Is OF
the horizon. Seven States ART
due to gain IA members Of the
House, and 8 States would lost
IA members-if the present tota
membership of the House is re.
tained-435. From time imme.
mortal the Representatives ane
Senators In Congress whose State!
have been losers in their mum.
bers of Representatives in the
House have fought hard to pre-.
vent these losses-and usually by
the method of increasing the
membership of the House. St
heated was the contest after tn,
decennial census of 1920 that re.
apportionment failed entirely ane
none was made for a decade.
Drastic Action Promised
Already Representatives Rankin
Of Mississippi and Chelf Of Ken
lucky have introduced bills pro.
posing that the size Of the House
be increased to $50 members
Both these Democrats hail from
States that would lose one Repre-
sentative each. Their bills are be-
fore the House Judiciary Commit
tee, headed by Representative Gel
Ter of New York. Democrat, who
has announced his readiness to
tackle the whole problem without
delay, including President Tru-
mans recommendation that Con-
gress act as an overseer to see
that districting by the States is
fair. equitable and representative.
This recommendation may raise
considerable dust in itself. In
effect, a law to compel the States
to redistrict along lines laid down
by the Federal Government, would
cramp a lot of toes. Mr.. Celler.
however, says that the President
is correct in his statement that
Congress has a constitutional
power to see that the districting
of the States. for the election of
members of the House, is fair.
Il believe" said Mr.. Celler, dis
cussing this phase of the problem,
Congress can compel States which
gerrymander and discriminate po-
litically or otherwise to revise their
lines. Some districts look like
jig-saw puzzles. others like the
hub and spokes of a wheel. Con-
gress, beyond exhortation, has
never actually sought to coerce
any State to be truly representa-
tive"
He warned that as chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, he would
check on the conduct of the
States land see that they hew to
the line of equity and democratic
representation. If there are fla
grant inequities and they are con-
tinued, Mr.. Celler said he would
urge Congress to take some drastic
action.
Just what drastic action" Mr..
Celler did not specify. The most
drastic, of course, would be to deny
seats in the House to any State
whose districts do not measure up
to a standard set by Congress. If
Mr.. Celler is entirely serious about
this, there are States now which
have congressional districts so
arranged as to place much larger
populations in some districts than
in others, and which disregard en-
tirely geographical lines. Either
the Republicans or the Democrats,
in power in the State legislatures
at the time of the districting, fixed
the boundaries so as to assure, as
far as possible, the election OF
House members representing their
parties. Both political parties
have been guilty in this respect
and probably will be again, unless
Congress should really take &C.
ton. ..s
Seating Formula
Under the mathematical for
naula set by law for apportioning
representatives in the House
among the States and the figures
of the 1850 census, as officially
transmitted last week to Congress
by the President, 80 States will
retain their present representa-
ton, z States will gain and 8
States will lose representation.
Those States which will gain are
California, 7; Florida, 2; Mary
land, Michigan, Texas, Virginia
and Washington, each /. The
losers are Pennsylvania, 3; New
York, Missouri and Oklahoma
each 2; Arkansas, Illinois, Ken
lucky, Mississippi and Tennessee
each /.
Gains and losses in the House
by States are calculated by for
mulas, of which the principal is
based on the ratio Of States
population change (either gain OF
loss) in a 10-year period to the
total increase or loss of popula-
ton in the country as a whole
The average population gain ir
the United States in the last II
years was 14.5 per cent. While
the population of New York
Pennsylvania and other States
die tn lose representation in the