Year: 1878




MINORITY IcEPRESENTATION.
scheme is on foot among few theorists
at Washington to reform our present system
of government by introducing the system of
minority representation in the selection of
members of Congress. The plan, as detailed
by the Washington correspondent of the
Chicago Times, paper that has made
hobby of the subject, is to divide each State
into districts, that tho districts may as far as
possible be entitled to elect either three or
five members each, thus permitting the ma
jority of the voters to elect two out of three
or three out of five. In case the district is
entitled to three representatives, each elect
or can vote for two candidates, and no more
In case the district is entitled to five Repre-
sentatives, each elector can vote for three
candidates, and no more. Where State is
entitled to only two representatives, as in
the case of Rhode Island and Florida, it is
to be civided into two districts, each electing
one member, as at present, as In
this case majority and minority
representation WOulQ De Impossible.
In all cases where there is an odd represen-
tative after the State has been divided as
nearly as possible into districts to be rep
resented by three or tive members, sepa-
rate district is to be set apart for this repre-
sentative, who is to be elected as at pres
ent.


The scheme looks very well on paper, but
is altogether different in practice. The first
objection to the plan is that it complicates
elections in such manner as to render il
extremely difficult to arrive at decision as
to the will of the electors. If all men under
stood the provisions of the -presuming
that the measure proposed will become law
this objection might be obviated. But as
men are at present constituted it is not with
in the range of possibilities that the entire
vote of any district will be properly cast.
For instance, probably one-half Of the voters
in district entitled to three members would
cast their votes for more than the number of
candidates prescribed-all five candidates. of
course, being on all tickets-and as conse-
quence their ballots would be thrown out as
illegal.


''The effect of this bill," says the CORES
spondent, twill be to break up the solid
South, and secure to the colored people
representation in Congress- We can hardly
see it in that light. Take, for instance,
the State of Mississippi, which is entitled
to six representatives. It would have to be
divided into two districts, each entitled to
three representatives. There are not Re-
publicans enough in the State to make even
respectable showing at the polls. Suppos-
ing that three Democrats were nominated in
each district and one Republican. By lit
tie maneuvring it could be arranged so that
all three Democrats would be chosen, and the
Republican have no more than his party
vote. Suppose that Smith, Jones and Brown
were the Democratic candidates and Robin
son the choice of The Republicans. Smith
and Jones might be placed on the tickets in
some localities, and Brown and Jones in
other sections, while Robinson would be left
out of the cold, every person voting for him
being compelled also to cast vote for one
of the three Democratic candidates. Thus
it would come about that the Democrats
could elect all their candidates and increase
their majorities by compelling Republicans
to vote for one or the other of the Demo
cratic candidates. Cumulative voting is not
contemplated by the bill proposed, else there
might, in districts where the parties were
more evenly divided, be chance for the
minority. The effect in the Republican
States of the North would be precisely simi-
lar to what it would be at the South. It is
now possible for the minority in State to
obtain representation in Congress through
the apportionment of districts by which
Democratic or Republican voters may be
grouped. Under the proposed plan, the mi
nority would be nowhere.


Even supposing that the results claimed
would follow from the Inauguration of this
minority representation plan, it would be
necessary that the districts be justly appor-
toned; otherwise the minority of the voters
might elect a majority of the representa-
tives. This has been shown in Illinois, where
the anti Republicans, although in large ma
jority, have managed to control the lower
house of the legislature ever since the adop-
ton of the system. But their cumulative
voting is allowed, 80 that one-third of the
voters of the district can elect representa-
tive.


Minority representation is a humbug.
With the appearance of fairness it but de-
ludes the citizen into surrender of his
rights. tits device that will always be
popular with the minority party, and there
fore we may expect that it will be espoused
by the Republicans at once. It is, however,
at variance with the principles contemplated
when our governm ment was formed-that the
majority must rule and the minority bend
to the inevitable. For nearly twenty years
the Democracy, recognizing the justice of