REPRESENTATION. 



679 



majority decide. To the case of single elec- 

 tions, therefore, hard as it seems for the 

 minority to he disregarded, minority or pro- 

 portional representation has no remedy to 

 apply. Coming, however, to elections where 

 two or more persons are to he chosen, it is 

 evident that some representation of the minor- 

 ity is possible. Thus, in the election for Rep- 

 resentatives to the Forty-second Congress in 

 Minnesota, the Republican vote was 36,739, 

 and the Democratic 29,395. The Republicans 

 elected both Representatives, and yet it is 

 evident not only that the Democratic minority 

 should have had a member, hut could by a 

 very simple change in the manner of voting 

 have been secured one. If every voter in Min- 

 nesota had been allowed by law to cast as 

 many votes as there were candidates to he 

 elected, with the right to divide his votes 

 among several candidates, or cast them all for 

 one, the minority would have been assured 

 one member. Having 29,395 voters, with 

 58,790 votes, it could have been understood 

 that every Democratic voter was to " cu- 

 mulate," or cast both his votes, for one 

 person. That candidate would then have re- 

 ceived 58,790 votes, and would have been 

 elected ; for, had the 36,739 Republican voters 

 sought with their 73,478 votes to elect two 

 members, the highest vote they could have 

 cast would have been 36,739 votes for each of 

 the two candidates, and but one could have 

 been elected. Of course, it seems to contra- 

 vene the rightful and proper supremacy of the 

 majority for 29,395 voters of one party to have 

 as much representation as 36,739 of another; 

 but such a division of representation is more 

 just than to give the 36,739 all the representa- 

 tion, and allow the 29,395 none. "Where more 

 than two persons are elected, the nullification 

 of the minority, so to speak, and the justice 

 of apportioning representation according to 

 the strength of parties are yet more evident. 

 In the election in California for the Forty- 

 second Congress, the Republican vote was 

 62,539, and the Democratic 57,065, and yet 

 the Republicans elected all three Representa- 

 tives. In New Hampshire, at the same elec- 

 tion, the Democratic vote was 34,344, and the 

 Republican 33,013, and still the Democrats 

 elected all three members. The vote of Mas- 

 sachusetts was, Republican 87,005, Democratic 

 48,482, and the Republicans elected all ten 

 Representatives ; the vote of Kentucky was, 

 Democratic 88,944, Republican 57,351, and 

 the Democrats elected all nine members ; and 

 so on through almost every State, the majority 

 party always securing too much, and fre- 

 quently all, of the representation, and the 

 minority party constantly having too little, 

 and often none. The unfairness of the divis- 

 ion of representation, not only at the elections 

 for the Forty-second Congress, but at previous 

 congressional elections, may be seen from the 

 subjoined table: 



The 2,179,648 Republican votes for the 

 Fortieth Congress secured 142 Representatives, 

 when proportionately entitled to but 107 ; the 

 1,825,928 Democratic votes secured but forty- 

 nine Representatives when proportionately en- 

 titled to eighty-four, and so on. In State 

 elections the same inequality of representation 

 will be found to prevail, as may be seen from 

 the subjoined comparison of the popular vote, 

 and political division of the Legislature in 

 some of the States in 1870-'71 : 



In Arkansas, with parties all but even on 

 the popular vote, we find one party over twice 

 as strong as its opponent in the Legislature ; 

 in Delaware, the party which has two-fifths 

 of the popular vote has not a single Represent- 

 ative in the Legislature, and so on. In muni- 

 cipalities the same general inequalities will be 

 found, as the subjoined exhibit of elections in 

 1870-'7l will manifest : 



In Mobile, the Republicans, with a vote 

 equal to some three-eighths of the entire poll, 

 do not have a single representative in the city 

 Council ; in New Haven, the Democrats, who 

 outnumber the Republicans by a sixth, have 

 but a third of the aldermen ; in Boston, the 

 Democrats, though outnumbering the Republi- 

 cans a full third on the popular vote, are in a 

 decided minority in the Council ; in Baltimore, 

 the Republicans, though standing to the Dem- 

 ocrats as eleven to eighteen, have bat one- 

 thirtieth of the aldermen; and so on, through 

 the list. 



