ISC, 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



composed of three hundred and eleven members. For 

 tlif iii.-iribution ul' said members in ill-tail, the eom- 

 niiitee refer to the l>ill. There wire dilleiriuvs of 

 opinion among tho members of tin- eomiiiinoe as to 

 tin- number, some being for mote and some for less 

 than the above number, but, to avoid delay, and to 

 bring the matter Bpeedily before the House, the ma- 

 jority of the committee have concluded to report the 

 accompanying l-ill. 



The amendment, in the nature of a substi- 

 tute reported ly Mr. Sherwin on behalf of the 

 minority i>f the committee, is as follows: 



&HtacUd by tin Senatt and Hovtt of ReprtMnt- 

 ofe'r of tkt United Statti of America in Congress 

 OMcmMtt/, That from ami after the 3d day of March. 

 1888, the House of Representatives shall be composed 

 of three hundred and nineteen members, to be appor- 

 tioned aiiiniiiT tlie M-viT.il Suites as follows: 



TO tlie State of Alabama, eight members; to the 

 State of Arkansas, five members ; to the Stute of Cali- 

 fornia, six members ; to the State of Colorado, one 

 member ; to the State of Connecticut, four members ; 

 to the State of Delaware, one member ; to the State 

 of Florida, two members ; to the State of Georgia, ten 

 members; to the State of Illinois, twenty members; 

 to the State of Indiana, thirteen members : to the State 

 of Iowa, eleven members : to the Stale of Kansas, six 

 members ; to the State of Kentucky, eleven members ; 

 to the State of Louisiana, six members ; to the State 

 of Maine, four members ; to the State of Maryland, 

 six members ; to the State of Massachusetts, twelve 

 members ; to the State of Michigan, eleven members ; 

 to the State of Minnesota, five members ; to the State 

 of Mississippi, seven members ; to the State of Mis- 

 souri, fourteen members ; to the State of Nebraska, 

 three members ; to the State of Nevada, one member ; 

 to the State of New Hampshire, two members ; to the 

 State of New Jersey, seven members ; to the State of 

 New York, thirty-three members ; to the State of 

 North Carolina, nine members ; to the State of Ohio, 

 twenty-one members ; to the State of Oregon, one 

 member ; to the State of Pennsylvania, twenty-eight 

 members ; to the State of Rhode Island, two members ; 

 to the State of South Carolina, six members : to the 

 State of Tennessee, ten members ; to the State of 

 Texas, ten members ; to the State of Vermont, two 

 members ; to the State of Virginia, ten members ; to 

 the State of West Virginia, lour members; to the 

 State of Wisconsin, eight members. 



SECTION 2. Whenever a new State shall be admitted 

 into the Union, the Representative or Representatives 

 assigned to it shall be additional to the number, three 

 hundred and nineteen, herein provided for. 



SEC. 8. In each State entitled under this apportion- 

 ment, the number to which such State may be entitled 

 in the Forty-eighth and each subsequent Congress 

 shall be elected by districts composed of contiguous 

 territory, and containing as nearly as practicable an 

 equal number of inhabitants, and equal in number to 

 the Representatives to which such State may be en- 

 titled in Congress, no one district electing more than 

 one Representative. 



In the House, on February 3d, an amendment 

 was proposed, making the number of members 

 three hundred and seven. 



Mr. Sherwin, of Illinois : " There is another 

 question, Mr. Speaker, connected with this im- 

 portant matter of representative government. 

 That is, that not only is it made the duty of 

 Congress to adopt a representative system ade- 

 quate to the needs of the country and distrib- 

 uted properly among the people of the country, 

 but that they shall also see that every man 

 who by law has a right to vote for the mem- 

 bers so provided for shall be free to vote and 



exercise all the privileges which the law gives 

 him without restraint or molestation ; other- 

 wise our enactments here are futile and our 

 laws are vain. 



" Some gentlemen have said that this appor- 

 tionment is easy to be made because it is a mere 

 question of arithmetic. Now, it is more than a 

 question of arithmetic. It is a redistribution 

 of political power. To be sure, this distribu- 

 tion is made upon arithmetical principles. But 

 it is not a question of arithmetic only. 



" The change of a divisor from three hun- 

 dred and one to three hundred and eleven or 

 three hundred and nineteen may change the 

 political status of this House. It may change 

 the political organization of the electoral col- 

 lege, and therefore it does assume a political 

 aspect. But, looking at the facts as they exist 

 to-day, as sensible men, we know we can not 

 get rid of it, because it is a political question, a 

 redistribution of power that will not affect this 

 Congress, but that will affect five Congresses 

 hereafter to be elected, that will extend for 

 five Congresses to come, and that shall not 

 only affect them but shall affect the next two 

 presidential elections. Not only that, but it 

 will affect the legislation in those next five 

 Congresses. It will affect your tariff laws or 

 legislation. It will affect your legislation on 

 the monetary matters of this country. It will 

 affect your legislation upon education. It will 

 affect your legislation upon all great questions 

 that divide the parties of this country. These 

 questions are only reached through parties ; 

 and as they are reached through parties this 

 apportionment is of necessity a party question, 

 and assumes a political aspect from its very 

 nature and object. 



" There have been three bills introduced be- 

 fore this House : the bill of the gentleman from 

 New York [Mr. Cox], providing for three hun- 

 dred and one members ; the bill of the majority 

 of the committee, providing for three hundred 

 and eleven members ; the bill that was pre- 

 sented by myself, and is sustained by the mi- 

 nority with but one exception, providing for 

 three hundred and nineteen members. Now, 

 in discussing these ratios, all the principles in- 

 volved in this subject can be seen and under- 

 stood. The same method of arriving at the 

 conclusions can be applied to any one of the 

 numbers that is applied to these. 



" Upon the basis of three hundred and one 

 Eepresentatives each of the following-named 

 States gain one member : Arkansas, South 

 Carolina, Mississippi, West Virginia, California, 

 Iowa, and Michigan ; Nebraska and Minnesota 

 each gain two, Kansas three, and Texas four 

 a gain of eighteen in all, of which the Demo- 

 cratic States have eight and the ^Republican 

 States ten. 



" The losses upon a basis of three hundred 

 and one are one each for the States of Florida, 

 Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Penn- 

 sylvania, Tennessee, and Vermont, and two in 

 New York, of which losses the certainly Demo- 



