Show 1 A GREAT QUESTION Shall the people of the United States I increase the number of their Representatives Represen-tatives In the lower house of Congress Or shall they leave the number unchanged un-changed by Increasing the number of Inhabitants I which each Congressman shall represent I the former method Is adopted the census will Increase the 1 membership from the present 357 to about 130 on the present basis of one Representative to every 171000 inhabitants I inhabi-tants I the latter method is adopted then each member will represent about 210000 people In opposition to the increase of the number of members it Is urged that the present House is unwieldy being crowded noisy and almost unmanageable unmanage-able by the Speaker In favor of the increase It Is urged that objections as to crowding and noise are of little weight In comparison with the advantages of giving the people adequate representation representa-tion and that the chief feature of the unmanageabillty of a larger House would be the Inability of the bosses and lobbyists to deal so successfully with the larger number the more Represen tales the more individuality the more honesty the closer scrutiny by the people the greater difficulties In the way of machines both at Washington and In the districts We started in 1789 with one Representative Represen-tative to every 30000 This steadily increased in-creased until It had more than doubled in 180 and had quadrupled by 1860 Now one Congressman represents nearly six times the number of people that he did in 1789 and if the number of Representatives Represen-tatives is 1 not increased he will represent repre-sent In 1903 and for ten years thereafter seven times as many people as he did when the Republic began Here Is a table showing how tie great powers that have more or less popular governments divide the representation among the people Number inhabItants M i in-habitants t i Number to each I nf rl3 fe sentatlvcj sentntlvc United Slates 357 171000 I Great Britain 070 07uOO Franco 581 070X Gorman empire 522 100000 Italy 50S O Thus we find that of the popular branches of the great legislative bodies of the world that of the TJnltorl Stntrvi i the least popular at the present time l the basis of representation were increased in-creased to i10000 a Representative in the Congress would speak and vote for nearly four times as many people an does a member of the House of Commons Com-mons or of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Dep-uties twice as many as does 1 member of the Reichstag In this charge in the apportionment Is one o the most Important problems that will come before the Congress that it to he elected on November Gth Yet how little is being said about it Here IH another instance of great domestic problems swallowed up In excitements about foreign questions N Y World |