TION OF THE UNITED STATES.
Having decided that the basis of member ship should be one for every 30,000, the Con vention guessed at the relative population of the States and divided the 65 members among them. A question then arose as to whether the number of members should be ascertained by dividing the whole population of the coun try by 30,000 or by dividing the population of each State separately by 30,000 and adding the quotients. The latter method was adopted and pursued for 50 years, no attention being paid to fractions of population. In 1840, the popu lation having grown enormously, the ratio was placed at 70,680 and each State was allotted as many representatives as its population would contain the ratio, with an additional represen tative if there remained a fraction of more than one-half the divisor. In 1853 another change was made. The whole number of rep resentatives was first determined and the ratio ascertained by dividing the whole population by that number ; the population of each State was then divided by the ratio and the quotient rep resented the number of members for the State. If this did not make the total number of rep resentatives agreed upon, the number lacking was divided among the States having the largest fractional remainders. Hence it some times happened that a representative was al lowed to a State that did not have a remainder of one-half, while at other times States that had remainders of more than one-half failed to receive an extra member; occasionally the number of representatives of one State would be decreased by an increase of one in the size of the House. In 1910 a method introduced assumed that the divisor was a continuous quantity between certain limits, that is, subject to slight indefinite changes or increments. It would be easy to determine the critical points at which the decimal part of the quotient for each State passes one-half and divisors were selected midway between each two critical points. Thus a series of tables was obtained under which each one apportioned one more representative than its predecessor and one representative for every major fraction, the minor fractions being disregarded. As decided at various times the ratio of population to each representative has been as follows: Oftentimes after an apportionment has been made a new State or States have been admitted and they are allowed one representative until the next apportionment. Hence, while the Ap
portionment Act of 8 Aug. 1911 provided for 433 members, the admission of Arizona and New Mexico raised the membership to 435.
Under the Constitution the States were to be represented according to their respective members, but only three-fifths of the slaves were to be counted. Accordingly the whites of the South had a greater proportional repre sentation than the Northern whites, but the total population of the South had less represen tation than the total population of the North. When slavery was abolished the question of representation again arose and the 14th Amend ment was passed providing that if the right to vote in any State were abridged the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citi zens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 21 years of age in the Thus if a State should allow full negro suffrage it should have full representation, but under the terms of the 15th Amendment, which soon fol lowed, the States could not limit the suffrage because of race, color or previous condition of servitude. All States have full representation, albeit some do restrict the suffrage for rea sons other than those specified in the amend ment (such as educational limitations). See ELECTORAL QUALIFICATIONS.
When the apportionment has been made by Congress it is the business of the State legisla ture to lay out the State in districts for the election of Congressmen, These districts must be contiguous and compact and as nearly equal in population as possible. In arranging these districts the dominant party by combinations of various kinds and unworthy scheming and trickery so maps the State that their opponents are in a hopeless minority at the polls. Such methods are ,known as the °gerrymander) (q.v.), the (shoe string) or the bag.* If a State has not been divided into districts all the Congressmen are elected by general ticket, which is also the case if Congress has reduced the representation. If there be an increase of representatives and the State be not redistricted before election, the additional members are chosen by general ticket. See CONGRESS; HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; SEN ATE OF THE UNITED STATES.