APPENDIX
are entitled. With the passing of each decade and the shifting of population, the unfitness of the present apportionment is increased. The difficulty has not been with the legislature, which no doubt would have been entirely willing to fulfil its constitutional obligations, but inheres in the constitution itself. Nevertheless, a solution must be found. The constitution provides, Article II, Section 16, that the state shall be divided into fifty senatorial districts of compact and contiguous territory as nearly equal in population as may be. Each district elects one senator. A ratio is determined by dividing the whole population of the state by fifty. Each county containing one or more ratios is entitled to one senator for each ratio. No county shall form a separate district unless it contains four-fifths of a ratio, except where the adjoining counties are each entitled to one or more senators, in which case it may have a senator with a population exceeding one-half of a ratio. No county shall be divided unless entitled to two or more senators. No city or county shall be entitled to representation exceeding one-sixth of the whole number of senators. The trouble with this method is that it cannot be applied. In the first place, fifty cannot be divided by six in such a way as to be applicable to senators. In my view the city which is entitled to eight and one-third senators is entitled to nine, if it has sufficient population, for the reason that a provision which deprives certain people of their representation because of location ought to be construed in such a way as to cause as little deprivation as possible. As they cannot have one-third of a senator without having a whole senator, they ought to have the entirety. This in practice, however, has been limited to eight instead of nine and is not the difficulty which has been regarded as insuperable. This difficulty may be illustrated by a reference to Lebanon County. It is surrounded by counties, each one of which has a ratio or more, and is, therefore, entitled to a senator and to be a separate senatorial district. Lebanon has not half a ratio and is, therefore, entitled to no senator. What is to be done with it? There are two main thoughts in the constitution. One is that the state shall be divided into districts. This is essential and fundamental. The other is that the division shall be made in a certain specified manner. This is secondary and incidental, and if impracticable must yield in the place of least resistance. Maintaining the provision that the districts shall comprise compact and contiguous territory, as nearly equal in population as may be, and preserving as well as can be done,
the lines of counties, the direction that “no county shall be divided
