MINORITY REPORT. The undersigned, a minority of the committee on apportionment, to whom was re-committed with instructions House bill No. 108, entitled A bill to apportion anew the Representatives in the State Legislature, to the several counties and districts of this State, Respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and being of the opinion that an assumed ratio of fourteen thousand, as fixed by the instructions of the House, would do very great injustice to some of the counties, they desire to present a few facts for the consideration of the House: Take the case of the county of Kent, which has a population of 62,671; this equals four full ratios, and an excess of 6,671, or just 329 less than a moiety of the ratio assumed. Now, when we apply the following provision of the Constitution: "No city or township shall be divided in the formation of a representative district," to the re-districting of this county, if the county has but four representatives, the effect will be that the city of Grand Rapids, with a population of 25,923 will have only one representative, or if it be given two, the other member must be taken from the county outside of the city, leaving there twentyfour towns with only two representatives. Now, when we take into consideration the fact that these towns have, according to the last enumeration, a population of 36,748, and have within their limits twelve growing villages, some of which have already a large population, and that they have large lumbering and mining interests, the injustice and inequality of their representation will be apparent. Comparing the representation of these towns with other counties we find that in the bill, framed on a basis of fourteen thousand, that Calhoun and Berrien counties, the one with 1,719 and the other with 1,193 less population, each have three representatives, and each at the same time forming a Senatorial district, although neither have very much more than one-half the population of Kent county. Further than this, we find that in the bill reported under instructions from the House there are eleven districts formed by grouping counties together, with an aggregate population of 86,498, or an average of 7,863 to each district. On this basis Wayne county would have eighteen representatives and an excess of 2,369, and Kent county only fall short by 233 of having eight full ratios. We find further, that in this same bill, that there are five districts that have an aggregate population of 36,409, being 339 less than the population of the towns in Kent county, exclusive of the city, which towns under the provisions of this bill, will only have two representatives. It will also be seen that in this same bill, the counties of Montcalm, with 20,915 inhabitants, and Cass, with 20,525, and Livingston, with 20,329, have only one representative each. Now, we are not aware of any constitutional provision requiring the Legislature to form these districts of a less number of inhabitants than in the more populous counties, nor do we know of any reason why the people of these counties should necessarily require so much larger representation according to population. In view of these facts, and others of a like nature, that might be cited, the minority of the committee have deemed it proper to submit this report and a substitute for the bill referred to the committee, with an accompanying tabular statement, and recommend that the substitute and tabular statement be printed in the journal. E. L. BRIGGS, F. G. BAILEY, Ten Representatives to a population of 83,898, or to each Representative 8,889. The following is the bill: 1 1 1 A BILL to apportion anew the Representatives among the several counties and districts. SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the House of Representatives shall hereafter be composed of members elected agreeably to a ratio of one Representative for every thirteen thousand nine hundred persons, including persons of Indian descent, not members of any tribe, in each organized county, and one Representative for a fraction equal to a moiety of said ratio and not included therein; that is to say: within the county of Wayne, ten; within the county of Kent, five; within the counties of Lenawee, Jackson, St. Clair, Saginaw, Oakland, Washtenaw, Berrien, and Calhoun, three each; within the counties of Monroe, Hillsdale, Branch, St. Joseph, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Macomb, Ingham, Barry, Allegan, Ottawa, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Genesee, Lapeer, Bay and Marquette, two each; within the counties of Livingston, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Gratiot, Muskegon, Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, Manistee, Houghton, Cass, and Montcalm, one each; the counties of Isabella and Clare shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Isabella; the counties of Midland, Gladwin, Roscommon, Iosco, and Ogemaw shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Midland; the counties of Osceola, Wexford, and Missaukee shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Osceola; the counties of Mason and Lake shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Mason; the counties of Benzie and Leelanaw shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Leelanaw; the counties of Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Crawford, Antrim, and Otsego shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Grand Traverse; the counties of Alcona, Oscoda, Alpena, Montmorency, Presque Isle, and Cheboygan sball compose a representative district, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Alpena; the counties of Emmet, Charlevoix, Manitou, Mackinac, and Chippewa shall compose a representative district, and be entitled to one representative, the election returns of which shall be made to the clerk of the county of Charlevoix; the counties of Menominee |