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This Week in Washington
(PUBLISHER’S AUTOCASTER SERVICE)
Washington, D. C.—The purpose
of the census is, primarily, to decide
how many members each state is en
titled to in the House of Represen
tatives. That depends, of course,
upon how many members there are in
the House and how many inhabitants
there are in each state.
While the Constitution provides
for the reapportionment of Repre
sentatives after each ten years’ cen
sus, it does not lay down any rules
for doing it. It is entirely up to
Congress itself to decide how many
members shall sit in the lower
House.
The number of Senators is fixed
by the Constitution. There are two
for each state, or 96 in all; and un
til some new states are admitted
there will be no need to rearrange
the states in the Senate Chamber.
That has had to be done a number
of times in the House of Repre
sentatives.
The number of members of the
lower House, however, has stood
fixed at 435 since 1910. Censuses
since then have shifted the appor
tionment of the 435, but have not
changed the number. Delaware, for
example, had two members of Con
gress at one time and Vermont had
three, but each of those states has
only one now.
Their populations have not* de
creased but the . populations of
other states have increased to the
point where a fair distribution of
Congressmen entitles them to greater
proportionate representation.
Florida Doubled
Thus, in recent years, Florida’s
growth in population has doubled
its representation in Congress, and
California has nearly three times as
many members as it did forty years
ago. No matter how small the
population of a state it is entitled
to at least one Representative.
Nevada has never had as many as
one hundred thousand inhabitants
but they have the right to repre
sentation, although in most other
states there are 300,000 or more
represented by a single Congress
man. This Congress has already
decided that there will be no
change in the number of members
of the lower House. The Senate
passed a bill to that effect last year.
The House has just passed a similar
bill, with the exception of one point
which the Senate included.
The Senate bill provides for the
apportionment of Representatives
according to the number of “citi
zens” living in each state. That is
not what the Constitution calls for.
The Constitution specifically pro
vides for the apportionment of
members of the House in propor
tion to “the whole number of free
persons,” not “citizens.”
Indians not taxed are still omit
ted in apportioned Representatives
among the states. The House has
passed this census reapportionment
bill, changing the Senate’s attempt
to require only citizens to be in
cluded in each member’s contitu
ency.
The purpose of that effort was to
keep New York State’s representa
tion from becoming too large, since
New York has a larger number of
non-citizens than any other state.
The basis law, however, contem
plates that even aliens living in this
country are entitled to be represents
NOTICE NOTICE
Tax Books Close
May Ist
Please look after making
your tax returns at once
in order to avoid penalty.
J. L. HOUSTON
Tax Commissioner
ed at Washington, even though
they cannot vote for their repre
sentatives.
State Decides
How the Congressional Districts
are divided is a matter for each
state to decide. Some of them never
decide it but elect all their mem
bers by the entire vote of the state.
There is nothing in the Constitu
tion that requires the division of
states into Congressional districts,
and there is no law requiring a
member of Congress to be a resi
dent of the district which he repre
sents. For in theory he does not
represent any particular section of
the population of his state but the
Whole citizenry of the Common
wealth.
More frequent is the custom of
providing for additional members
by electing them at large. Any state
may do as it pleases in the way of
selecting its representation in Con
gress, so long as it sends to Wash
ington no. more and no fewer than
the number to which it will be en
titled when the figures of the 1940
Census have been tabulated and
each state’s proportionate share of
the total population has been com
puted.
It would be entirely within the
rights of the legislature of any state
to enact a law providing that the
State’s Representatives in Congress
shall be chosen by the Legislature,
instead of directly by the people.
That was the way the Senators
were selected for the first 125 years
of our existence as a nation.
Changed in 1913
It was changed in 1913 to pro
vide for direct election of Senators
by the people of the whole state.
It took a Constitutional amendment
to do that. Washington is still of
two minds whether the change has
brought about an improvement in
the quality of the Senate. There
is a general feeling that a great deal
of senatorial prestige and dignity
has been lost, since Senators now
have to play to the galleries and
look forward to their own reelec
tion by the people. They no longer
represent sovereign states, but
merely the people of those states.
While the Census Act passed this
year merely fixes the total number
of Representatives, there may be a
fight in the next Session over the
number to which each state is en
titled. The Census figures will
show around 133,000,000 population.
Divided by 435 that would give
about one Congressman to each
three hundred thousand inhabitants.
It is going to be a hard job to ar
range it so that each state gets
the exact number of Representatives
it thinks it should have. Some will
get too many, some too few.
FOR SALE— Ear corn, sl.lO per
bushel delivered, minimum load 100
bushels. FARMERS BONDED
WAREHOUSE, Americus, Ga. 11-4 t
NOTICE, TAX PAYERS
The Commissioners have placed in
my hands for collection all past due
tax fi. fas. up to the year 1939. I
have been authorized to collect them
or levy will be made. Attend to
this at once and save extra costs.
W. D. SAMMONS.
EARLY COUNTY NEWS, BLAKELY, GEORGIA
THIS WEEK
ll» &
By EARL “TIGE” PICKLE
A little more than a month ago,
well, to be exact, on March 21, we
glanced at our calendar and saw
underneath this date inscribed in
letters large and bold these words:
“The first day of spring.” So, in
our gullible way, and without fur
ther ado, we took the calendar at
its face value and therewith an
nounced that spring was on this day
making her 1940 debut. Which just
goes to show that the rule about
what you hear should also apply to
what you see. So to all of our vast
public who, on reading these dis
patches took us at our word and
shedded their long underwear, took
down the stove and began insulting
the coal man again, we do on this
day apologize and beg of you for
giveness. Maybe by August we can
give you some definite news about
what spring it going to do. In the
meantime, stand by your overcoat
and keep ordering that “half-ton.”
Spring is just about as fickle as a
high school girl.
Now, don’t tell us that you’ve nev
er seen an ecdysiast. We have, but
we didn’t know it at the time. 'The
fact is there was once a time when
we were a regular patron of the
ecydsiast, every Monday afternoon
down at the old Atlanta theatre.
You might say if you like that we
were a bit uncouth to attend with
such regularity the performances of
these ecdysiasts, but then if we were,
there is also a large number of un
couth people in Blakely, because
when we were in school in Atlanta,
and when we got homesick for the
sight of some one from home, we
always went down to the Atlanta
Theatre where a burlesque show was
going full blast, and nine times out
of ten there was somebody from
Blakely there. But you still don’t
know what an ecdysiast is, do you?
An ecdysiast is a dancer who has
shed all forms of modesty, or may
be never had any; well, to put it
bluntly, just plain undresses before
the audience, but does it in such a
manner as to make you think she
isn’t. Ecdysiast is always feminine.
Probably you would know them net
ter if we said “strip-tease.” Tn New
York City there is a law that says
you can’t advertise the words, “strip
tease,” so a smart little show girl
who insists that her dancing is art,
consulted a group of literary people
to find her a word that mean; the
same thing. So ecdysiast was it.
We are still neutral, like some one
said several months ago. We don’t
care who kills Hitler.
Some stuff you’d get along just
as well without knowing: A postage
stamp upside down on a letter means
“I Love You” ... If you can travel
more than 186,000 miles per second,
says a scientist, it is possible to
turn out the light and be in bed
before the room is dark. (If you are
afraid of the dark, it might save
wear and tear on the nerves if you
just leave the light burning.)
“We have received an unsigned
postal card, mailed in Macon, that
reads like this: ‘The Prayer of Safe
ty. This prayer must be sent to all
the world by prayer. Copy this card
at once and mail it to 13 persons
and on the 13th day you will receive
86 dollars. One woman made fun
of this card and on the 13th day
her daughter went blind. Pay at
tention to the card and God will
bless you.’ We don’t believe we’d
get 86 dollars if we made 13 copies
of that card and mailed them to
13 persons. And, besides, we had
86 dollars once and can show the
marks of it yet. Even our best
friends told us.”—J. D. S., in the
| Macon Telegraph.
“We have just received one of
these ‘Prayer of Safety’ postals, un
signed, postmarked at Thomaston,
Ga. It doesn’t seem possible that a
person with sense and sanity
enough to eseape being thrown into
the booby-hatch, who can read and
write, who can find his way around
well enough to go to the postoffice
and back home, would be fool enough
to believe such stuff.”—Olin Miller,
in the Atlanta Journal.
Our mail box also had one of
these cards in it. Instead of the
message being written on the side
PUBLIC SALE
GEORGIA, Early County:
Default having been made in the
payment of a debt secured by a deed
to secure the same executed by J. G.
Collins, payable to E. M. Collins,
dated March 30th, 1934, recorded in
Book 44, page 123-4, in the office
the Clerk of the Superior Court of
said county, and the said E. M. Col
lins being deceased, and the under
signed Pearle W. Collins being the
duly qualified executrix of his estate,
the undersigned will, for the purpose
of collecting the said debt, and acting
under the power of sale contained in
said deed, on the 20th day of April,
1940, between the legal hours of
sale, at the Court House in Blakely,
Ga., sell the lands described in said
security deed, at public outcry to the
highest bidder for cash, said lands
being described as follows:
All that portion of lot of land No.
Ninety Eight, commencing at the
south east corner of said lot and run
ning north along the eastern bound
ary of said lot to the Fort Gaines
& Damascus public road, thence
along said road to a point seventy
yards from the northern boundary
of said lot, thence west along the
northern boundary of said lot to a
point 440 yards east of the north
west corner of said lot, thence south
to the southern boundary of said lot,
thence east along the southern
boundary of said lot to point of be
ginning, containing 147 acres, more
or less.
Also three acres of land, more or
less, part of lot No. sixty three (63)
described as commencing on the ori
ginal line between land lots num
bers 98 and 63, at a point north of
Colomokee creek at a fence row
formerly erected on dry land, run
ning thence along the line between
said lots to the old road bed of the
Fort Gaines and Damascus road,
thence down said road bed to the
dividing line of high dry land and
flat wet land west of Colomokee
creek, thence down said dividing line
in a south-westerly direction along
an old fence row to point of begin
ning.
The said above described lands and
lots numbers 98 and 63 being in the
sth district of Early County, Geor
gia. The undersigned will execute
a deed to the purchaser at said sale
as authorized by the terms of the
deed aforesaid.
This April 11th, 1940.
PEARLE W. COLLINS,
as Executrix of Estate of
E. M. Collins, deceased.
A. H. GRAY, Attorney.
of the card where it belongs, it was
on the same side as the address. All
the time we have been of the opin
ion that anyone who was sucker
enough for one of these chain let
ters wouldn’t know which side of a
postal card to write on.
Personal Nominations for Extinc
tion: The “Confucius Sayers” and
the “Oh! Johnny!” singers.
tyns ivani i/au/i nwneifa aiovt/i -l/ou arcwtf
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FISHES SHO‘IS MM
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has her own wise way of
supplying natural food for
every living thing.
Chilean Nitrate of Soda is
Nature’s own food for your
crops. It is the only natural
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acting nitrate and its natural
hlend of other plant food ele
ments help feed the crop and
NATURAL
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HITRATE OF SODA
DR. R. A. HOUSTON
VETERINARIAN
Day Phone 232; Night 234
Located: Under Telephone
Exchange
maintain the soil in good pro
ducing condition.
Chilean nitrate is ideal for
all purposes—under the crop,
for top-dressing, for side
dressing. Use it regularly and
get the full benefit of all its
natural fertilizing and soil im
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PROTECTIVE
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Boron
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Potash
Magnesium
Calcium
and many more