Press Release, Message from President Harry S. Truman to the Congress of the United States

HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE January 9. 1951 CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no portion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in either the Senate or House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publication. 3-B) JOSEPH SHORT Secretary to the President ovad TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: In compliance with the provisions of Section 22, of the Act of June 18, 1929, as amended (2 U.S.C. 2a), relating to the decennial censuses and the apportionment of Representa- tives in Congress, I transmit herewith a statement prepared by the Director of the Census, Department of Commerce, giving the whole number of persons in each State as ascertained under the 17th decennial census of population, and the number of Representa- tives to which each State is entitled under an apportionment of the existing number of Representatives. All Indians are included in the tabulation of total population, since all Indians are now subject to Federal taxation. Under the law, each State will be entitled commencing in the 83rd Congress, to the number of Representatives shown in the statement. In a House of 435 members, the number fixed by law, the population changes reflected by the census will require a change in the number of Representatives for sixteen States. Seven States will gain, and nine States will lose seats. In accordance with the statute, it will be the duty of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, within fifteen calendar days after the receipt of the statement I am now transmitting, to certify to the executive of each State the number of Representatives to which such State is entitled. Tne statute then prescribes the ways in which any changes in the number of Representatives shall be handled until the States shall have redistricted in accordance with the changes in population. These procedures of existing law are of great value to the operation of our Government. They provide an established method of carrying out, almost automatically, the constitutional plan for First caping filed (OVER)