of record here, but I ask permission that both be made a part of my statement.

Mr. O'BRIEN. Without objection, so ordered.

(The documents follow):

EXCERPT FROM REPORT ADOPTED BY CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, FEBRUARY 26, 1965

"SECTION 5. LEGISLATIVE POWER

"COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF ELECTIONS

"(b) The Legislature shall be composed of eleven members, to be known as Senators. The Virgin Islands shall be divided into three legislative districts, as follows: The District of Saint Thomas, comprising Saint Thomas, Hassel, Water, Savana, Inner Brass, Outer Brass, Hans Lollik, Great Saint James, Little Saint James, and Capella Islands. Thatch Cay and adjacent islets and cays; the District of Saint Croix, comprising of Saint Croix and Buck Island and adjacent islets and cays; and the District of Saint John, comprising Saint John and Flanagan Islands; Grass, Mingo, Lovango, and Congo cays and adjacent islets and cays. Three Senators shall be elected by the qualified electors of the District of Saint Thomas; three senators shall be elected by the qualified electors of the District of Saint Croix; and one senator shall be elected by the qualified electors of the District of St. John. The other four senators shall be senatorsat-large and shall be elected by the qualified electors of the Virgin Islands from the Virgin Islands as a whole. The order of names upon the ballot for each office shall be determined as the legislature may by law prescribe."

FOURTH LEGISLATURE OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES

RESOLUTION NO. 203, BILL NO. 1660

Regular session, 1962

Resolution to Petition the Congress of the United States, for and on Behalf of the People of the Virgin Islands, to Amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands, (Approved July 22, 1954). for the Purpose of Re-Apportioning the Number of Senators to be Elected from Each Legislative District, and the Number of Senators to be Elected at Large from the Virgin Islands as a whole.

Whereas under the provisions of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands an Elector is not empowered to vote for a majority of the eleven members of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands; and

Whereas it is the keen desire of the People of the Virgin Islands to attain more responsibility for self-government within the framework of the Constitution of the United States; and

Whereas it is understood that the Congress of the United States is desirous of advancing self-government and American Democracy in all its off-shore territories; and

Whereas the People of the Virgin Islands have advanced considerably in the processes of Democratic Government during forty-five years of association with the United States of America; Now, Therefore be it

Resolved, by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands:

That the Congress of the United States, be and is hereby petitioned to amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands by re-apportioning the members of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands as follows:

Three Senators to be elected from the District of Saint Thomas, three Senators to be elected from the District of Saint Croix, one Senator to be elected from the District of Saint John, and four Senators to be elected at large from the Virgin Islands as a whole, provided that each elector shall be entitled to vote for the four Senators at Large, and it is further

Resolved, That copies of this Resolution be sent to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Governor of the Virgin Islands.

Thus passed by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands on March 8, 1962. Witness our Hands and the Seal of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands this 8th Day of March, A.D., 1962.

Governor PAIEWONSKY. Since the proposal now before you (H.R. 13277) differs primarily in specifics from the constitutional convention proposal, it basically accomplishes the same desired objectives asked for by the people of the Virgin Islands. Therefore, my plea to you today is for speedy approval of the reforms made possible by H.R. 13277 and for your good offices in recommending the legislation favorably for early House action.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I rest our case in your competent hands, certain that you will enable us to effect these reforms so necessary to a total expression of a whole electorate in the best tradition of representative government.

I thank you.

Mr. O'BRIEN. Thank you very much, Governor.

Mrs. Van Cleve.

STATEMENT OF MRS. RUTH VAN CLEVE, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF TERRITORIES, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The principal purpose of the bill before you is to invest the authority to apportion the legislature in the legislature itself.

This is done by the first sentence and is comparable, of course, to a similar provision in the bill before you yesterday concerning Guam.

The first proviso is intended to write into this bill the decisions of the courts concerning equal protection.

As the Secretary stated a moment ago, it is our conclusion that those decisions don't themselves apply, because the equal protection language of the 14th amendment is by its own terms applicable only to the States. Our purpose here is to insure that the same rules of equity and law will be applicable to the Virgin Islands.

The second proviso is designed to remove the existing provision by which at large candidates may be voted for by let me start that sentence again-is designed to amend the provision of existing law which provides that each voter may vote for only two of the six seats to be filled in at-large elections.

As the Secretary here stated, this provision has been found to be susceptible to manipulation, and while there is no express ruling on the point, we think it is probably violative of the one-man, one-vote principle.

The last sentence of the bill would perpetuate the existing apportionment until the legislature acts to modify it, but it would also require that the so-called two-of-six principle set out in existing law would be abandoned forthwith.

Mr. O'BRIEN. Mrs. Van Cleve, may I ask you at this point-I notice the language in this bill is pretty clear and specific with regard to the right of the voter in any district election to vote for the whole number of candidates.

Do you think it might be desirable to incorporate in the Guam apportionment bill somewhat similar language? I notice that every voter in any district election or at-large election shall be permitted to vote for the whole number of persons to be elected in that district election or at-large election as the case may be.

I think that is the language that maybe we were reaching for yesterday.

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. Certainly I'm inclined to agree with you, Mr. Chairman. I would prefer not to commit us at this point to the precise language that we will include in the Guam drafting service that we expect to provide to you. But we do agree that this is very happy language, whereas that we were struggling with yesterday is quite the contrary.

Mr. O'BRIEN. I have one other question.

Is this legislation that we are considering today similar or almost identical with the legislation that was approved by the House in the 88th Congress?

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. Regrettably, Mr. Chairman, I have not been able to remember. I checked a moment ago, as you may have noted, with my colleagues, and we are all uncertain as to precisely the form that legislation took. We can undertake to check in the next few minutes and report back to you before the hearing closes.

Mr. O'BRIEN. That would be helpful, I think. But basically what you are proposing to do, with certain provisos, is to give the Legislature of the Virgin Islands the right to reapportion within the broad ground rules that we established in the bill, is that correct? Mrs. VAN CLEVE. Precisely so.

Mr. O'BRIEN. Mrs. Reid.

Mrs. REID. Mr. Chairman, I don't feel that I have to go into anything at much length. But there is one question I would like to ask. It is in Secretary Anderson's statement.

You mention, Mr. Secretary, that this does not follow the format of the constitutional convention recommendation. Now, how does it differ?

Mr. ANDERSON. Congresswoman Reid, it differs in this respect. The constitutional convention recommendation, as I understand, provides, recommends, rather, that the Congress would provide for the apportionment by districts rather than to leave the flexibility with the Legislature of the Virgin Islands.

Mrs. Van Cleve would like to add something.

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. The existing law, Mrs. Reid, gives two votes. to the district of St. Thomas, two to St. Croix, one to St. John. The remaining six are to be elected at large with each voter voting for two.

The constitutional convention recommended that this be modified so that three votes would be given each to St. Thomas and St. Croix, one to St. John, the remaining four would be elected at large, with all voters being permitted to vote for all four seats.

Because of the principle the Secretary stated of our preference for having judgments on this subject made by the people most directly affected, and because, further, of the flexibility which is possible if the necessary modifications can be achieved locally rather than coming to the Congress, we chose the vehicle that you see before you, which would pass this responsibility to the local government. Mrs. REID. Thank you.

As I understand it, then, each voter in each district would be able to vote for the whole number of persons in that district and the ones running at large, is that correct?

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. Substantially. Each voter in each district would be able to cast as many votes as there are seats assigned to that district. The same principle applies to the at-large candidates. Mrs. Reid. Thank you.

Mr. O'BRIEN. Mr. Morton.

Mr. MORTON. I want to make sure I understand this.

Do all of the members of the senate run the same year? Is the senate elected

Governor PAIEWONSKY. Every 2 years.

Mr. MORTON. Then on the ballot there will appear the candidates for the district seats specified, and the at-large seat specified from each political party, and in the at-large category it is the four members who get the four top number of votes cumulatively who are elected.

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. That assumes, Mr. Morton, that there would be at-large seats in the reapportionment scheme developed by the local legislature. That judgment itself would of course be

Mr. MORTON. We are not here to judge that. We are just here to give them the authority to do it.

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. That is right.

Mr. MORTON. How is the number of 11 fixed? Was it fixed in the organic act?

Governor PAIEWONSKY. 1954, the revised organic act.

Mr. MORTON. Would this give the legislature in the Virgin Islands the authority to change that number or not?

Governor PAIEWONSKY. It is not contemplated, and I do not think there is any such proposal of changing the number of 11. I think this is specified

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. H.R. 13277 itself imposes the 11-man membership. That could not be modified.

Mr. MORTON. Is this really what the organic act revision committee recommended, this bill, H.R. 13277, or is it different from what the organic act revision committee recommended?

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. It differs. The organic revision committee urged that the existing law be modified in two particulars. Instead of what I will call for purposes of shorthand a 2-2-1 distribution among the three islands, the organic act revision committee sought a 3-3-1 distribution. It further sought the change that we have discussed whereby all voters could vote for all seats in an at-large election.

Our bill is consistent with the organic act revision committee's proposal with respect to the latter point. It makes clear that all voters would indeed be able to vote for all seats in an at-large election. It does not make any judgment as to how the three districts will be represented in terms of the number of seats assigned to them.

Now, it is our preference that you act favorably upon 13277 first because of the deference to home rule which we think important. Secondly, I should point out that we believe the 3-3-1 distribution recommended by the constitution revision committee itself violates the one-man, one-vote principle because of the extreme diversity of population between St. John on the one hand and the other two islands on the other.

I have figures from the 1964 election showing the actual votes cast, and I think the disparity and the violation of the one man-one vote principle becomes clear.

In 1964 there were cast on St. John 5,238 votes, on St. Croix 4,578 votes, and on St. John 336 votes.

Mr. O'BRIEN. You said St. John when you mean St. Thomas first. Mrs. VAN CLEVE. Forgive me. St. John is of course the least populated of the islands, and 336 votes were attributed to it. Roughly 5,000 each were attributed to St. Thomas and St. Croix. Consequently assigning one vote to St. John and three each to the other two more populous islands is not equitable, given what we understand the courts to have been saying on this subject.

Mr. MORTON. Is it going to be practically possible for your district senators to be elected on a one-man, one-vote basis?

Mrs. VAN CLEVE. I would rather the Governor answer that as a practical matter. In principle, I think the point can be met. It might not be possible to preserve St. John wholly as one voting district. But I am sure the Governor has turned to this question.

Governor PAIEWONSKY. Would you repeat the question?

Mr. MORTON. The point is if you are going to end up with a legislature where some people are elected from districts and some people are elected at large, because of the population differences between the major islands, would it be practical to have districts which would result in a one-man, one-vote situation as opposed to districts which result in representing one island?

Governor PAIEWONSKY. Well, I think if the legislature and I do not speak for the legislature, because I guess as the executive I would have to either approve or disapprove any bills based on what the Congress will pass here in the organic act permitting them to do—and I will have to see that they live within this framework. But if the principle of one-man, one-vote rule is established, and if the principle of establishing one representative for the district of St. John, then I think they will have to redistrict the rest of the islands in such a manner to give each district the same right, based on population.

In the past, St. John was incorporated, prior to the amendment in 1954. In the 1936 organic act, and the previous colonial arrangement of the colonial council which existed from 1917, which was carried forward, the island of St. John was one municipality, the island of St. Croix was a separate municipality, and we had two separate legislative bodies in the early days known as the Colonial Council of St. Thomas and St. John, and the Colonial Council of St. Croix.

After the 1954 amendments were put into effect, this made separate districts of each island.

I would say that the one-man, one-vote rule, if you are to do it by districts, will make this very difficult unless we incorporated a part of the eastern end of St. Thomas with the island of St. John to balance off populationwise, to give one-man, one-vote weight.

We must remember, too, that the island of St. John, 75 percent of the island of St. John today is a national park. Therefore, the economic development of St. John will not be as rapid and fast as it will be in St. Croix and in St. Thomas, where there are tremendous developments taking place.

For example, within the recent years in St. Croix, for example, there has even been a shift in population between one end of the island