The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-10-17
1.-THE Great Issue.o

Constitution. Deception is practiced
in regard to the whole amendment, but
more particularly in connection with
the second section, which provides for
a change in the basis of representation.
The impression is circulated by the
radicals that this amendment merely
"equalizes representation" and that it
is intended to give to white voter in
West Virginia the same power that is
exercised by white voter in South
Carolina or any other OF the Southern
States. The idea is also held out that
the amendment bases representation up
on voters alone, all over the United
States, and that it is inst to all sections
of the country and partial to none. The
following is the language in which the
section is expressed:
SECTION 2. That the Representatives
shall be apportioned among the several
States according to their respective
numbers, counting the whole number of
persons in each State, excluding Indians
not taxed; but whenever the right to
vote at any election for electors of
President and. Vice President, or for
United States Representative in Con-
gress, executive and judicial officers, or
the members of the Legislature thereof,
is denied to any of the male inhabi-
tants of such State, being twenty-One
years of age, and citizens of the United
States, or i'll any way abridged, except
for participation in rebellion or other
crime, the basis of representation there
in shall be reduced in the proportion
which the number Of such male citizens
shall bear to the whole number of male
citizens twenty-One years of age III that
State.
The first part of the section is precise
ly like the existing provision in relation
to the same subject. 1t apportions rep
rcsentatives among the several States,
not according to the number of voters
each State contains, but according to
their respective numbers, counting the
whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed" Women,
minors, unnaturalized foreigners, insane
persons, paupers and every other class of
disfranchised citizens, except male ne
groes alone, are included in the basis of
representation and are counted in
determining how many representatives
each State may have in Congress. 1t is
plain, therefore, that the new plan does
not base representation upon voters
alone, as the Radicals sometimes assert
that it does.
Neither does it equalize representation
nor make the vote of one white man in
West Virginia equivalent to the vote of
a white man in any other State. Here
in West Virginia we have an illustra-
ton of this fact that will be readily ap-
preciated by all. In Greenbrier county
in this State there were |, ,5l4 votes cast
in the Presidential election in 1860. In
the election last May there were cast in
the same county only 396 votes, all the
rest being disfranchised. These dis
franchised white men are SrIll, and VIII
be under the proposed amendment,
counted in the basis of representation.
So that 396 men do the voting of 1,514,
or one man votes for four. In Monroe
county there were | 1,296 voters in 1860;
in 1866 only 2l5 are permitted to vote;
accordingly each man in Monroe county
does the voting for six. In the State of
MARYLAND. the vote of one white man is
equivalent to two in Illinois; and in
Missouri the vote of one man is equiva-
lent to about three in Illinois; in Ten
nessce the"SOte of one who is permitted
by the BROwNLOw government to cast
his ballot, is equivalent to about five
in any of the Northern States. In West
Virginia, Maryland, Missouri and Ten
nessee large portion of the citizens are
disfranchised; they are still, however,
included in the basis of representation
under the proposed amendment, and in
an election for members of Congress, or
for President and Vice President of the
United States, (the Congressional dis
tricts and the number of electors re-
naming just rs they would were every
white male citizen permitted to yOte)
each man who votes in either of these
States exercises more influence upon ma
tional politics than any one man who
votes in Ohio or Illinois. To illustrate
this, let us suppose that all of the white
male citizens except one hundred, are
disfranchiscd' in one of the Congress
sional districts in Tennessee. In 1864,
in the oath district of Pennsylvania,
2i,527 votes were necessary to elect one
member Of Congress ald to count one
in the electoral college. Then, one hun
dred votes in Tennessee would balance
24,527 votes in Pennsylvania, OF one
vote in Tennessee would be equivalent
to two hundred and forty-tive in Penn
sylvania. That is the way the proposed
amendment "equalizes representation"
and makes the vote of one man in
West Virginia equal to the vote of one
man in South Carolina"
But, in addition to the inequality
which results from the disfranchise-
ment of white male citizens, there is
another which is in consequence of the
greater proportion of females in some of
the States than in others. These fe-
males are all to be counted in the basis
of representation under the proposed
amendment. In Massachusetts, more
than half of the population is composed
of females, the women being, in 1860
nearly 81 GOO in excess of the men. In
California, the women are less than
one-third Of the population, there being
in 1860 an excess of males to the num-
Der of 130,371. In all federal elections
-, &c