Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-09-11

strikingly shows the Injustice OF our
present SYSTEM Of representation, the
mischiefs Of the popular majority ty-
ranny, and the little right which the
Radical party has to votes enough ~
Congress to annihilate the Presidents
prerogative of the veto:
The unequal representation OF parties
| in our legislative bodies is very properly
attracting considerable attention, and
causing the suggestion Of reforms oy
which the evil may be remedied. An
| evil it undoubtedly is-one of the most
serious which now afflict the country. 1t
is undeniable that much, if not all,of the
vicious legislation of the past few years
| is Justly attributable TO the great pre-
pOnderance which one political party has
managed TO secure in the lsw-making
] bodies Of the land, and to the absence OF
that heRlthful restraining and conserVa-
| tive influence which large minorities al
ways exert.
The evil has grown to huge proportions
| In no state in which the republican party
has the ascendaney is there any longer
any Just relation between the strength OF
parties and their representation. Take
| Pennsylvania, for example. AT the last
| election the republicans polled 5Oi iUOO
votes, and the democrats 29Oi iOOO. Inc
republican majority was only I',OUO,
which is less than the ratio Of votes ior
| q single member of congress or OF tne
state senate, or for three representa-
| tives. II parties we're fairly represented,
we should have thirteen republican
and eleven democratic members of con-
| gress, seventeen republican and sixteen
/ a., FSa ar1
| ljean and fOrty-nine democratic repre-
sentatives; whereas we have, in fact
| eighteen republican and six democratic
! congressman, twenty-One republican and
I twelve democratic senators, and sixty
| two republican and thirty-eight demo-
| cratic representa- The eighteen re-
publican congressman represent OIOOO
republican vOters-One member to every
| 1000. The six democratic MEM
| bers represent 90, 600 democratic voters,
one to every IS, 900. Each republican
voter in the state has about three times
as much representation in congress as
| each democrat. In the state senate,
each republican represents less than
| IA 900 voters, each democrat more tGan
! Matchmaking p, 600 democrats equal TO
only 14,000 republicans. In the lower
| house of the legislature, there ls one
| republican fer every 5000 republican
voters, and only one democrat TO-
every 5000 democratic voters. These
| inequalities are very gross, and
! destructive Of the primary object OF
representative government. They are
/ due in the first place to oeiect ID our
present system, which renders such in
/ equalities possible, to-wit the want OF
representation for minorities and in
| the second place to a palpable disregard
| for the plain intention of the cOnstltu-
| ton, that the state should be fairly
! Justly, and equally appOrtioned.
We hope to see at least a dozen negroes
sent to Congress from the Southern
States, when they are reconstructed.
They must either send negroes or Rsdi-
Gals, and therefore can look 20 receive no
benefit or relief whatever from the action
Of their mfs-representatives in Congress.
What it will or will not do, is of little
moment to them. They may as well
send q big plantation negro there ss any
body. Increase the nauseousness of the
dose. Pour it down the Radical throat,
repeat it, give the people Of the North
their fill of negro-supremacy. other.
1Cise, yoai play into the hands Of the Rad
icals, and gire them all they sOish and
hare lc0rked for.
In short, we adopt the language Of a
plain-spoken correspondent of the Ne
tropolaan Record, who says:
Now that our southern felIOw-country-
men have resolved on a new policy; now
/ that they are going to ply the radicals
/ with African sable y now that they
/ intend to take the wind out Of the sails
| of Phillips, Sumner & Co., we expect to
have an interesting time when POmpey
makes his appearance in one Of the first
| class hotels in Washington with Dinah
on his arm, and calls upon mine host y
to "purwide UNI wild de best de stab
Iishment can afford" Oh, golly, won't
it be nice? Just think of it. But 1
can't-I don't want to. As Mrs. Sarah
| Camp would say, at csu't abear it. !"
! Sumner viii be rejoiced to welcome q
wool -thatched, ponting-liPped brother,
and If any impudent white man should
object TO his taking q seat wouldn't
| there be q row. l rather calculate there
would, and that's just the thing I want
to see. Now, Mr.. Record, you go ahead
and fight it out on that line. Advise our
paIe-!aced brethren with all The powers
of persuasion you possess; pile on the
steam, shut down the safetyvalve, and
20 it on the advice l want to see mig
| gers in congress-the heaithiest, black
est, biggest amount Of African that can
! be packed IN one human corpus, and put
/ right down with his credentials in the
| capitol at Washington as soon as recon-
| struction is complete. That will fetch
! them sure. So 90 it.