Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-01-16
Inlrl, SUPREMACY ANn NEGRO
sUBORDtNATtoN.
|pEECH OF HON, JAS, BROOKS

~. ns. on December rs, 1897, reported n bin,
Al 10 change the majority Of oil registered votes,
X she Southern States into majority Of the
u..,.al voter, on the day the Constitutions were
= <csd upon; second, to give scecn Of the southern
stu.e, ten more Representatives in Congress than
..5.r the apportionmcnt Of 1860; and bird, to
>I>,, members Of Congress on the day on which
III, Constitutions voted upon and the second
rrtpostion having been withdrawn, on iheeamest
ttposition Of Mr.. Bingham, Of Ohio
Ma. BRooKs said:
FThis question OF reconstruction, Mr..
&peaker, like Banquo's ghost, can
meyer be laid. In the ominous ides
of March, just before the opening OF
this, the 4Oth Congress, mot to go
Hay further back we had a bill for
Reconstruction. In July last, in the
summer solstice, an extraordinary
session of Congress was called, for the
pnrpose of again "enacting" "recon-
sfruction." And now here, among
tho very earliest measures of the pres
ellt session, we have brought before us
the third bill to "reconstruct."
Yhe southern Negro Man to have more
Representation than the Western White
Man.
They who have reported this Bill
lave already, at the very outstart,
struck il fatal blow, by exhibiting
division in their own ranks, as the
result of which, it became necessary,
for the gentleman from Pennsylvania,
ID withdraw one of the most import
ant parts-the section to increase the
number Of negro representatives in
Congress from the South In defer
ence to the protest of member of
heir own organization, from a West
err State, the proposition to give ten
additional representatives to the slave
holding States-l mean white slave
holding States, no longer negro slave
holding States-has been withdrawn,
Because such negro favoritism would
have startled the great white-growing
West. The State of California, which,
though its population has immensely
Increased since the last census, has
now only three representatives on this
foor, with voting population of
20,000-a representative population,
then, of over 100000 The people of
Iowa, with Il population Of $4,000 by
The last census of 1860, now have, by
State census, 967, 200. The people Of
Michigan, with a population, accord
ing to the last census, of only 100000,
bow have probably 100000. The
people of Kansas, with population,
by the last census, of 100000, now
have 100000 The people Of Mime
Sofa, with a population, by the last
eensus, of 10000, now have 100000.
The Committee of Reconstruction,
blind to all this white increase, report
ed an increase of ten Representatives
In Congress for the negro States, but
no increase whatsoever for these great
vhite-growing communities of the
West 1t would have been an ire
sistible argument, then, before tho
white people Of the West, to say, "Con
gress has increased the negro repre-
sentation of the South, while it has
allowed nothing for the million and a
half increased population Of California,
Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Kan
sas." The Reconstruction Committee
reported in favor of all this, but the
Honorable gentleman from Ohio hit
it on the head, and atfrighted the
Honorable gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania Mr.. Stevens) out of this iniqui-
tous inequality, thus discriminating
against the whites, the moment it
was fairly shown up above water
n Overawed, for once, by opinion, he
abandoned his negroes and stood by
his own race and color. The will was
there to start the iniquity, but the
pluck has failed him to carry it out
\ The white people of this country,
4 thus, thank God, are, at last, recover
ing, in some small degree, their proper
consideration, if not respectability,
among certain members Of the House.
To Enable the bare Majority Of Minority
forever 10 Govern.
Sir, the first proposition now be-
fore the House is to change the or
gaHic law, as it is called, of reconstruc-
+ tion, to abandon the established prin-
ciple of the March and July acts of
Congress, that the majority of all the
registered voters shall vote for Con
stitution, by limiting .he vote now, to
voters only on the day of election
The object of this change is not at all
apparent, a concealed object being to
dislranchise more and more of the
white population, and TO enable a
bare majority Of an actual minority
TO frame the organic law of the State.
IL was not enough, under the two last
Reconstruction bills, that they dis
franchised thousand, aye, tens Of
thousands, If not hundreds of thous-
ands of white voters, while they en-
franchished the whole black popula-
ton, who were as deep in practical
rebellion as their masters, for this bill
now DISTINGUISHES thousands and tens
of thousands more 1t invites now
and enables all the egro-constitution
mongers of the South to disfranchise
whites enough in every Southern
State to secure the governments there
of to the negroes
The Constitution Of Alabama.
the first framed by the negro conven-
tions, unfolds the meaning of this act,
and shows how Anglo-Saxon white
states are to be converted into Afri-
can States-the declared intent and
meaning Of that so.caled consttu-
tion being to disfranchise every white
man in the South who has any respect
left for his own noble Anglo-Saxon
race, and who will not forswoar him