Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-01-20
From the o. S, Journal
Editorial Correspondence.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS,

for the immediate admission Of Vir'
ginia into the Union. Nothing
was said on the wearisome subject
of reconstruction that has not been
better said a hundred times before
The time is passed when the pub
lie care to hear reconstruction dls-
cussed. Let all the States be ad.
mitted to representation in Con
gress with as few conditions as pos,
sble. Ardent Republicans like
John A. Bingham favor the imme'
dia,c admission Of Virginia and the
other States. without any condi-
tions whatever, save those already
Imposed.
Mr. Bingham is filed with much
anxiety and concern Tor fear
the Census bill will pass without
any amendment providing that i'm
pediately after the completion OF
the census in June, the Secretary
of the Interior shall declare the
number Of Representatives to which
each State is entitled under the ap,
portionment to be made at once, in
order that the ten millions Of col,
ored citizens of the United States
may he entitled to representation
in the next Congress.
Without authority from Con.
gress the relative number Of Rep,
resentatives from euch State will
be the same as under the old ap,
portionment, so that ten millions
Of citizens who pay taxes in peace
and bear arms in war will be with
out representation at all in the For
ty.second Congress. The proba.
bility of the occurrence of such an
outrage upon the rights of freed.
men, Mr.. Bingham thinks deserves
the very serious attention Of the
press of the country The New
England members seem willing to
sacrifice the negro in order to pre-
vent for the present the inevitable
decrease in the number of their rep
rcsentatives and the correspond.
ding increase in the represent
atives from the Western States, I'M
der the appointment based on the
new census. The point is, whether
the colored citizens and the increas-
ed population ofthe Western States
shall be represented in the Forty.
second, or not until the Forty third
Congress. Since conversing with
Mr.. Bingham, we notice that Mr..
Paine Of Wisconsin has introduced
Il supplemental bill which substan.
TALLY embodies all the important
points which Mr. B. failed to get
engrafted upon the original census
bill in the shape Of amendments
1t is very important to us in Ohio,
that Mr.. Paine's bill should pass
1t will give us from two to three
additional representatives in the
next Congress. Whether the State
is redistricted or not redistricted, it
is but palpable justice that we
should have in every Congress rs
many representatives as our popu-
ation entities us to.
The frlnking privilege will be
abolished and that speedily. We
have met no member who has sot
himself against the irresistible cur
rent of popular opinion. Congress
will yield to the pressure within go
DAYS, although reluctantly. The
abuses of the privilege have be-
come intolerahle, Two hundred
tons of free maiIahle matter have
been shipped in the course of a year
from the Washington post office
alone. We see car loads Of heavy
documents and heavier speeches
carted off every morning as we pass
through the archway under the Sen
ate wing Of the capitol. The trains
are loaded down with all sorts Of
Congressional trash. And what is
worse, clerks in the Departments
and sconndrcIs outside are begin.
ming to forge the names of Sena-
tors and members on envelopes so
that about nne.third of the franks
ere forgerics. The .Penitentiary is
too soft place for these uncon-
victed criminals whose moral sense
ia so hlunted that they will commit
one of the meanest and basest
crimes in the criminal code to save
postage amounting to three cents,
Granting exclusive privileges to
special classes Is inconsistent with
the spirit Of our institutions. En-.
gland saw the folly Of eXempting
officials from the payment of post.
age thirty years AGO. Now, not
only members of Parliament, but
the Queen herself must otllx . pos
taee. stamp to every letter that is
sent through the mails, While
with them there is surplus of
twenty three millions in one year
OF receipts over expenditures, in
the postal service, we have q defc-
II Of five millions Il year, and up-
10 make up And vet, in
England postage is lower, and the
Of letters written. in nro
norton to population, much less,
The franking privilege abolished in
this country, and the postal service
will be q source Of revenue
Ono PHNlTENTlARY. - A bout 300
of the prisoners III the Ohio Peni.
tontiary attend Sunday School,
every Sabbath morning in the
Chapck under the change Of the
werthy Chaplain, Rev Mr.. Byers.
One Of the Directors, several Of the
wanna. .unntlatunn of tha Christian