National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-12-24
THE DEMOCRATIC PRESS AND
THE DISTRICT.

| Idb U6AOChdIIO EhACC AM
THE DISTRICT
The bill introduced by Mr. Morrill, for
the government of the District now under
discussion in the Senate, is accepted and
commented upon by the Democratic press
| North, South, East and West as the con-
fession of the failure of negro suffrage in
this city, where the experiment was first
| made Their animus is Of course obvious.
In the first place it is an assault upon the
whole policy of the Republican party since
| Mr.. Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, and upon all the subsequent
action of tho party in the constitutional
amendments and the reconstruction laws.
For instance, the New York World of yes
| terday says: ''The Radical majority in
Congress are concoctinga new bill for
"the government of the District Of Column
"bia, and embarrassed as they are by the
difficulties with which the problem has
"been complicated under their laundering
management they find themselves in a
"quandary not unlike that of the man in
"the proverb who stood 'shivering be-
tween the devil and the deep sea- They
"have found negro suffrage "a very sick
"ening business not only to the people of
"the United States (who pay the piper
"whIle Pomp and Juba dance around the
Washington ring but also to the authors
- of that policy which, having beel first
established in the District of Columbia,
"has there first returned to plague its in
"ventors almost as much as its victims.
"They hesitate permanently to abolish
"negro suffrage within the limits of the
District, because they fear that by doing
$50 they will ALLEVIATE the great mass Of
1.-the negro voters at the North and at the
South. They hesitate to give the negroes
"of Washington a new lease Of power be-
"cause it is foreseen that such q course is
"sure TO lead to the renewal of all the
" denominations from which the govern
"ment of the District has been only re-
Gently rescued by the hands of Congress.
"And hence the Radicals of Congress, in
dealing with this question, are puzzled
"to know whether they have more to fear
from the Nemesis behind them, in case
'they disfranchise the blacks Of the Dis
"trict, or from the sea of troubles before
"them, in case they again abandon the
government to the control of their col
"ored allies"
In the above extract there are at least
two Misrepresentation of fact. In the first
place, the Radical majority in the Senate
are not responsible for the bill now before
that body. 1t is the joint work of Repub-
nj NJ - g
to say which party on the committee has
the greater share of the honor of its won
derful compilation. Mr.. Thurman and Mr.
Hamilton, Of the committee, were, Of
course, only too happy to throw bill of
the kind into the Senate. 1t is exactly the
bill they would ask Democratic Senate to
pass, and we haveno doubt that they would
endeavOr to find some way to make its pro-
visions applicable to the whole country, so
far as the negro is concerned. If they can
induce the Senate to accept their little
Trojan horse and send him ambling over to
the House, they will be among the happiest
Democratic politicians in the country and
will have rendered an important service to
their party; but from the tone and temper
of the debate on the bill thus far, there is
very little probability that the ''Radical
majority" will fall into their little trap So
that so far from indorsing, the Republican
majority in the Senate has already virtually
repudiated and rejected the bill.
The second misrepresentation is that
the Republican majority" admit that
negro suffrage here is a failure, and
that it must be swept away. If our
contemporary will refer TO the last de-
bate upon the subject it will find this
very idea rejected in four or five good Re
publican speeches, and the responsibility
for whatever mismanagement and wrong
doing existed here placed exactly where it
belongs. Mr.. Morton and Mr.. Sargent,
Mr.. Logan and Mr.. Flanagan spoke pretty
plainly upon the subject and we commend
their speeches, especially that of Mr..
Logan, to the attention Of our cotemporary.
The only thing of any consequence that
suffrage influenced here under the recent
form of government was the passage Of the
four million loan act. That bill was sub
mitted TO the people, and was so popular
that there was scarcely any opposition to it.
The total vote against the bill was only
1,199. The vote in favor Of it was IS, 443,
or nearly 5000 more than the regular Re-
publican majority in the District. 1t was
not in fact a party question at all. To
charge, therefore, as the Opposition press
is now charging, that it was carried by the
votes of ignorant negroes imported from
Virginia and Maryland is false in every
particular. The game Of the Opposition in
this whole matter is entirely too transparent.
They know a good deal better, and the
proposition which they are now advocating
for the government of the District is moth
ing more nor less than a return to the very
system which they have all along been
holding up as corrupt and dangerous.