The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-03-04
Reports Of the Louisiana Investigation
Committee.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 50.

Reports Of the Louisiana Investigating
Committee.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 49,
In the House, this morning, the major.
ity report of the Louisiana Investigating
Committee, signed by Messrs. Foster,
Phelps, Potter and Marshall, was pre-
sented. The following conclusions have
been arrived at:
The undersigned majority of the Committee on
the State of the South respectfully report that
en
inimical to the Golored people. of Louisiana, re-
ferrcd to In their report, have been repealed fdr
years Except p during the schism Of Gov War, "a;
control Of the machinery Of the State. The late
registration shows an excess of the colored over
the d, white s,.v voters, giving so5sl colored to
alses evidence That Tie ass eecten
not free and fair, the assumption Of the ninUrity
| that enough cOlore1 voters must therefore have
been prevented from voting at the late election
by the recollection of the Colfax and Coushatta
| killings the causes and circumstances Of which
are disputedl, and by other acts which occurred
election throughout the State, IL an assumption
SO violent, when it is recollected that both those
parishes elected the full Kellogg ticket by In
creased Republican majuritlesi as not to be re-
ceved II any other Gause for the vote Of the State
can be found. Such causes exist and are obvious.
Among them are:
ceeded the true colored vote. The registration
| was wholly in the hands of the Kellogg officials,
with whom Republican committee, with United
States Marshal Packard at their head, cooper
ated. In only three parishes did the Republican
Supervisors of Registration make any complaint
of unfair or insufficient registration. On the
the conservatives. who specified, with proof,
100 cases of conceded false registration in New
Orleans alone, and those Conservatives who had
been cooperating in the Joint Party Committee
to secure fair registration gave up the effort in
| despair. The census Of 1870, the correctness of
which is not inpeached, showed 67;0s6
whites and s6.sls colored niales over twenty;
evidence before us indicated no change in this
proportion in favor of the colored voters. Yet
the M registration OF co'ored voters exceeded by
the census. while the registration OF white votes
| was 10000 less.
seeond-The whole number of voters registered
was 167 607. or these 1853 voted. This is a
larger proportion Of registered voters than usual
| ly vote in any of the Northern States. In an
| agricultural State scantily settled, where long
Journeys had often to be made to reach the polls,
it is unreasonable to suppose that greater pro-
portion of the registered blacks would have turned
| out to sustain the Government under which the
prosperity of the State and their wages and the
value Of their shares of production had steadily
declined than usually vote at elections North or
| South.
/
which the vote throughout all tho States was
seriously affected against the Republican party, a
| change resulting largely from financial distress
| of the people, and which should therefore hatu-
| rally have been even greater in Louisiana than
| elsewhere.
| Fourth 1t became the interest of the Conserv-
aives, at least at the last election, not to inimi
date, but to acquire by every fair means the col
| orcd vote. Parties who were alleged to have
threatened the blacks even with refusal of en-
| plOyment were subject to prompt arrest. 1t was
/ Eat he IN dos
| prive the Conservatives of the result if they
prevailed in the election It was there
s p1sax. h Assadosy to avoid Sev SSng
everywhere to Cooperate with and concjliate the
blacks. They voted down the propositions or
suggestions which were made in the early part of
| the campaign for refusal to employ those col
| ored voters who would not cooperate with them,
| and generally sought by combining with colored
voters to carry the election. Local combinations
| against the Kellogg candidates were made in
many parishes by men Of all parties and cOlors.
In several parishes Union ticket Of colored and
| Conservative voters was voted for and elected.
An intelligent cOlored witness testified that he
desired better government" and to that end
Twas willing to swallow the white man If the
white men would swallow the colored." These
causes and feelings naturally united to swell the
Conservative vote IN such localities as indicated
by the returns.
Eytyh-The entire want of any direct evidence
to show any general intimidation of colOfed
voters. Of course, in SO large State it would be
impossible there should be instance of refusal
to employ, of intimidation. Such occur in
every State; but the evidence certainly indicates
no general intimidation of colored voters, and
that such intimidation as did exist in the State
WAS rather in the interest Of the Republicans than
of the Conservatives, United States Marshals,
whose chief was the Chairman of the Republican
State Committee, armed, in some cases, with
blank warrants of arrest, and aided by Federal
troops, made constant arrests before the election,
but not afterward. The oversight of the
election and returns was in the hands of Gov:
Kellogg's officials. Their account and return did
| show twenty nine majority of members of the
lower house elected by the Conservatives without
any protest whatever, except in three parishes
although it was their province and duty to protest
In any case where violence and intimidation. or
fraud, existed. Indeed. the direct evidence as to
the election of 1874, as well as the circumstances,
clearly indicate peaceable and fair election. In
fact after the visit Of the first committee and re-
visit of the special committee, the Kellogg
party, with ali their machinery for collecting
evidence, were unable to produce in the entire
State more than haIfa- dozen persons to
testify to anything impea,ching g,o the freedom dom
were not offcehOlders or connected with Office
holders. Against such facts it seems to us idle
to assume that the disturbances so vividly pict-
ured bv the minority could have kept up
throughout their State such feeling of intimida-
ton as would justify the assumption that but for
that feeling the State would have gone Republi-
can. All experience shows that the result Of the
election Of 1874 in Louisiana, as returned to the
Returning Board, natural and to be easily
accounted for by the reasons we have given. We
pie of the State of Louisiana did fairly have
free peaceable and full registration and election,
in which clear Conservative majority was elect
ed to the lower house of the Legislature, Of
which majority the Conservatives were deprived
by the unjust illegal and arbitrary action Of the
Returning Board.
To the resolution reported to the House from
the committe as to the action of the Returning
Board we all agreed. We understand the COM
mittee to be unanimous IN finding the fact that
the action Of the Returning Board has defeated
no ,,1l nff hn q aYn aoA hv q q
polls in November 1874 The people then elected
to the lower house of their Legislature major
ity of Conservative members. portion OF the
Conservative members thus elected were refused
their certificates. This is an act Of great inJus-
tice to individuals, Of the gravest danger to the
State and free government, and ought to be i'm
mediately corrected by any power competent to
correct it.
The resolution commencing the recognition of
Gov. Kellogg is based upon the general impress
sion not upon evidence. On this point no testi-
mony was taken either by the committee any
part of it. Kellogg may or may not have been
elected III 1877, but there is no evidence to show
the fact or if there be it has been neither sought
nor found by this committee.
Messrs. Foster and Phelps think that
the popular belief, taking both Conserva-
tive and Radical circles, inclines on the
whole to Justify Kellogg's claims, and
that, as Kellogg is and has been acting
Governor of Louisiana for the past two
other in his place after this lapse of time
might involve incalculable mischief to
the legal and political interests of the
State
The committee conclude as follows:
To avoid mischief and the confusion of
change the majority of the citizens of Louisiana
seem willing to accept. as q compromise, Kel-
ogg's recognition and the restoration to the Con-
servatives Of the control of the lower house. For
thaca ud n nO
wish to oppose the recommendation that the
administration of the Governor, Kellogg be rec
ognized. Neither, in view of the fact that they
know nothing Of its merits as judged by compe-
tent evidence, do they wish to be understood as
urging it. They only wish to accord their agree
ment with those Of their associates who believe
such conference might, by making termina-
ti0n to the uncertainty in Louisiana, be, on the
whole, less intOlerable than the present situation
of that distracted people, but, to any reso-
Marshall are utterly opposed they nnd nothing
to justify the belief that Kellogg was elected;
that he seized the Government BY the aid Of the
der, which prevented the counting and returning
Of the votes, should be standing presumption
against him. When the people, outraged by the
abuses Of his Government had successfully re-
gained the Office which he had usurped, he was
sgain reseated by the Federal power through
forms of law by which he had intrenched himself.
He once more sought to nullify the choice of the
In the Federal troops to break mp the meeting Of
the Legislature. For Congress to recognize q
usurpai0n SO gr0es SO oppressive, is, they think,
to establish precedent by which, under pretexts
that can readily be found any State Government
may be oyerthrown, the will Of the people nulli-
hed, and fraud and violence made permanent,
and republican forms perverted to destroy
liberty.
In their Judgment all that is needed in Louisi
ana is to withdraw the Federal troops and leave
the people Of that State to govern themselves.
CHARLES FOSTER,
WuIrAM WALTER puEIpa.