The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1876-03-29
"A Gentle Hint. 4

Tho national house committee of
clectioenlsssa lie recently aadapted 8. .tAessfol,
lowing resolution -
|, .ResJleces 9rhut, .in the opinions OF
this 'conmittcc, che several con
greseional. districts, of tho United
States ought to he composed of
contiguous territory, uni as nearly
as may lie of equal population and
wherens it appears that IL district
IN the State of South Carolina is
composed Of counties not contigu-
ous, it is tho unanimous opinion of
this committee TINT the Legislature
Of that state, now in session, ought
to rcdistrict tho state in conformity
with the Inv now in force.
| OF course there cap be no doubt
rs to the, peculiar circumstances
that induced tho committed to make
this suggestion. The case of Hoge,
elected in November, 1874, from
the, third congressional district
Of this state, has been before the
committee for many months. The
chief objecti on urged against his
eligibility was tho fact that the
district from which ho claimed to
DC elcctod was not composed OF
contiguous counties--Richland not
adjoining any Of the other counties
The apportionment fixed by the
last Legislature was of course simply
gcrrymantloring scheme by which
It was intended to deprive the
democrats of NIL representation in
she house. The districts, it will be
:cmcmborcd, wore SO constituted
Is to have n ,uajority of colored
voters III each. Had the law rs to
'ontiguity and as to equality of
population been complied with,
thcrc could easily havo beon elected
one democratic representative. AS
tit is, tho republicans monopolizc
the entire. representation in the
honse. It sooms almost certain
That IIoge is not entitled to his
seat, but tho time consumed by the
committee in deciding tho. question
Of eligibility giyes him his scat for
The greater portion Of his tom, if
not for NIL Of il" In this lies the
success of the trick done by the
legislature. N''' '.r.
The recommendation of the com
,nitteo referred to above will doubt
,.css have it's cilUSt. 1t will be re
membered that tho lowor branch of
the legislature some, weeks. ago
passed q bill providing for the
livision of the state into five con
gressional DISTRICTS, in which bill
the law rs to contiguity is fully
complied with. But it is open to
another and al equally valid OBJ
jcction-that the districts do not
each embrace rs nearly as possible
5he same population. Unless this
tault be corrected, VIC have little
loubt that mn impartial committee
If congress would declare void any
election held under the provisions
,f the bill. Tho senate has tabled
this bill, and Senator Cochran, of
Anderson county, has introduced
another, which is fir more equitable
i'll the division made. The counties
trc SO arranged that there would
bc n majority of whites in one con
grcssionnl district. This is little
enough, considering that the whites
represent ut least ninetccn-
twenticths Of the property of the
state. Taking into consideration
both wealth and population, they
should have ut least two represcn-
tativcs in congress. The passage
Of the bill proposed by Mr.. Cochran
would bo nothing more than an act
Of simple justice to the taxpaying
whites, who have been totally I'M
represented in congress since 1868.
Mr. Cochran deserves credit for
his effort to do justice in this mat
ter, and we trust he will receive the
cooperation of a majority of both
houses of the legislature. The re-
publican majority will do we'll to
tekc the hint offered by the con-
gres sional committee. Political
parties arc more tnan all else sub
ject to vicissitudcs, and it is but
following the dictate of reason, rs
well rs of Justice, for q dominant
faction to recognize tho rights of
the minority. It seems we'll settled
that should there be sent from this
state to congress n representative
claimi:sG to havo been elected from
a district composed as is the present
&lNrx x,,1 L.. Il l..