The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1878-12-31
SENATOR BLAINE'S SPEECH.
FOR EQUAL RIGHTS.

oENAlOh DLAINEo bfEECns
FOR EQUAL RIGHTS.
The following able speech for equal
rights and equal representation was de-
livered in the United States Senate on
Dec. III, by Senator Blaine in support
Of his resolution to investigate frauds
perpetrated at the late elections in the
Southern States:
Mr.. PREsIDENT:-The pending reso-
luton was offered by me with a twofold
purpose in view l. TO place on rec
ord, in definite and authentic form,
the frauds and outrages 10y which some
recent elections were carried by the
Democratic party in the Southern
States. .. To find If there be any
method by which n repetition of these |
crimes against free ballot may be pre-
vented.
THE NEWSPAPER
is the channel through which the peo-
! pie Of the United States are informed of /
current events, and the accounts given /
In the press represent the elections in |
some OF the Southern States 10 have /
been accompanied by violence; in not /
few cases reaching the destruction of /
/ life; 10 have been controlled by threats 1
that awed and intimidated large class
OF voters; TO have been manipulated by /
| frauds of the most shameless and shame
full description. Indeed in South Caro-
hna there seems TO have been no cleo
tion at all in any proper sense of the
term. There was instead a series Of /
skirmishes over the State in which the /
polling places were regarded as forts TO
be captured by one party and held
against the other, and where this could |
not be done with convenience, frauds in /
the count and tissue ballot devices were l
resorted 10 IN order to efiectually de-
stroy the voiTe of the majority. Those,
IN brief, are the accounts given IN the /
n-partisan press of the disgraceful /
outrages that attended the recent cleo /
tons, and 80 far as / have seen, these 1
statements are without serious contra
diction. II is but Just and fair TO all /
parties, however, that al impartial in
vestigation of the facts shall be made /
by committeeof the Senate, proceed /
| ing under the authority Of law and rep
Hence my resolution.
sELF-EvIDENT FACTS.
! But we do not need investigation 20 /
establish certain facts already of official 1
record. We know that l06 representa- /
tives in Congress were recently chosen I
in the States formerly slaveholding, and /
I that the Democrats elected l0l, or pos /
arka nj Il
possibly five. We know that 35 of 1
/ these representatives were assigned 30 4
| the Southern States by reason of the /
coiored population, and that the entire /
political power thus founded on the |
numbers of the colored people has been |
seized and appropriated to the aggran- /
dizement Of its own strength by the /
Democratic party of the South.
THE ISSUE RAISED
before the country is not one Of mere /
sentiment for the rights Of the negro 4
though far distant be the day when the I
rights of any American citizen, however /
black or poor, shall form the mere dust /
of the balance in any controversy; nor I
| Is the issue one that involves the waving 4
Of the "bloody shirt, To quote the ele. I
CANT veTnacular of Democratic vitupera- 4
ton; nor still further is the issue rs I
now presented only a question of the .
equality of the black voter Of the South f.
with the white voter of the South; the 1
issue has taken far wider range, one
Of portentious magnitude, and that is .
whether the white voter of the North .
shall be equal 10 the white voter of the I
South in shaking the policy and fixing .
the destiny Of thus country: or whether,
to put il still more BADLY, the white /
man who fought IN the ranks Of the .
Union army shsll have as weighty and \
influential a vote in the government Of /
The republic as the white man who /
fought in the ranks of the rebel army. I
The one fought 90 uphold the other to /
destroy the union tf the States, and /
to-day he who fought TO destroy is a .
far more important factor in the gov |
ernment Of the nation than lac who /
fought to uphold it.
UNEQUAL REPRESENTATION.
Let me illustrate nv meaning 10y /
comparing groups Of States Of the :
same representative strength North and .
| South. Take the States of North Car. !
olina, Mississippi, aud Louisiana
! They send IL representatives TO Con- /
gress. Their aggregate population is /.
/ composed OF ,035. 600 whites and l.
/ 23i. 900 eolored, the colored being near
| iy 300 600 IN excess Of the whites. OF
/ the IL representatives., then, IL is evil !
| dent that niue were appOrtioned 10 /
/ these States by reason OF their colored
I population, and only eight by reason /
1 Of their white population: and yet in
the choice Of the entire IL representa-
| tives the colored voters had no more
voice or power than their remote kim
/ dred on the shores OF Senegambia or
on the gold coast. The l,035. 600
white people had the sole and absolute
choice Of the entire Il representatives.
Ia contrast, take two States in the
North, Iowa and Wisconsin. with II
representatives. They have white
population of 2,2l7, 900 considerably
more than double the entire white pop
ulation of the three Southern States
have named. In Iowa aud Wisconsin.
therefore, IL takes l32, 900 white popu-
lation TO send representative to Con-
gress, but in North Carolina, Missis-
-ippi, and Louisiana, every 10000
white people send a representative. In
l NoNhrt NNsNWf hUAAf YtOHlr III
those Southern States have precisely
the same political power in the govern
ment Of the country that 1872, 900 white
people have in Iowa and Wl<consiD,- -
Take another group of IL representa-
tives from the South and from the
North. Georgia and Alabama have
white population Of ], 1,l5S,000 and
colored population of l.020. 900. They
send 7 representatives, 20 Congress. Of
whom nine we're apportioned on ac-
count OF the white population and
eight on account of the colored popu-
lation. But the colored voters are not
able 10 choose Iingle representative,
the white democrats choosing the whole
IL. The four Northern States, Michi-
gan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Califor-
MIA. have IL representatives. based on
a white population OF two and a quar-
or millions, or almost double the
white population Of Georgia aud Ala
bama. so that in these relative groups
Of States we find the white man South
exercises Nv his vote double the politi-
cal power Of the white man North.
Let us carry the comparison 10
more comprehensive generalization.
The 4 States that formed the confed-
crate government had. by the last cen
sus population Of 9. 500. 600, Of which.