The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-12-19

ored voters are not able to choose single
Representative the white Democrats choosing
the whole seventeen The four Northern
States, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and /
California, have seventeen Representatives.
based on a white population of {, $50, coo. or al
most double the white population of Georgia
and Alabama so that in these relative groIlns
of States we find the white man South exercises
by his vote, double the political power of the
white man North.
Let us carry the comparison to more COM
prehensive generalization. The eleven States
that formed the Confederate Government had.
by the last census, population of 9,500,O0O,
of which, in round numbers, 5,500OOO were
white and 100000 colored On this
aggregate Formulation seventy three Representa-
tives in Congress were apportioned to those
Satisfactory two or three of which were by
reason of the white population, and thirty or
thirty lone by reason of the colored population.
At the recent election the white Democracy of
the South seized seventy of the seventy three
districts. and thus secured Democratic major
ity in the next House of Representatives. Thus
it appears that throughout the States that formed
the late Confederate Government, Is, 600 whites
the very people that rebelled against the Union
are enabled to elect a Representative in Con-
gress, while in the loyal States it requires
$4,000 of the white people that fought for the
/ Union to elect a Representative. In levying
every tax, therefore, in making every appropri-
alton of money, in fixing every line of public
policy, in decreeing what shall be the fate and
fortune of the republic, the Confederate soldier
/ South is enabled to cast vote that is twice as
powerful and twice as influential as the vote of
the Union soldier North
But the white men of the South did not ac-
quire and do not hold this superior power by
reason Of law or justice, but in disregard and
defiance of both. The Fourteenth amendment
| to the constitution was expected to be, and was
| tn no apd Of
all such possible abuses. The reading of the
clause applicable to the case is instructive and
suggestive. Hear it:
Representatives shall be apportoned among
the several States according to their respective
numbers, counting the whole number of per-
sons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.
But, when the right to vote at any election for
the choice of Electors for President and Vice
President of the United States, Representatives
in Congress, the executive and judicial officers
of State, or the members of the Legislature
thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants
of such State, being Il years of age, and citi-
zens of the United States Or in any way
abridged, except for participation in rebellion,
or other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which
the number of such male citizens shall bear to
the whole number of male citizens 81 years of
age in such State" ......
The patent, undeniable intent of this provi-
sion was that, if any class of voters were denied
or in any way abridged in their right of suf-
| frage, then the class so abridged should not be
counted in the basis of representation; or, in
other words, that no State or States should gain
a large increase of representation in Congress by
reason of counting any class of population not
permitted to take part in electing such Repre-
sentatives. But the construction given to this
provisions that before any forfeiture of repre-
sentaton can be enforced the denial or abridg-
ment of suffrage must be the result of a law
/ specifically enacted by the State Under this
! construction every negro voter may have his
suffrage absolutely denied or fatally abridged
by the violence, actual or threatened of IRE
sponsible mobs, or by frauds and receptions of
State officers from the Governor down to the
last election clerk, and then, unless some State
law can be shown that authorizes the denial or
ab1idgment, the State escapes all penalty or
peril of reduced representation. This con-
struction may be upheld by the courts, ruling
on the letter of the law, which killeth." but
the spirit of justice cries aloud against the eva
sive and atrocious conclusion that deals out OPP
preston to the innocent and shields the guilty
from the legitimate consequences of willfu
! transgressiOn. ..... .....
The colored citizen is thus most unhappily
| tuated; his right Of suffrage is but a hollow
mockery; it holds to his ear the word of PROMISE
but breaks it always to his hope, and he ends
only in being made the unwilling instrument
of increasing the political strength of that party
|
when he was a slave, and contemptuous refusal
of civil rights since he was made Free He re-
| sembles indeed those unhappy captlves in the
East who, deprived of their birthright, are COM
PEELED to yield their strength to the upbuilding
of the monarch from whose tyrannies they
have most to fear, and to fight against the power
from which alone deliverance might be expect
ed. The franchise intended for the shield and
defense of the negro has been turned against
him and against his friends, and has vastly in
creased the power Of those from whom he has
nothing to hope and everything to dread.
The political power thus appropriated by
Southern Democrats by reason of the negro
population amounts to thirty-fve Representa-
tives in Congress. 1t is massed almost solidly,
and offsets the great State of New York; or
Pennsylvania and New Jersey together; or the
whole of New England; or Ohio and Indiana
united; or the combined strength of Illinois,
Minnesota, Kansas, California, Nevada, Ne
braska Colorado and Oregon The seizure of
this power is wanton usurpaton; it is fragrant
outrage; it is violent perversion of the whole
theory of republican government 1t inures
solely to the present advantage, and yet, l be-
lievee, to the permanent dishonor, of the Demo
cratic party. 1t is by reason of this trampling
down of human rights, this ruthless seizure of
unlawful power, that the Democratic party
hold the popular branch of Congress
to-day, and it will, in less than ninety days,
have control of this body also, thus grasping
uIIO CAellO uCpd1 eI1CiU VI uO Oof-
eminent through the unlawful capture of the
Southern States. If the prescribed vote of the
South was cast as it's owners desire, the Demo |
cratic party could not gain power. Nay, if it |
we're not counted on the other side against the |
instincts and the interests against the principles
and prejudices of it's lawful owners. Demo |
cratic success would be hopeless It is not
enough, then, for modern Democratic tactics
that the negro vote should be silenced the de-
mand goes further and insists that it shall be |
counted on their side, that all the Presidential
Electors apportioned by reason of the negro |
vote shall be SO cast and so governed as to in
sure Democratic success-regardless of justice, |
in defiance of law.
And this injustice is wholly unprovoked I
doubt if it be in the power of the most search
ing investigation to show that in any Southern I
State, during the period of Republican control,
any legal voter was ever debarred from the
freest exercise of his suffrage. Even the re-
venges which would have leaped into life with
many who despised the negro were buried out |
of sight with magnanimity which the superior
race" fail to follow and seem reluctant to recog
nize. know it is said, in reUorJof such charges
-