Montgomery County sentinel., 1880-09-03
THE CENSUS AND THE SOUTH.

THE CENSUS AND THE SOUTH
The Republican press with pertinacity
equaled only by the wickedncss of its de-
signs has been denouncing the South and
raising the cry Of fraud over the census re-
turns from the same. Time has not effaced
from our memory that previous to the civil
war these very same newspapers were ever
actively engaged in vilifying this unfortu-
nate section Of our country, and never hest
tated to manufacture any kind of lies if they
thought they would tend to prejudice for
eigners against its people or divert immigra-
tion from its borders. Impressed with the
belief that their vile ISLANDERS had worked
effectively, they have with fiendish and
relentless vindictiveness tortured the South
with its inability to compete with the North
or West. But in these miserable attempts
they have been unable TO affect the progress
of this people, and having realized their
failure to accomplish the desired injury they
now seek to detract from its material wealth
and increase of population by denouncing
the census returns as fraud and perpetrated
for political purposes
The most preiudiced and anxious Republi-
can, the Neutrality-suspicious. and reckless organ
cannot fail to recognize the fact that if any
frauds have been perpetrated they must have
been committed under the auspices of mana
gers Of the Republican party. The Balti-
more SIN, in speaking upon this very point,
says
"Of the 150 supervisors appointed to take
the census of 1880, 112 or "a per cent, are
Republicans OF the % supervisors whose
districts are in Southern States, 81 or 55 per
cent, are Republicans. In only two Of the
thirteen Southern States-Alabama and
North Carelina--is there majority of
Democratic supervisors, and there have
been no complaints us yet in regard TO the
conduct of the census in those States. In
South Carolina, two Of the three supervis-
ors are Republicans"
But this cry of fraud is wholly unwar-
ranted by the facts, and will not, for a mo-
ment, admit of the light of an honest and
impartial investigation. The Louisville
Courier journal in commenting upon the
census returns remarks:
"The fourteen Northern and Western
States-including Minnesota, Illinois, Ne
braka, Kansas and Michigan--from which
census returns have been received, show an
aggregate increase Of 4,510925, or an aver
age gain of 23.92 per cent 1t will surprise
many to learn that this increase of percent
age nearly lNnl,lal in tbat Of I,a
South from which we have returns seven
Southern States-Arkansas, Kentucky, Mis-
souri,, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia and Della
ware--have total population Of 9,169,33
an aggregate gain of 2,756SS2, showing an
average increase of nearly 43 per cent, or,
to be more exact, 42.99"
The Boston Advertiser, by no means friend
ly in its criticisms upon the South or the al
legged fraudulent returns of the census, among
many other things, says:
'rhe rate of increase of the South has ex-
ceeded that Of the rest of the Union, and its
gain of population is between five hundred
and six hundred thousand greater than that
of the Western States. Virginia, Missouri
and Kentucky gain more than Indiana, Wis
consin, Iowa or Nebraska. The increase in
| Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina ex-
ceeds anything ever known in the census
reports, as will be seen from the following
comparison;
"Kentucky, from 1910 TO 1850, 202,577;
from 1850 to 1860, 1886; from 1860 to
| 1870, 166,326; from 1870 to 1890, 4l3,320.-
Virginia, from 1910 to 1850, 94,0SS; from
1850 TO 1860, 100,282; from 1860 to 1870,
5533; from 1870 to 1880, 374,S37. North
Carolina, from 1910 to 1850, 1860; from
1850 to 1860, 123,5s3; from 1860 to 1870
| 1879 from 1870 TO 1880, 31S, ,152
"The gain of population in Virginia for
several years prior to 1880 was only 425, ,555
According to the census, her gain in the last
| decade was 374S37. The two yirginias
comprised one State prior 10 1868, Taking
the populations of the two together we find
that they have increased from 1867, III in
/ 1870 to 2,30S000 in 1880; and they talk
down there about being too poor TO pay their
4 honest debts. Who would have supposed
that population was pouring into North
Carolina faster than into Wisconsin and
! Nebraska, and nearly as fast as into Indi-
ana and Minnesota And who would have
thought that Kentucky would show a great
/ er gain in population than any State in the
/ North, the West or the Pacific slope, with
the exception of Illinois? The census re-
turns certainly show up well for the solid
South. II the present basis of representa-
ton should be preserved, the sixteen South
ern States would gain twenty-eight congress.
men, while the remaining twenty two States
would gain iorty-seven."
1t is exceedingly gratifying to us to be
abe to chronicle the prosperity of the South,
and it is surprising that the people of any
portion OF this vast country can look with
feelings of regret or envy upon the success
which has attended people who have buf
ieted for so long time the angry waters Of
adversely. II has been Southern enterprise,
Southern hospitality and energy that has
given an impetus to immigration within her
borders, developed her great agricultural and
mineral resources and constructed her manu-.
iacturies
The Philadelphia TiBlc, in commenting
upon the jealous and disrcputable motives
which have controlled the Republican press
as well as the allegation Of fraud which has
been set up against the census returns from
the South, says
I "If this sort of thing is fraud Il Is fraud
I walking in the wrong direction for the MIR.
{ pose Of the South Instead of indulging in
such senseless quibbles, insinuations and
charges as now occupy the organs, why
cannot everybody unite IN patriotic thank.
iulness that the whole country is fairly ON
the highway 70 prosperity and has already
reached the fifty million mile post In popu.
lation :"
II Is rather odd coincidence that Gen.
Hancock and Gen Longstroci, who opposed