The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-01-05
Oh. washington correspondent OF IN

IDhk&M<XRI00I8 xS.s
umn Of that journal 70 our a''.0'. .sn,sm.
vseot on the subject Of the wrongs con'e% -
,,ysled l,y the Republican wme'Wo'Ne's
-. matter Of taking the next census sa'
-, ror,Iov,ug representation To Congress.
srssrs Il nothing to be gained oy es'ner
aide engaged In the dispute over .n's qu.s
s,n, hv crluiu nation add recrtminstscn. Inc
R,nnb,,caas profess to believe snat ."e
so,,,ssr. congressman would be willing
pagties 10 q fraud upon the cosa'ry' wei
know that there Is no foundation Ior sue"
/, Nc,sef. We Of the South ask Tor notn'ne
nv, even.handed Justice. We are afraid
10 trust such Republicans as took tne ,as.
csns,s An the southern States; we 'ost
che last President as consequence Oh '"e
false rctusus they made OF cur popu'auo"s
and therefore we cannot bat be glad 'eat a
Democratic Senate has the power to tay
restraiRsng hand upon the Republican sec
rotary VINO has charge OF the Census Bureau
We trust that none but capable and fasthin'
enuwcsators will be appointed; butas thcse
nrc 20 be appointed by men selected at
Washington for the purpose OF supervising
the work OF taking abe census, we desire
that the Senate shah make the most rig'd
exs,p,naiiou into the characters asa qua'ih'
cations Of the nominees, and conurm tue
appo,ntment OF no man as supervisor VINO
As not perfectly Trustworthy. IL ~on'o DC
a calamity TO have a census when nopouy
believed to be a true one.
IL hat IL,
from what AIRY ScHURz has said' that u
the South expects to manipulate the census
retoros N their own advancement, ana WIN
ont regard 10 the facts. 1t Is doomed 10 as
anpointment., The South neither expects
nor desires to manipulate the census re-
turns 10 her own advantage. She wishes 10
have the facts and nothing but the 1acts'
She cannot but fear injustice when she sees
a persistent attempt to make the country
believe that her population has not increas'
ed as rapidly as that OF any other section Oh
the couptry. We have heretofore pointed
out. the reasons which induce us to believe
that the South has lost none OF her popular
strength relatively 10 the rest OF the country
WesbalI not repeat these reasons here. buti'
"a sufficient ground for alarm In this section
10 find all northern papers without eXcep
fiop-we could name hardly one Demo
cratic journal as an exception-asstming u
as a fact already established that the Souti
Is to be in future Congresses much weaker
relatively than she IL in the present. Here
Is the Bulletins cool assumption:
"The .act Is The North, and especially tn
great West, has increased IN population 81
much more rapidly than the South durins
the past ten years that the new census VIII
probably increase the representation OF TIT
Moth, while that OF the South VIII snow
I'm the aggregate, little or no increase"
When we remember that Texas aud Ar
kansas have increased In population NOR
relatively than all New England added u
the northern Middle States, and that all tn
southern States must have become populou
more rapidly than the denseiy-peoplc'
northern States, we may well entertain ap
prehensions as TO future southern repre-
sentatjon In CongrcsI under new ctnsu
taken by Republican officials. But the plai'
ard manifest purpose to wrong the Sou''
is seen in the fact that although IN order u
the South needs only to show an increas
in popula,ion Of eleven for every seventeen
OF Increase in the North, and although sh
has unquestionably increased at least IN tina
proportion, the northern papers base al
their false predictions upon the groundies
assumption that she must gain hundred
incubation for every hundred gained b.
the North IL she would maintain that rela
tive strength.
Let II not be forgotten that censuses hav
played an important part in the world
Uranus. The Israeltes Of old were ono
severely punished for having taken cen
sus OF their population. ii they were thu
pupished for having taken true census
what might not have been their tate hat
they taken false one! II Is not too muc
to saw that the Southern Confederacy owe
its defeat TO the facts revealed by the va
rious cepsuses which had been taken In tn
limited States before the commencement o
the late war. But for their exact knowledg
rs 10 the relative population OF the tw
sections of the Union, the northern pee
pie would never have uaSiertaken the con
quest OF the southern States, and we shoul
never have heard OF such thing as the ere
bellion" or its suppression" Ignorance
would have multiplied the population Of tn
South and magnilied its resources to sue
an exteut as that no sane man in the Mort
would eycr have proposed what could hav,
appeared t. be nothing else than hopeless
task.