Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-09-07
THE DEMOCRATIC OPPOSE ZION TO "cEN-
REALIZATION"

A staple Democratic assertion is that the
Republican party favors policy of cen
tralization, and this is declared to be a very
bad thing, The Cincinnati platform for
mally commits the National Democratic
party to Opposition to Capitalization and
"the dangerous spirit of encroachment,
(which tends to consolidate the powers OF
:" all the departments in one, and thus to
"create, whatever be the form of govern
"ment, real despotism." Now we doubt
if there are many Democrats who are capa-
BILE of defining clearly what they mean
when they talk about Capitalization, but
an examination of existing facts will enable
US to ascertain what it is they are aiming at,
and how far their professions are consistent
with good government and the preservation
of free institutions. In the first place
we find that every attempt to enforce,
in certain parts of the country, the
laws which were framed for the
purpose of securing an equal and
uniform enjoyment of the franchise, IS de-
nounced by the Democrats as being IN the
direction of Capitalization. The Fed
eral election laws have been so denounced
ever since they were enacted, and so have
all other laws tending in any way to pre-
vent the notification of the Federal Con-
stitution in the Southern States. As a
matter of fact, the power OF the Federal
Government to enforce the Constitution at
the South has proved inadequate. As a
matter of fact, the Southern States have
for years trampled the Constitution under
foot. The amendments to the Constltu-
ton which gave the freedmen civil rights
have been totally disregarded. The negro
has never enjoyed equality before the law
in the South. The State Governments
have enacted laws, the design of which
was to provide a new kind of slavery. The
penal statutes have been revised SO as to
discriminate against the negro at every
turn. For example, in Mississippi theft
to the amount of one dollar has been made
grand larceny, with penalty of five years
in the penitentiary. The negro convicts
are let out to planters, and are herded with
shotguns and worked with balls and chains.
When they have served out their SEN
fences they are made to serve out addi-
tional terms to pay off extravaganza bills
made out to represent the pretended cost
of their prosecution. If negro is
arrested on any charge he may
be put to penal labor for six
months or year before his case is heard,
and even though he should be proved
innocent he may be made to work out
the alleged cost of his subsistence. All
these laws are applied only to negroes.
White convicts are never let out to work
on plantations, or made to work for their
keep. These laws were intended to repro
duce the nearest approach to slavery. The
conditions they do produce are in fact
worse, for the wretcthed negroes are
half starved, UNANIMOUSLY lodged, and ex-
posed to brutalities which their property
value as slaves measurably protected
them from in the old times. Similar laws
have been enacted in nearly all the South
ern States. They are in open defiance of
constitutional principles. They deny equal
justice to the colored citizen. And they are
approved of by all those who are opposed
to Capitalization,