Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-15
TIE SOLID SOUTH AED REPRESENTA-
TIVE GOVERNMENT.


enter Presidential campaign the most re-
markable feature of which is the assump-
ton that the Democratic party will newt
ably control every Southern State The
implication of course is that this solidity
of the South will be the direct result of
force and fraud. Il is known well that IN
several Southern States the Republicans
possess numerical majority, but it is also
known that they will not be allowed to
vote, or that their votes viii be destroyed
or suppressed. There is no pretense that
if the South had republican institutions
it would be solidly Democratic. The
fact that it has not republican
institutions is notorious. And the |
most alarming sign of the times ap'
pears to us to be the tendency to accept |,
this monstrous state of things as a matter |
OF course. Should the Democrats, with |
and by the aid of a solid South, succeed in
olecting the President, it is nonsense to
assert that this would be a just and salts
factory settlement. 1t would be the re-
suit OF the most audacious defiance OF |
law, and the most unssrupulous exercise of
brute force Clearly it is impossible that |
such methods can be admitted~to the or
binary political machinery Of the country,
and it is equally impossible that any real
peace or security can be obtained until
these methods are abolished Factions
naturally initiate one another in their
usurpations and frauds. The perpe- |
tration of wrong by one side is CON-
monty held to justify a similar law
lessness on the other side. But the sta
bility of the republic must continue
to be in danger SO long as any section
of it is controlled contrary to law
and Republican principles, and acceptanceof
the Mexican methods which now obtain at
the South can only lead to their imitation
at the North We have indeed already
seen. in the case Of Maine, most impu-
dent attempt by the Democrats to extend |
the area of their Southern practice, and |
the same kind OF tactics would undoubted-
" have been tried elsewhere had they |
succeeded there. At present it may be said |
that if the Republican party elects the |
President the danger of Mezicanization |
will be avoided. But that is a mistake. 1t |
will not be avoided until the people of the
South are free to follow their bent in poll
tics without let or hiudrance. While |
the colored vote of that region is under |
duress there can be no fair and lawful |
national elections held, and a Republican
victory will only be a temporary triumph |
over systematized fraud.
The plain fact is that the South and the
Democratic party are playing with cogged
dice They have undertaken TO procure
unfair advantages for themselves by disre
garding democratic principles. The North
and West are handicapped by the gigantic
swindle which converts the whole South
into a mere Democratic machine, and which
enables its politicians to operate with
stolen votes, and to WELD political power
to which they have no just or legitimate
tide. Nothing is more certain than the
impracticability of maintaining contest on
such conditions The North and West
may be content to let things drift so long
as they can overcome the iniquitous CON-
bination against them by fair fighting,
but Democratic victory would at once
precipitate a strain which must shake
the country to the center, and it is
not at all probable that the claim Of the
alleged victors would be allowed. Nor,
indeed, is it reasonable that it should be
allowed. For what does the open beast of
solid South mean, but that the Southern
Democrats intend if they can to conquer
the North by guile \ solid South would
| be impossible with free ballot. Is the
North, then, prepared to acquiesce in a
possible defeat secured through undis-
guised violence upon the suffrage at the
South? We do not behave it. We be-
lieve that Democratic victory would, on
the contrary, provoke resistance that it
would not be conceded and that it would
therefore threaten the country with inter
necine strife. And this danger is not
to be got rid OF by any means which do
not 90 to the source of the evil. 1t
is impossible that half the nation
should submit to be governed by
cheating and outrage. Yet Southern
reconstruction has failed, and according
to the most careful students OF the situa-
ton there is nothing to be done but await
the SLOW process of education at the
South. The real question is, can the
country afford to await for that hypotheti-
I cal conversion Of Southern Democrats to
purer methods? If the Suspense involves
submission to the results Of Southern force
and fraud, We have no hesitation in pre-
dieting that such a solution VIII be rejected
by the North and West Assursdly this
is the first and last time that solid South
viii be tolerated. The Government OF the
country cannot and will not be made de-
pendent upon such iriquities. The South
must take her hands from the throat of
Liberty, or there will be serious trouble
! before another Presidential election occurs.
A SPLIT IN TIE CAMP.