Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-04-23
Desperate Democratic Devices.

chisement, corruption, bribery, for |
gerry, perjury, bulldozing and ballot
box stulling have already been EN-.
ployed to defeat the will of the ma
jority in pursuance of the advices sent |
out from Gramercy Park. The same |
infamous system of theft which was at |
tempted in South Carolina and Oregon |
has been also applied in Maine and |
Minnesota, but without effect The !
most recent efforts in this direction APP
pear in Indiana and Delaware, where |
bulldozing and disfranchisement are |
the most favorite methods. In the town |
elections in the former State on Mon |
day the Mississippi plan was adopted !
with gratifying success. In Shelby
County a genuine Yazoo mob surround
ed the polls and refused to let negroes
vote, though they presented the prop
erly-attested aliidavits of citizenship.
If they insisted upon their rights, they
were set upon and beaten. If white
Republicans interfered to protect them,
they were awarded the same treat
ment, and, Us the Democratic roughs
and bullies outnumbered the respect
able voters, of course there was no diff
ficulty in driving awe Y the negroes, and
by preventing them from voting big
Democratic majority was secured. 1t
adds to the infamy of this outrage that
the mob was headed by the Democratic
county officials. Thus the Yazoo plan
was successfully inaugurated in a North
ern State, and we have the spectacle at
our very doors of mob-rule at the polls,
and Democratic officials preventing
citizens from voting by violence and
bloodshed.
In Delaware the plan by which the
Democrats propose to keep control
does not involve violence, but an inge-
NOUS plan of disfranchisement. Appa-
rently there is no motive for disfran-
chisement, as Delaware has always been
strongly Democratic, and has been the
political property of the Bayards and
Saulsburys But during the last year
things have taken different turn. The
dissensions in the Republican factions
have been healed, so that the party is
solid and in better shape than it has
been for ten or fifteen years past, while
the dissatisfaction with the Democratic
rings has driven many businessmen
over to the Republicans. That the
Democratic leaders fear they may lose
the State is evidenced by their scheme
to disfranchise Republican voters. The
| Wilmington correspondent of the New
York Tribune, in forecasting the politi-
cal condition of the State, says:
To Justify further their hopefulness these
gentlemen say that the County Of Newcastle
! including the City of Wilmington, has legit-
! innate Republican majority of 500 that the
| County of Kent, which used to Offset Newcas
] tie, will not give a Democratic majority this
| year of over 500; and that Sussex, the remain
| ing county, is close, the Democratic majority
! having been cut down in recent years TO 25O.
Thus, If the Republicans can do as well as
| they have already done in two of the three
counties and as we'll as they have reason for
thinking they can do in the third, the state
will be theirs next November with its three
| Electoral votes. indeed they insist that if the
! Election llws were of n kind to encourage in
| stead of hinder a full Republican vote, their
majority would be at least 1000.
1t is in the application of these laws
that the Democratic leaders are seek
ing to disfranchise Republican voters
and to keep control of the Electoral
votes next fall. The law provides that
| before a man can vote he must be as
sessed for tax, and must bring his tax
receipt to the polls, and, of course, was
originally intended to wipe out the
negro vote as far as possible. Under
the law, the list of taxpayers is printed
toward the end of February, and three
days are allowed for correction. If a
voter is not put on the list by his
Assessor and fails to get on the amend
ed list, the only way he can get his
name there is by the application to the
Levy Court in person to have himself
assessed. If therefore, person does
not get on the assessment by the 1st of
April, either through the Assessor or
the Court, he is disfranchised for a
year, and equally if he is assessed and
fails to pay his tax within a specified
time, though he may offer to pay tax
and penalties many times over Taking
advantage of these provisions, the
Assessors, under instructions from high
official authority, omitted thousands of
names of Republicans from the lists,
for the most part names of col
ored men, but including also many
whites who had paid their taxes
regularly for years. They evil
IDENTIFY considered that the negroes
were too ignorant to discover the Omis.
sion, or, if they should discover it, that
they were too poor to go to cOunty-seats
and appear before the Levy Courts.
The Republican leaders, however, have
discovered the swindle and are making
every effort to thwart it by bringing the
voters before the Levy Courts, though
even in the courts, which are Demo-
cratic and do the bidding of the lead
ers, their efforts are impeded by delays
and the consumption of the utmost
possible time on each case. But having
obtained the appointment of Federal
Supervisors of Registration, something
hitherto unknown in Delaware, they
hope to make a stand against this out
rage and obtain their rights. The feel
ing of Indignation is intense among the
businessmen of Delaware, who are Re
publicans. The party did not 90 into
the election of 1873 at all, though it had
polled 10,7 votes for Hayes out of a
total of "a, 1856. and under fair assess
ment list could poll $4,000 votes; but
this year il is going in. The New York
Times correspondent thus represents
the feeling in Wilmington:
By the aid Of the United States laws they
hope TO get something like fairplay. Whether
or not they can "carry the state" is not the
question. Ii is not merely Il matter of con
tending parties and struggling partisans, but
one vastly higher-whetheI half or more than
half the citizenship of the State is 10 be
stripped of its franchise. and whether by a
systematic manipulation of the States tunc'
tions, 1900 of its voters are tO be reduced 10
political bondage 10y another BOO. There is
a principle involved that men here are con
, tending for. They are deeply i'm earnest. They
feel indignant, as they have right TO feel
They mean TO test 20 The bitter end the capac-
! ity of their partisan opponents 10 do them
further wrong and outrage In the elections of
the present year.
Now, let it be remembered that these
Democratic outrages are not in South
; ern States which have never been prop
erly reconstructed, but in Northern
States where it has been supposed laws
were obeyed and all classes of people
had the right TO vote; and let it be
, further remembered that in each case
, these outrages have been ordered by
} high official authority. The frequent
recurrence of these outrages shows the
> desperation of the Democratic leader.
| and their conviction that they can only
} succeed next fall by theft or fraud, and
that if there is an honest election they