Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-10-13
IN
How Little the Voters of the uni
ted States Have 10 DO with
Eiecling their Officers.
Hon. J. S. Blacks speech at York;

Hon. J. S. Blacks speech at York;
There is one other thing which you
must not omit to notice. | mean the
propensity Of our opponents at all
times and under all their different
names to cheat at elections. | call it
the anti constitutional party, as the
only one that fits them through and
through, but it has a long string Of
aliases and many DISCUSSES. In all of
them, however, it shows out one
plain, broad mark Of identity; that is
Its utter contempt for the right OF free
suffrage. In the time of the elder
Adams they passed the alien and Sc
dition laws, and kept up a standing
army for the sole purpose of intimi-
dating voters. In 1900 Hamilton pro
posed that the Governor of New
York should call the legislature to-
gether and disfranchise the people of
the state to prevent them from voting
for Jefferson. In 1897, Pennington,
governor Of New Jersey, deliberately
and in cold blood with a full knowledge
Of what e was d ing, falsely certified
the electiun Of six whigmembers ofcon-
gress, to the intent that the organiza
ton Of the house should go into the
hands of the minori y,and of this trick
his whole party took all the advantage
it could. In 1888. Stevens, Ritner and
others practiced the gross and impu-
dent frauds which they tried to carry
through with buckshot and ball. In
1910 this state was VIGOROUSLY carried
against us by the system which was
then called pipe laying. For years to-
gether the know-nothings organized
their rufian bands, habitually drove
all the democrats from the polls in
Baltimore, and kept the state under
their infamous feet. AT a later period
elections were regulated by an execu
tive decree issued at Washington. and
all state oAic IS were, by brute force.
put into the hands ola small, contemp-
tible and corrupt minority. in Ken-
lucky, the candidates for whom the
people might vote we're designated by
a military order, which was remorse
less'y carried out. In Indiana the
most SCI ndalous outragcs were per
petrated. | think that no.
body now denies that Packer was
elected governor and counted out in
1865; nor can it reasonably be doubt
ed that the majority against us in
Philadelphia has been enormously
swelled by the fraudsof every year. Ia
the southern states no pretense wa.
ever made by the administration paity
Of a decent regard for the rights of
the legal voter. Under acts Of con
gress, which that body had no moro
right to make than the town council
of York, nearly all the qualified elect
ors were forced from the polls, and
others without show or color of law
full right were brought up to stuff the
ballot-boxes with administration tick
cts. 1t was by intimidation, ruf6an-
ism and false counting that the carpet
bag governments kept themselves in
existence for ten years. In New York
and Philadelphia the paid hirelinqs,
some OF them penit9ntiary convicts, o.
the federal administration committed
the most frightful outrlges at the last
presidential election. But the incor-
ruptible democracy was equal to all
this Unawed by influence and I'M
brlbed by gain. they elected Tilden and
utterly routed the corruplionists. The
majority Of the white people was a
million, reduced to three hundre
thousand by the black vote. OF the
electors duly appointed there was a
clear majority of twenty-three against
them. No man was ever elected to
any Office in this country if Tildan
was not elected presid, Mt ofthe United
States.
Then came that enormous outrage
which made the name Of our oppo-
nents infamous forever. They fraud
ulently altered the appointment Of
twelve electors, enough to give Hayes
a majority of one, and on that fraud
they put him in. The corrupt knaves
chat assisted them are billed on the
treasury as a reward for their crim.s,
and we, the people, are taxed to ply
them for cheating us out of our birth
right. There was no excuse for tbs
that "a be accepted even as a mitiea
ton Of the crime-no p%retense of any
excuse at all that was not founded in
perjury and forgery, which aggravated
its baseness a thousand-flld.