Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-04-19
SENATOR CALLS SPEECH.
The True Ballot In uassachusetts-
Radical Hypocrisy Exposed.
WASHINGTON Star

The True ballot In Massachusetta-
Radical Hypocrisy Exposed.
Washington Star.
We refer again to the speech of Senator
Call, OF Florida, because it was uncom-
monty good, most effective reply to Dawes
and Hoar, the two Massachusetts Senators.
who are ever foremost in throwing stones at
the South, whilst living themselves in the
thinnest OF glass houses. Mr.. Call was spe-
ciallY effective in his second DAYS speech.
He came down to facts and figures. He
said:
Il asked the attention Of the Senate an the
country to the ia that while holding their
seats here under laws which deny a free ballot
to more than one hundred thousand adult
males. the Senators from Massachusetts, at the
same time declare that they are opposed to
the readJuStment or non-debt paying views of
the Senator from Virginia, which is the alleged
reason for which he left the Democratic party
OF Virginia; and that they also oppose his sui
frage- -capitation-tax theory. the only point on
which he claims ever to have differed with the
Democratic party of Virginia respecting a free
ballot. ct they Join in q coalition with him
for a free ballot and a fair count which is
denied by the laws of their own State and
which, upon the principles which their laws
affirm, cannot prevail.
He first took up the testimony of George
B. Loring, one of the honored men of Mas
Congress, to show the number of disfran-
chised persons. He showed that, according
to Mr.. Loring, Is, 128 were disqualified for
Iliterdcy, and for all causes 1874 ,256. So this
is the number of disfranchised adult males
in one State-a New England State at that
that-whose leaders are always bowling
about "a free vote and an honest count ~
and are always making war upon the South
The Republican members of Congress
from Massachusetts are assaultlng
eternally other States for doing
the very things they are guilty of them.
selves. He next quoted from Mr.. Boynton,
who contested Mr.. Loring's seat (both Re-
publicans), and the evidence of this gentle
man is equally conclusive. He places the
disfranchised at l36,S59. Mr.. Call then
read from the laws of Massachusetts to
show how people are disfranchised for
various causes, such as excessive drinking,
gaming, idleness, debauchery of any kind,
etc" According to Massachusetts, laws
a man who is known as "spendthriftn
may be "put under guardianship and this
disqualifies him from voting. This is Massa-
chusetts, mark you, in 1881, and not in the
time of the witches. In the South man can
only be convicted OF crime save by proper
trial. A mayor and selectmen in Massa-
chusetts can put man Hunder guardian
ship" and thus disfranchise him. 1t re-
quiFes q trial and conviction "of crime" in
the South before mau can be disqualified,
Behold the contrast. Senator Call said:
1.-The honorable Senator from Massachusetts
(hr. Hoar) the other day engaged in a very
tragic recitation here of the laws of the South
ern States in regard to the colored population
made soon after the surrender, when in regard
! to those poor people who had never had charge
! of themselves nor had to provide for their
wants there was some necessity for such legis-
lation as would enable them to be protected
against want and starvation: and yet find
4 lpDll aleNr ygnFA
and ask, gentlemen, with what candor with
what truth, with what justice can they come
into the Senate and inveigh in such declsma-
tiOn against the people of the country excjt-
| ing animosity and strife where peace and
friendship exist, when we turn to the laws Of
their States and find even upon the suffrage
question in Massachusetts, a law OF this de-
scription?"
General Butler was next offered as a wit
ness. His figures are 1861 ,S59, who are dis
| franehised from other causes than GRIMM
ality." Mr.. Call shows from the testimony
of Mr.. Weaver that fully one half of the
voters in the Sixth Congressional district
are disfrsnchised. He then paid his respects
to Connecticut. We have already given an
abstract OF what he said. In that S. ate
man must have "a good moral charactern
to vote. He must also read. Mr.. Cali said:
"A right to prevent a man from voting with
out conviction for crime because of the
opini N Of some persons that he may not have
a good moral character is a great limitation of
universal suffrage, and when you add to it an
intelligence qualification of ability to read any
clause in the Constitution and any section of
statute to the satisfaction of a partisan in
spector, you remove the suffrage as far as DOS
sible from universal suffrage, and establish q
qualified and limited suffrage of the narrowest
possible basis"
He showed the great inequality Of borough
representation, but we have above referred
to this. He gave Mr.. HawIey several very
hard nuts to crack
He did not forget 'sliberty-lov-
ing' Vermont. In that State to vote a citi-
zen must be f'of quiet and peaceable be-
havior." In the South crime disqualifies: in
New England many things disquaify, as we
have seen. In Rhode Island Senator Call
showed that only 40 per cent. of the male
population are permitted to vote. Now is
It not scandalous that people with such
laws-such sweeping DISTINGUISHING laws,
should dare to mouth and prate about ga
free ballot and a fair count ?'' Senator Call
said to these New England Senator's:
81 say gentlemen. in all candor, you must
abandon this crusade-this pretended crusade
false and hollow as it is-of "a free ballot and a
fair count You have no free ballot; you do
not pretend that you have one; you dare not
have one. 1t is impossible in your country for
you TO have a free ballot In one way or an
other, you must concentrate the control of polit-
ical power in your largely populated and dense
I
and the property holding and the tax paying
classes Of the people, either by district and
territorial representation, by suffrage quail
fcation, by qualifications of residence or of
property, by limitations of age or sex"
Senator Call showed from New England
testimony that some of the disfranchising
laws were made to operate against the
Democrats and not against the Republicans.
Instances were given to prove this. Sena-
tor Call has done real service in bringing
out these points, and in clear and forceful
way. His entire speech, from beginning to
end, was quite masterly, and was one of the
best of the many able speeches that have
been made during the extra session of the
Senate. We give one more extract from
that portion of his speech, to which we have
not referred. when he discusses the attitude
of Northern Senators towards Malone. He
said, admirably:
81 am not afraid with all the proof and all
the facts to meet the charges of a partisan
port, and demonstrate by proofs which none
can deny its wicked and malevoent falsehood,
and to prove how beautiful in innocence, how
lovely, and OF what good report has been the
conduct since the war of the millions of brave,
conscientious and religious people, to traduce
ami degrade whom seems to be the pleasure
and delight of the coalition
"Mr. President. there is no South in the sense
of the past; but there is q South, panoplied in
Righteousness. in clemency, in all the arts of
peace with harmonious population of both
races, holding in her hands the census of 1880,
taken by an honest and capable man, a great
statistic'an. and, indeed, learned and labo-
rious searcher for -truth-General Francis
Walker, the Superintendent of the Census
That South. an integral part of the Union,
with her hundreds of millions OF annual gold
exports. confronts the false representations
of her condition with the great facts of
Industrial activity and development, of
increase OF population, Of rates of wages
with the absence of crime, and with the facts
of figures which do not lie. Thus armed, she
appeals to the religion, to the education, to
the business, to the laws and Constitution, and
to the principles of your own social order, as
stated in President Garfisld's inaugural, for
protection and security, and has no fear Of the
result, when, in the last Presidential election,
the people of this country stood equally
divided. Thus standing, we say to you, gentle
men, fearleSsly. you cannot cover the present
movement by denunciations OF that South.
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