Daily Republican., 1881-02-09
sham efui DIsfrauchisemsus

Sn2m e1ut DAsfrnMc hlbemenS.
If the question ef She apportiOnmel
Of members Of Congress upon the has
of population was properly understoc
there would be o general remonstyan,
against either of the apportiOnmel
bills pending before the House Of Rel
rsseutstivss. The bill reported by th
Democratic COMMITTEES fixes the numbe
Of Representatives at 3ll, which wi
allow 3D. votes to one Congressma
in the South and 33, 376 votes to on
Congressman in the North. If MI
COx's bill is accepted, which provide
for 3Ol members, It would only requ!r
"a, 7s4 votes to elect Congressman i!
the South. while 34,082 would be re
quired to elect one in the North. By
this bill 100 Sou.hsrn voters will have
IS much power as 1877 Northern voters,
and by the committees bill 100 South
erR voters will have as much power az
l42 Northern voters. This calculation
is made upon the basis Of the vote cast
at the late Presidential election, when
the South poiled only 2,776 954 votes
and the North 6,44l ,596. With 31l
members, lis Of them will CONS from
the old slave States, and the Northern
majority Of 81 will be reduced to Is.
With 30l members, l12 will come from
the South, and the Northern majority
will be reduced to II. If any Northern
member of Congress votes for either of
these bills they should be asked
whether it seems to them right and
proper that 100 votes cast and counted
at tbs South should have the same
power as l42 or 1871 votes cast at the
North.
This is something, however, for
which there sppe ars 70 be no adequate
remedy, as the spirit of the Constitu-
tien which, while it never anticipated
such Wholesale ?disfranchissment, al.
ways provided for equality Of repreSen-
tation. OF all the plans for a basis Of
apportiOnment, however, there are
among them some which will not give
the South such relative increase in
repres entatiou, and these are the bills
that the Northern members should vote
for. Ether 1913 or 322 msm bers would
give the minority Of voters less relative
power than the bills proposed by the
Democratic committee or by Mr.. Cox. '
There is no necessity for a change of
number trom.ths present number, but >
II it is increased that increase should I
not be such as to give larger proper I
lion of power to the smaller proportion +
Of voters.
But II will be said that .le vo.a at t
he South was small because part OF 4
hose who we're entitled did not vote.
les, the country very we'll understands i
hat, ana il understands too the shame f,
al causes which led to 1t. It Is traai te
hat hundreds Of thousands did not
ote at the South because they cou.d
OF vote freely for whom they wished, =.
xcept at the peril Of their lives. Thou
.nds OF others did not vote because -,
ley knew, as subsequent events prov O.
|, that their votes would not be count, -
| for the persons they voted for. Had .,
le Southern States cast as many votes -
proportion as the Northern, and there -.
no reason why they should not cast
ore, as they have fever unQat1raiiza1 r
to
rsigosrs, they would have cast 8. 1884, ~
% instead Of 2.776, 6,S54. Over one 80
ilIion Of voters were robbed of their
shts by force, terrorism and fraud. ..
nd now as grand contamination Of A.
cir villanies the perpetrators Of these
famies want to cast hereafter not n
Ily the votes 10 which their victims
ere fairly entitled, but enongh more
enable them to choose several mem. COL
RS of Congress vino should be elected vi,
: Northern votsrs. 1t is abOuE time ou,
put alimit to this Wholesale robbery cha
political power. ant