Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-02-03
In Imperative DUTY.

An imperative Duty.
It is entirely competent for the Forty
sixth Congress to apportion the Repre-
sentatives of the House among the sew
eral States according to the population
of each State. IS shown by the census
of 1880, Just taken. It is wholly proper
for the Forty sixth Congress to do this.
Still further. it Is the duty Of the Forty
sixth Congress to make this apportion-
ment, and the enumeration upon which
the apportionment must be based has
been made and can speedily be laid
before Congress. When that informa-
ton is in the hands of Congress there
Is no reason feS delay in making the
apportionment. This Congress will
have ample time In which to reappor-
ton the Representatives from the States,
If it chooses to do 50. Why it should
leave that task to be performed by the
Forty-seventh Congress we are unable
to. see. The labor is not . long one.
The necessary facts will be laid before
Congress, and it is the spirit of the Con-
stitution and of the statutes that this
work shall be done as soon as practi-
cable after the requisite enumeration Of
There is not only an utter absence of
reasons why this Congress should not
make this appor tionment, but there are
emphatic reasons why the present Con-
gress should do this work. Already
there are evidences that the policy of the
Republican party for the ensuing four
years will be iron-handed, brutal, though
that policy is mildly named among men
as simply "Stalwart." 1t is already
proposed to unseat Democrats elect
ed from the Southern States to the
House of Representatives, and to seat
Republicans in their stead. 1t is al
ready proposed by Republicans that the
United States Senate shall declare
Southern Legislatures that choose
Democratic Senators to be "unlawful
assemblies" no Legislatures. and upon
this theory Senators elected from the
South in the future of the Republican
party are to be denied seats in the
United States Senate. These are por-
tions of the scheme recently sketched
by distinguished Republican essayist,
who has for nearly twenty years been
close to the Republican throne. II ac-
cident, or death, or treachery should
give the Senate of the United States to
the Republicans in the next Congress
by even one vote, or if the Senate
should be made a tie, with Arthur in
the chair, what may we not expect in
the direction of what Mr.. Boutwell,
calls "bold, aggressive legislation"
when a Republican President sits at
the other end of the avenue? If the
Republican managers, having the Ex-
ecutive and the House, should arrange
to obtain possession of the Senate, and
then should make the apportionment,
what would they be likely to doP They
would instantly proceed to reduce the
basis of representation in the Southern
States, and appeal to the Fourteenth
Amendment for their authority.
The omnipresent Republican press
would "fire the Northern heart"
by asserting that the right to vote in all
the Southern States has been abridged
or denied to untold millions of black
men in the South, and that, therefore,
under the Fourteenth Amendment to
the Constitution, the basis of represen-
tation in those States should be reduced
in proportion to this alleged denial or
abridgment. The Republicans in
Washington would be the sole judges
of the extent of this alleged abridg-
ment or denial. and, therefore, would
be the sole judges of the extent to
which the basis of representation in the
Southern States should be reduced.
We have seen the temper of the Repub-
lican managers, and we all know their
audacity.. They stop at nothing. The
party that discovered after Tilden's
election that sufficient territory had
been bull-dozed" to elect HAYES.
while the same territory had not been
bull-dozed'' enough to defeat
Nichols, will hesitate at nothing
in politics. The party that said
that Hayes in 1875 carried
Louisiana and Florida, but admitted
that the same votes which chose Hayes
Electors in those two States elected
Democratic Governors in both of these
States, will not hesitate to disfranchise
portion of the South; will not hesitate
to rob a portion of the people of the
country of their right to representation
in Congress.
In view of what is coming, it is the
imperative duty of this Congress to
promptly readjust the superintendent of
the House upon the basis of the census
of 1880. That apportionment once
fixed remains for ten years. To neg
lect to do this would be inexcusable on
the part of the Forty-sixth Congress.
The reasons why should be plain. The
question is not a partisan one. The
duty is to promptly act upon Repub-
ican enumeration. The duty is to keep
the apportionment ont of the clutches
of the most fragrant partisanship.-
Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Kind Of President Garfield VIII Re.