The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-03-18
A CRY FROM THE SOUTH.
Address to the President from the Re-
pubIicans of Alabama.

Address to the President from the Re
pubIicans of Alabama.
To THE PRESIDENT The Republicans Of Ala
bama congratulate you and the American peo-
pie on your elevation to the highest Office in
their gift, and thank You for the patriotic SEN
timents expressed in your inaugural address.
In the interests of tho people Of Alabama we
desire to present to you brief statement of
their condition, and respectfully but earnestly
ask your careful consideration of the same.
The election laws of Alabama open wide the
door to fraud, and render impossible its detec-
ton and punishment, Endorsed as it is, by an
aggressive and dominant minority. Indeed,
those laws were enacted to enable this
dominant minority to commit fraud on
the ballot-box with impunity, and therefore the
elections in Alabama are all worse than farce.
. Under the baneful influence Of these
laws political corruption and decentralization, so
prevalent in the State, have extended to the
Federal elections, and they too now utterly fail
to express the will and voice OF the people.
We, therefore, earnestly desire that the Fed
eral election laws be so amended that every
legal elector in Alabama, in common with the
great body of the American people, may, with
out molestation, at any election, if he desire,
cast one ballot and have that ballot honestly
counted. A free and untrammeled exercise Of
the elective franchise is the right of every legal
voter, and this right the Republicans Of Ala
bama demand.
Another sacred right Of every American citi-
zen is fair trial by an impartial jury. We
wish to call attention to the fact that, in many
portions of Alabama, this right Is practically
denied to the colored citizens by their total ex-
c'usion from the jury-box, though many of
them possess all the qualifications required by
law for jurors in O word, they are excluded
from the jury-box because of their color.
The education of the masses SIS of supreme
Importance to the South" Many OF the people
of Alabama are poor and ignorant without fault
OF their own and the inadequate provisions
made by the State, discriminatiDgly disbursed
by the authorities have failed to afford proper
relief. The Republicans Of Alabama have OBJ
served with unfeigned pleasure that this I'M
portant subject is engaging the attention OF
the American Congress, and they hope that 1t
may take form in such legislation as may
provide national law for national education,
that viii extend its benehcent influences over
every portion of this great republic. In order
that all people may equally enjoy the benign
blessings of such law, We declare it to be Of
the highest importance that all funds appro-
priated by the Federal Government for this
purpose should in Alabama be controlled and
disbursed exclusively under Federal super
vision.
The friends Of good government in the South
look to your administration for protection and
support, and the Republicans Of Alabama, sub
iected as they have been to the severest tests Of
political intolerance and persecution, of social
and business ostracism, have followed with
unfaltering fidelity the principles of the Re-
publican party; and now, upon the accession
TO the Chief Executive chair Of the nation OF
true exponent Of those principles, We conf
IDENTIFY hope that the patronage Of your admin
istration will be bestowed upon its friends in
Alabama, who are really identified with the
interests of the State, and not waste it in the
vain endeavor to conciliate its enemies.