Daily Republican., 1882-04-14
YNNTERED AT THE POST-CiflCk AT
Gl wilmington, Del, As second class NAV
~Tbe REPUBLJChN gives ad.
aetreulaffOn equal to any
1--we Of the city papers.
Our Nt.frauch Is cd People.


twill be but a short time before the
nominations tor the respective offices
TO DE- filled in the State will be made,
and judging from the easy slip. go-sE cd
manner in which the campaign is pro.
crossing they will be made in much the
same manner they have always been
made before, We are not Directing &C
much a. the manner of making the
nominations as at thu little interest
manifested in making them. Were the
mere offices themselves the only thing
at stake, there would be but little cause
for more than tha usual interest, but
there are priuCiDles at issue which
would concern ths people a hundred
times more than who the man shall be
that shall he elected Congressman, a
State Legislator, a Levy Courtman or
a Sheriff. What are these issues? The
first and greatest Of them is repre-
seuta'io according to population. All
along we have been telling the people
that there were 10000 DISTINGUISHED
citiAons in Now CASTLE County alone,
who had no voice whatever in the Leg
islature of the State, the body that
makes Jaws to govern the people. In
Justice to the cause of the DISTINGUISHED,
we ara compelled to advance the fig.
ures now to 80 900. 1t is tor these dis
franchised subjects that we would
speak. What has become of the Con.
stitution that guarantees to every State
constitutional form of government
We need not ask, for we know it is still
the same that it was when the popula-
ton of Delaware was equally divided
between the three counties of the State
But somef ow the people seem to have
forgotten their rights, and it is sorry
sight to see so little interest manifested
on an important subject on the eve of
an important election. This is a ques-
ton which is not partisan, tor SO far as
representation goes, Democrats as well
as Republicans are disfranchised. 1t
does seem to us that the people ought
to be fully aroused upon this important
subject.
There is sonnet hing more needed than
the mere mechanical naming of can
didate for the Leg; stature It seems al
most Incredible that so, 900 disfran chise d
people would sit hugging the slavish
chains that bind them, and which are
being rivited tighter every year with
out some effort being made to shake
them off. How can we do it, do we
hear? Not by violent revolution as
was done by tie colonists when they
would not submit to the stamp ac4 and
the tax on tea, matters Of less import.
ance than Acknowledgement, but by
vigorous, manly protests and appeals
to the people Of the State for justice.
DO we not all vote now, do we hear
some one say? Yes, provided partisan
election laws have not robbed us of even
the form of casting ballot, but when
we come to vote for members of the
Legislature, who do we vote fore
thara bnr -.
by $4,000 people, hutin Kent county 49,.
900, elects that many, and surely the
same number should cleo. ten repre-.
sentatives in New Castle county. Then
there are 10000 left who vote, but vote
for nobody. They go through the form
OF casting ballots, but they might as
we'll throw them to the winds or up a
chimney. Such disfranchisement should
arouse the people. 1t should blot out
all partisan lines until the people se-
cured their rights. Public meetings
should be called and held demanding
ahese rights from the State.
Senator Bayard who holds a seat in
the S"nate of the United States simply |
because $4,000 of his subjects in his
own county, around his own stately |
are shameful'y disfranchised,
should be asked to come and address
such meetings. No person should be
on either ticket for the Leg
islature who is not unequivocally in |
favor of doing and will pledge himself
to do all in his power to secure to every |
citizen of the State equal rights. Why
should Kent county with a population
of only $4,000 elect ten representatives
while 49, 600 in New Castle only be per-
mitted to elect the same number /? Or
in other words why should one man in
Kent county be considered equal TO two
men and half in New Castle? To make |
it sill more plain, Why should two farm
hands in Kent county exercise the same
polt power that 10 conferred upon
five mechanics of the city Of Whining !
ton? This lslo party question, but one
which concerns Democrats as well as |
Republicans. This is question para
mount To every other political consider.
alton. We are told that it is only in the
matter of Legislative representation
that we are disfranchised; that for
Mayor, Governor, Congressman, Levy
Sheriff and Coroner each vote
counts az much as any other vote. This
is true, but it is small comfort while we
are depri we'd of our full ghts in help.
ing to make the laws which govern the
State, twenty representatives Of the |
Legislature f.om Kent and Sussex
counties, elected by $1,000, maze the
laws of the STATE III spite of the pro-
tests of the ten representatives elected
by SO, 900 people. These twenty repre.