The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-08-09
The south Carolina Gerrymander.


States have been gerrymandered for
partisan purposes before this. Both
parties have laid themselves open to the
against the other. The manner in
which the charge usually has been made
ON one side and met on the other indi-
Gates that it is considered by both a
gross offense against public justice and
public morals for which there is neither
Justification nor excuse in the forum
of public opinion. Whenever hereto
fore any political party has carved q
State into districts in such a way as to
give the appearance of an attempt to
gain for itself an undue advantage,
some plausible pretext has been found
for it other than the desire to secure
partisan advantage. So much regard as
this at least was shown for appearances;
so much tribute paid to the love of justice
and fair play. Never until now have
we seen a State districted in open and
shameless disregard of every consider
alton except partisan advantages; never
a case in which such a division was
openly and brazenly justified upon the
bald, simple ground that it was neces-
,sary in order to stifle the influence of
legitimate majority of the voters in the
State.
1t was reserved for Mr.. Dibble, of
South Carolina, to carve up State in
such manner as to leave not the slight
est shadow of pretext for it other than
that it suppresses the majority and per-
petuates a minority rule, and it was re-
served for the Democratic party of that
State to openly and shamelessly avow
that partisan purpose, and publicly de-
fend it. By the census returns of 1880,
the voters of South Carolina are classi-
fled thus: White SO. 900, colored 49,
S89; giving the colored voters majori-
ty of 81, ,9S9 in the State. In this posi-
ton of affairs no honest man will claim
that there is or can be such Democrat
ic majority as upon a fair poll and hon.
est count will give that party control of
the State offices and Legislature and six
of the seven Congressman. The asser-
ton that the blacks in large numbers
vote the Democratic ticket Is too child
ish and absurd to be discussed. Every
sensible person knows better If a few
negroes vote the Democratic ticket their
number is greatly overbalanced by the
number of whites who vote the Repub-
lican ticket. Nor will it be believed by
anyone who knows anything of the ne
gro character that they voluntarily stay
away from the polls and refrain from
voting-haying "lost their interest in
politics s"-in such large numbers as to
leave the Democrats in the ascendant.
We are not now discussing the question
whether the 11S, 900 are as competent to
legislate for and administer the affairs
of the State and assist in Federal legis-
lation as the S6,O 1t is strenuously
insisted by the latter that they are not,
and this is the ground upon which their
practiC al disfranchisement is justified.
The essential fact with which we have
to deal is that these 1850 are voters
and have equal political rights, each
one of them, with each one of the &c.
600. Except by the perpetration of a
crime upon them they cannot be de-
prived of those rights This will hard
| ly be denied, even by the South Carolina
Bourbons who drive them from the
| polls by violence or defraud them of
their votes in the count. Admitting
that their methods are criminal, they
| Justify their crimes upon the plea that
there is no other way of escape from q
domination that would be intolerable.
| Hence in redistricting the State they
| have perpetrated the most glaring and
audaeious outrage upon the principle of
majority rule ever known in the history
of the country. Even under this plan
they can only upon an honest vote
carry two of the seven districts, the
colored voters being in maiorities rang
ing from 25, 600 to 900 in the other five;
in one of them the majority is 4,S37. In
the face of these figures the Bourbons
make no secret of their purpose of
carrying six of the seven districts, and
no one who looks at the census tables OF
voters in four of them can
| doubt for a moment that il
carried by them it must be by dis
honest means. Nor does it an
swer to say that this is a matter which
concerns only the South Carolina peo.
| any one else 1t does concern the peo-
pie of the whole country to know wheth-
er u minority is not merely to govern
the state of South Carolina but is to ex-
ercise a largely disproportionate
influence in the two Houses OF
Congress, and possibly change the
result of "a Presidential elec.
ton and the political character of the
administration of the Government. And
above all it concerns the whole people
to know whether South Carolina or any
other State is TO be exempted from the
principle of majority rule. This is nc
more a 'local issue" than the tariff
The fundamental principle of republican
government is involved in it, and every
voter in the country is interested in it:
settlement
South Carolina Democrats say they
will not tolerate the rule of the majority
and openly proclaim their purpose tC
defeat it even by the commission of the
most outrageous crimes upon free suf
/ frage and the rights of citizens. Wha
say the rest of the country to that prop
ositIon?-N Y Tribune.