The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-28
THE EFFECT OF BULLDozrNG.

He who thinks that bulldozing in the
South does not injure the political interests
OF all the people in all parts of the country
is a very superficial observer. In apportion-
ing the electoral vote among the several
States, and in giving to each its just share of
representatives in Congress, the results of the
last federal census are taken as q basis That
is, the representatives in Congress are appor-
toned according to population, and in the
present apportionment each State is allowed
one such representative to each 154, 325 of
population. This gives all sections of the
country an equable share in shaping national
legislation, and no complaint can fairly be
made that all are not treated exactly alike
before the constitution. An honorable conf
pliance with this arrangement would result
in satisfaction to all. But the South, now
as an entirety, has been unwilling to abide
by the laws made for the common benefit
of the people. State after State in that sec
ton OF the country by violence and intimi-
dation has sought to prevent a full ballot
nally successful and now there is not
State from one end OF the South to the other
whose politics may not be foretold to a GER
tainty. There is no freedom in Southern
politics, and such thing as an honest cleo
ton is unknown. AS result, the con-
gressional districts that contain the required
population DO not vote much more than half
as many ballots as do the northern districts.
A few comparisons will illustrate:
The State of Iowa has eleven congressional
districts and in 1882 polled 28S 926 votes,
or an average of 26,266 votes per district.
Georgia has nine districts, and polled but
107 917 votes, or but II, $50 per district, 1t is
plain, from these figures, that in Iowa it
takes 10000 votes to elect a congressman.
while in Georgia but 900 have the same
power. In the Sixth district of Georgia there
were but {, $40 votes polled; in the Third but
4,450, and in the Eighth but 1869. The vote
in Georgia is not exceptional as the returns
from other Southern States will show.
The average vote for congressman
in Alabama was 1854; in
Wisconsin, 24,S21; in South Carolina, 16, s26;
in New Jersey, 29,371; in Mississippi II, 207;
in Maryland, 26, 176; in Louisiana, 1876; in
Minnesota, 20, 125. From these figures, and
they are taken from official returns, it APP
pears that it takes nearly twice as many
voters to elect a member of Congress in the
North as it does i'll the South. But that is
stating the case in the reversed order from
what it is. The figures given show that for
some reason so per cent.-one-half-of the
voters of the South do not vote. The Repub-
lican party claims that they are Republicans,
at best, social ostracism and bodily harm.
The night-riding bulldozers OF Louisiana
parishes; the men who murdered colored
members OF the Louisiana Legislature after
they had been cooped up in Mechanics Hall,
New Orleans; the men who planned and the
men who executed the fendish massacres
at Ellenton and Danville, have done
their work WE'LL and the result is
apparent in the election returns. The
political murders cannot be truthfully
denied, nor can the strange falling off of the
vote be accounted for in any other manner
than that here given. The deliberate assas-
sination of Judge Chsolm and his family
and, only recently, of Hon. ]. P. Matthews,
chairman of the Republican central commit
tee of Copiah county, Mississippi are only
two among numberless similar outrages that
have successfully combined to paralyze pop
ular suffrage and prevent free elections in
the South.
There are a great many Republicans who
still vote in The South, but enough are kept
away from the polls to make the elections
mockery, and to send to Congress repre-
sentatives chosen by the minority. The same
principle extended to all parts of the country
would result in a reign of terror, justice
would be subverted and the republic would
be popular government only in name. 1t
is pitiful way to meet these crimes through
the ballot-box of the North, but it is the
oily peaceaoie "ay' NoOouy "aAls W Iesort
to violence, and there is no &C.
casion to do so. Bat it is danger
Gus for any people to see the
very foundation of government assailed and
make no defense. A peaceable remedy is at
hand, if it be only applied solid South,
cemented by blood and violence, may be met
by North unified in its desire that popular
elections shall be upheld and the ballot-box
made accessible to the humbleSt American
citizen. This done, and in time the South
will see the folly Of its madness, and will
come to a juster treatment of its citizens,