National Republican., 1884-06-10
THE DANYILLE AFFAIR."
Report Of the Minority Of the Senate Invesi-
eating Committee,
Senator Vance Sets UP Crimes in the
North by Way Of Offset
An honcal Allusion to The DistanohiSod District Of
Columbia.
The Old Argument OF "You're Another
In a New Dress.

The minority report OF the senate cOmmlJ-
tee on privileges and elections upon the Dam
willie riots investigation was submitted to the
senate yesterday.
The preamble Of the resolution under which
the committee acted is quoted, upon which
tho minority comments at some length, de-
claring that any lawyer with an honest dis
position to ascertain tho truth would see
that, taking all tho facts assorted in this
preamble, congress was clearly not authorized
by the constitution to Interfere, but would
.Onclude at once that it was matter OF purely
state affair.
The general election" referred 20 was q
matter of purely state concern, nor was it
anywhere stated that tho otlcnscs woro COM
mitted by authority Of any state law, in
contravcntion of the constitution, or by the
aid COnnivauco, or neglect of any officer of
the state of Virginia, but were wholly donO
in. violation Of her laws and in ContOmpt Of
her authority.
"But it is indirectly said" continues tho
report, by the committee, that thoy propose
no interference by actual legislation further
than by investiga ton to expose to public
condemnation the action Of the rioters in
DNnville, and II is also intimatGd that, should
the people of Mississippi not vote for the can
didates Of the republican party in the pending
presidential election, then the committee
recommend further investigation of tho
WnOlG people OF LnOSe StuleS, WlLn Wow W
depriving them OF representation IN congress
under section 9 of the fourteenth amend
ment The latter the undersigned regard
simply as n partisan threat, in itself strongly
interfering with the FREQ exercise Of tho
right Of suffrage, which 1t is believed the
manly people against whom it is directed
will treat with the contempt IL 80 richly
merits, and tho former would seem to be sim
ply proposition to shift the expense of
printing campaign document from the
pockets Of tho republican national executive
committee on to the public treasury"
The minority present n resume of the po-
litical history Of Virginia from 1879 to 1883,
in ordrr TO show the condition Of affairs
which existed at the time of the riot in Dan
vile. The bitter feeling between the adher-
ents OF the coalition and democratic parties
they point out was intensified in the city of
Danvil'e, where large numbers ofnegro labor
CfH had been drawn by the tobacco factories,
ard whore outnumboring the whites, they
Nnd secured control of the municipal govern.
Iucnt, tAe result of which had been that out
ragas and indignities had been committed
upon The people.
They soy further that the proof is over
vhelming that the riot was not premeditated
nor the result OF conspiracy Of the demo-
cratic party of Virginia.
Referring to the charge that the democratic
party Of Virginia sought TO disfranchise the
negroes Of that state by tho imposition OF the
capitatiou tax and by other methods, they
enter general denial and then enter upon
an elaborate exhibition OF the methods by
which the right Of suffrage is abridged
ut the north They point to Massachu-
scts, whore they say, under the law
forbidding tho right Of suffrage to illite
rate persons and paupers who arc unable to
pay certain taxes, 14i,500 persons arc
di-franchised for ignorance or poverty; to
EhOde Island where they say, the restrictions
40 per cent, thcy assert, of adult males being
entitled to vote, the remainder being dis
franchised, not only for crime, but for
ignorance poverty, or foreign birth; and to
tTo District Of Columbia, whorO they say tho
republican party has abolished the right Of
suffrage altogether, and where 17z000 per-
sons arc governed as 'satrapy." under
tho very shadow of the dome of the capitol of
great republic, the cornerstone Of which is
the suffrage Of tho governed" say the
minority, THAT great principle is denied and
spit upon for no other reason than because
80 per cent. of the population is composed of
negroes, who could WELD the balance of power
in popular elections"
The minority hero enter into long and
bitter denunciation of the reconstruction
measures adopted by the republican party, at
tho close of which they make the statement
that the general treatment of negroes in the
south is better and more kindly than 1t is in
Lne nOfln, lney say on Inlb pOlnC ln1OuBn
all the north no blacks will be seen engaged
IN any but menial labor unless it be that they
have establishments Of their own. In the
south sou will find them occupying offices of
every character-municipsl, county state,
and national, in tht legislatures aud in
the magistracy. In the north you will
lind none in the legislatures, and
What became of one whom the
governor Of Massachusetts, attempted to put
upon the bench? How many have over came
to the congress of the Unitgd States from
northern Constituencies How many colored
pOstmasters have been appointed in northern
Towns and cities? How many colored men
are clerks in the departments in this city
How many have ever been rendered positions
in the cabinet? How many have ever been
appointed ministers OF consuls TO any foreign
country, except negro countriosW
The minority ask how it would be If COM
mi,tees were appointed to investigate the
notorious charges Of tanning of hides Of
negroes and starving and poisoning paupers
and the state OF the corpse industry in the
sato Of Massachusetts; to inquire into the
killing of negroes in Ohio for the sale OF their
carcasses 10 the medical colleges, and to
report upon the state Of trade in that branch
of American industry, and whether it is
likely to interfere with the pork packing
business Of the city OF Cincinnati; into the
killing Of negroes for going into barrooms in
Ntw York to take a drink to investigate the
great riots of 1877, and show tho corporate
greed and exactions, the tyranny of capital,
which caused all that misery, loss of life, and
destruction Of property, and trace it to the
snbservioncy and fostering care Of the repub-
lean party" They say that tho reply to
ihese suppositions IL that these things are
liable TO happen eyerywhore that they are
purely q state concern and that congress has
no business with them, and ask why II is not
tho same with common street riot in tho
town of Danville.