Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-11-24
FROM WASHINGTON.
Especial Correspondence OF tho Alexandria Gazettel
WASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. "a, 1884.

his admirers and neighbors, at Augusta,
Maine on the evening of November IL, has
attracted q great deal of attention by rea.
son of the animus displayed by the defeated
knight of the white plume toward the peo-
nile of the South, and the attempt therein
made TO belitte the grand victory CT his
successful rival. In making up his case
onainst the South, Mr.. Blaine starts with
the nremise that the negroes in that section
are a. republicans, which is absolutely false.
The negroes, since they were betrayed by
the republican party in 1876 when Hayes
barpained for the Presidency with Southern
leaders, the consideration being local self
government, the negroes have been tree
lances in the political arena. To prove this
take the we'll known shoe-string district OF
Mississippi in the late election. The popu..
lation is almost entirely made up OF
blacks, and yet while it records ma
| iority for the Blaine electors, it gives
5000 majority to the democratic can
didate for Congress. 1t is safe from this as
an index to deny Mr. Blaine's position on
the negro question. But, for the sake of ar
oument. let it be granted that he Is right.
Making up bis figures by which he arrives
at the conclusion that 100000 colored
people are disfranchised in the States OF
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia
and South Carolina from the census OF
1880, he does not 90 down deer enough into
the merits of the case in point to arrive at
the truth. when he declares that ''the white
men in those Southern States, by absorbing
and usurping the rights of the colored PEG.
ple. are exer,ing ust double the political
mower of the white men of the Northern
States Now let US look to the law and
then to the census table. The Constitution
dec!ar,s that all persons born or natural
lied in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the
United States aud Of the State wherein they
resde.n II also declares in the following
section that the right to vote shall be
granted 10 all male citizens twenty-one
years OF age, except it be abridged
for participation in rebellion, etc. Now
for the census table of 1850 from which
Mr.. Blaine quotes. OF the hve States ne
selects to make his point, Louisiana stands
first The census table shows that in that
State there are 22S,974 white males and
239. $50 black males, or majority of 10 S06
in favor of the negroes. This however,
does not show the voting strength of the
races but merely their rank as population.
There are 1901 64 whitesin the figures given
above whc are uuder 81 years of age, which
taken th"r.from gives los, $40 as the num-
Der of " hile voters. From the total of blacks
13l, SOB must BIZ substracted for the same
reasonl ,eavipg ajority of SS3 white vote +.
in q population in which the whites are
TO- O6 in The minority. Mississippi has popu-
ation of 243, 226 white males, from which
1874 972 must be taken as under 81 years of
age, leaving 10S254 voters, and black
population Of 323 951 males, from which
1873 .67S minors must be deducted, leaving
139, 27S, giving the negroes 22,024 in that
State. Alabama has white males 1927 SIT
white minors, lS6,056 to be deducted
leaving 14l, 46l voters negro popu-
latiou of 295,112 males, from which
must ne taken 1868 miners, leav.
ing us, 423 voters, or %, 038 less than the
white voters Georgia has white popula-
ton of 403, TAI males, 225,777 of whom are
minors, leaving l77,967 voters; of blacks
there are $50 237 males from which 215, 766
minors must he taken, leaving 143, All vot-
ers and showing white majority of "a 1876.
South Carolina has 1872, 544 white males
l05, GA of whom are minors, leaving $4,000
voters, there are 297 ,SG4 black males, 49,
$50 Of wIlou are minors, leaving 1l8 $40
voters; or a majority Of 81 ,979 in favor of
the blacks Thus we have white MAORI
ty of SS3 in Louisiana, 23.038 in Alabama
aud "a ,496 in Georgia, making total white
mo jority of So 1857, and a negro majority Of
% 02i in Mississippi and 81 979 in South
Carolina, total "a OO3, or 1864 less than the
white majority. Thus it will be seen that
in the five States of Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina,
with population Of 100000 whites
and 100000 blacks, according to Mr..
Blaine's system OF round numbers, there was
by official enumeration, in 1880, upon which
he bases his calculations, an actual majority
of 1864 white voters, while at the same time
they were 200, 900 in the minority so far as
population Is concerned. 1t would be as
Just 10 figure that because Northern State
shows an excess ofwbite population that the
democrats are 10 the majority, as to declare
that because a Southern State shows ma
jority Of blacks that it must necessarily be
republican. Twenty years of peaceful his
tory have been piled up since slavery existed
and vast majority of the black men know
of it only as u tradition of the past. They
absorb the sentiments of their white neigh
bors, and the buldozing has been transfer
red, if it ever existed there, from the South
ern cotton field to the Northern factory,
where men are compelled to vote As their
masters dictate under penalty of discharge.
While the election Of President Cleveland
is gratifying to large majority of the
white people of this city, three-fourths of
whom at least are democrats and Southern
in their tastes and habits, there is no doubt
that many of the storekeepers here are suf.
fering, or will suffer, though temporarily,
from that election, chiefly those who usu-
ally do increased business during the Christ
mas holidays. Whether they will bear this
with equanimity remains to be seen, but
that they must bear it is inevitable, for the
reason that whether large number of the
Government employees are to be removed
or not, most if not all, believe they will be,
and therefore will be by no means as pro-
fuse in their expenditures as they would
otherwise be. They are saving money,
they say, to take them back to their old
homes. Many of the negroes here, large
proportion of whom depend upon the Gov
eminent directly or indirectly for their liv.
| ing, are also talking about going back to
Virginia and Maryland, from which States