Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-17
Justice Nfiner.s warming Words.

Justice NiiierfS W Warning WI e.7'
Mr.. Justice Miller, of the United States
Supreme Court. in his opinion giving the
decision of the court in the Marlborough
ku-klux cases from this State, said: III
recurrence of such acts as these prisoners
stand convicted Of are too common In
quarter of the country, and give omen Of
danger from lawless violence, the free use
of money in elections, arising from the
vast growth of recent wealth in other
quarters, presents an equal cause for
anxiety"
This utterance Of Justice Miller does
not seem to have arrested the attention oil
the Republican leaders or attracted the
notice of the Republican organs. Acts
like those with which the Yarboroughs
were charged. and like those in Coplan
county, Mississippi, which have attracted
so much attention lately, are not common
in the South and are not approved
but admitting that they are COM
mon. they are no more cause LOT
anxiety. says the distinguished Judge,
speaking for the highest judicial tribunal
of the country, than are the practices IN
many Northern States of buying voters
outright. or of threatening employees with
the loss Of their places if they do not vote
i'm harmony with the wishes Of their en-
plOyers. In either case elections are
farce, because the result is not in accord
ance with the wishes OF the ma
jority. And yet neither Senator
sherman, Senator Hoar, nor any
other Senator said a word from his place
in the Senate about an investigation when
it was widely published and openly
| charged that Indiana was carried by a
system Of bribery in 1880. Even Mr..
/ Arthur, at a great dinner of the Republi-
/ can chiefs at Delmonico's to celebrate the
/ Republican victory, admitted that the
| party owed its victory to free use OF
| what he called ''soap." Mr.. Sherman was
| quick, however, to ask for an investigation
of the Copiah county and Danville affairs,
on the ground that the will OF the people
had been defeated by violence, and be-
cause citizens had been prevented from
| exercising their right of franchise. Sup
| posing that the charges he made respect
ing Copiah county and Danyille We're
/ trUe-and we are glad to say they were
| nOt-is there any more reason for Investi-
/ eating them than for investigating the
/ charges of bribery in Indiana, bal
lot-bOx stutiing in Philadelphia, and intim-
idation of factory hands in New England
In one case alleged violence accom-
! plIshed what fraud, bribery and intimi-
dation accomplished in the other. The
| results are the same in both cases. Why,
/ then, should the South be barassed by
investigations whenever charges of VIC
lence in connection with elections are
made against her, while the North, far
more culpable, escapes all inquiry.
| There is another point that
must not be overlooked. Whatever
violence there is in the South grows
out Of the necessity of keeping the intelli-
! gent class in the ascendency. The as
tendency of the ignorant class would be
the ruin of the country. The North has
no excuse for insidiOus attacks on the
freedom of tue ballot. These attacks are
| made alone for plumber and power, and
/ they are infinitely more threatening to the
! stability OF our institutions than the acts
Of violence chargedagainstt the South.