Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-08
wEDNESDAY..........JULY 8. 1850.
Tho Remedy.

We lately asked Mr.. MURAr HAL
STEAD how he proposed to remedy
what he considers the wrong OF casting
n smaller vote for congressman IN each
district Of Georgia than is cast in each
district in Ohio. One Of the Boston pa
pers has also endeavored to learn what
he proposes to do about this matter.
At last he answers. Here is portion
Of his answer:
ave propose, however, to elect
Republican President and Congress.
Then we think the enforcement oil
IN. fifteenth amendment would become
. boneful task, and it would not be i'm
practicable 10 reduce representation In
States where there has been the uncon-
stitutional disfranchisement Of q race--
in some States Of the majority of the
people-by reason Of color and prevl-
ON condition Of servitude."
The fourteenth amendment provides
thst when in any State the right to vote
is denied or in any way abridged on ac-
count of race, the basis OF representa-
ton in that State shall be reduced in
the proportion which the number of
male citizens so DISTINGUISHED shall bear
to the whole number Of voters. These
are not the words Of the Constitution,
but they express its meaning. 1t is
plain that Mr.. HALsTEAD is not skilled
in constitutional law. For in the first
place the fourteenth amendment applies
to the acts Of States, and not to the
acts Of persons, and therefore could be
effective only in States wherein by law
negroes were denied the right of suffrage;
and, in the second place, the fifteenth
amendment being inconsistent with that
part of the fourteenth amendment to
which we have referred, the latter was Of
course repealed when the former was
ratified. The fifteenth being ratified,
the fourteenth was ipso Jdcto annul-
led--that is, so much Of it as could not
stand along with the fifteenth.
But suppose the remedy proposed
were a practicable one, what then?
Why, Mr.. HALsTEAD would by an
act of Congress recognize the
disfranchisement Of the negroes
and make it permanent. We have
no doubt he speaks for a large
number of Republicans who would
rather that the negro should be de-
priyed of the right to vote than that he
should vote the Democratic ticket. We
are inclined to believe that Mr.. HAL
STEAD would himself confess the fact.
He and his co-wavers Of the bloody
shirt would, we doubt not, be perfectly
willing TO agree never again to raise a
sectional question as between the DEM
ocratic and the Republican parties ii
the southern States would on that con-
di.ion surrender the thirty-odd mem
bers of the House of Representatives
the emancipation Of the negroes gave to
the South.
For twenty years after the war be-
tween the States ended, and for fifteen
years after the final ratification Of the
fifteenth amendment, you had "a Re-
publican President and Congress-
Why did you not " enforce the fifteenth
amendment during the eight years
the Government was administered 10y
the greatest Of the northern generals
But, as in the case Of the fourteenth
so in the case Of the fifteenth amend
ment, the constitutional provision op
crates only upon States--not upon in
diyiduals. The fifteenth merely pro
vides that the right Of citizens to vot
shall not be denied by the Unite
States nor by any State on account c
race, &c. That amendment is in fu'
force in the Union and in every Stat
Of the Union. Not one State denie
the right Of the negro to vote--not ont
And yet Mr.. HAI.sTEAD gravely PR
poses as remedy for imaginary wronl
=" the' enforcement Of the fifteent
amendment" The force Of ignoran,
could no farther 60.
The Cause of Low Prices.
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