The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-26
ONLY PART OF THE SCHEME.

ONLY PART OF THE SCHEME
If the attempt to bride two members Of the
City Council in the interest Of the Democratic
party stood alone, it would be frightful enough
to arouse all honest men, but when it is recog-
nized as only part of one stupendous scheme
by which the rights of American citizens are
to be overthrown, there are no words adequate
to fitly describe it. We doubt whether there
is an intelligent man in the city who knows
the parties, but believes that the facts are just
as Mr.. Newcomb and Mr.. Smithers
state them. These men were approached
with money to 'infuence" their votes in
the matter Of the city attorneyship. Its most
alarming significance is that it is part Of a
scheme by which the element of society which
controls the Democratic party shall be put at
the head of our national and municipal affairs.
What better could be expected of a party
whose candidate for the presidency, in 1876,
succeeded in buying electoral votes enough,
through money distributed by cipher dis
patches, to make it necessary for a special
electoral commission to prevent the consum-
nation of the intended outrage9 And because
that commission decided that the fruits
of such proceedings should not be
realized by the party resorting to them,
the party yelpers have never ceased to berate
the commission; while not paper or man
in fellowship with that party has ever uttered
one syllable against Mr.. Tiden's attempt to
buy the presidency.
To realize the significance of this little local
sensation, it must be studied in the light OF
the violent arrest of 1872 colored citizens in
Cincinnati the night before the election, and
the keeping Of them in a dark cellar until the
polls were closed, and then the pardon by the
President Of the criminal who was sent to
the nitentiary for the leadership of the
force that arrested them. It must also
ton forgeries and frauds in Ohio, and the
decision Of the Democratic Supreme Court of
Ohio, that such forgeries and frauds, however
manifest, must be counted, and commissions
must be issued on them; and in sight, also, of
the system of terrorism which prevents voters
in the South from exercising their rights. 1t
is but part of this general scheme, and it is
becoming that an official representative Of
the party should be the man to offer the bride
Mr.. Kuhn is an appointee of the administra-
ton that owes its power to this scheme, and
is in duty bound to uphold the administra-
ton and its methods.
But wherein do these methods differ from
that by which thousands Of voters Of Indiana
were disfranchised by the villainous appor-
tionment made by the late Democratic Legis-
latures By it 90, 276 voters in Marion county
only 4, 1914, has two senators, and Shelby, with
6, 255, has two senator's while Montgomery
county, with vote of 1903, has no senator,
but is tied to Clinton and Boone, which have
$500 and 6,327, respectively, so as to insure
two Democratic senator's, jointly. Jefferson
county, with 1889, is joined to Clark, with its
Democratic majority of 800, so as to disfran-
chise the Republican county of Jefferson,
while this same 500 are used again to
deprive Republican Jennings of vote,
giving 6,656 voters in Clark two
senators. But we need not pursue this
subject further. A Legislature that will
deliberately plan to disfranchise AZ per cent.
of the people of State is only carrying out a
part of the general scheme Of fraud Of which
the buying of councilmen, the forging of re-
turns, the stealing of ballot boxes, and the
violent breaking of Others the imprisonment
Of negroes not charged with crime, and exec
utive pardon in the interest of the party, and
Democratic Supreme Court decisions are
only parts Of one fearful whole Perhaps
such system of fraud may succeed for
time, but we must lose our faith in man to
believe that it can be a permanent success.
A Democratic City Council once tried it in
Indianapolis, but it was a failure from the be-
ginning; so will their gerrylnander of the
State be, as we'll as their other parts of one
gigantic fraud
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THE Evansville Courier is evidently bent
on misunderstanding the Journal. The latter
having had occasion to denounce the infamous