The Democratic advocate., 1888-01-21

| ored vote IN the South IS Improperly sup
pressed or controlled. but the returns OF
state and congressional elections are exhib-
tied, showing that only a small proportion
of the total vote in the state or district was
actually cast, and then it is assumed, with
out other testimony, that violence or intim-
idation has prevented the negro from exer-
cising the right of suffrage. But, unfortu-
nately for the agitators, the figures they
produce show conclusively that thousands
of white Democrats failed to vote at the
same elections, and their absence from the
polls must also be accounted for. The truth
is that the failure of both races 10 vote is
attributable to the same causes, and unless
the Republican party is prepared to adopt
compulsory suffrage, it will find its efforts
to remove the present ground of complaint
as fruitless as its original attempt to secure
permanent ascendancy in the South BY en-
franchising the negro.
That there are individual and isolated
cases of unlawful interference, by both
races, with the right of suffrage in the
South, is doubtless true, but the statement
is true of other parts of the country as well;
and in fact, if half the accusations made by
the public press are well founded, the voter
is much less free from coercive and corrupt
ing influences in the great centers ofpopu-
lation and business in the North than he is
anywhere south of the Potomac and Ohio.
The Democratic party is as competent and
as willing to punish these crimes against
the purity and independence of the ballot
as the Republican party is, Notwithstanding
the latter's boast of superiority in morality
and patriotism. The right of the negro to
vote is secured by constitutional provision
which prohibits discrimination against him
on account of his race or color, and in every
Democratic state the free exercise of this
right is protected by the same statutes that
apply to the white citizen. 1t cannot be
asserted, or at least it cannot be proved, that
these statutes are not impartially enforced
by the courts and juries in Democratic com
munities; nor can it be shown that there
exists anywhere purpose to abridge the
right of suffrage, either by change of the
Constitution ora repeal of the existing laws
upon the subject.
For ten years after the close of the war
the Republican party had undisputed control
of the federal government in all its depart
ments, and during that period it not only
failed to make necessary reforms in the
public service or to legislate for the promo
tion of the general welfare, but it criminally
neglected the material interests of the masses
of the people, and, in its anxiety to win the
applause and support of aggregated capital,
it laid the foundation for many new abuses
which have since grown to alarming pre-
portions. 1t virtually destroyed the Amer
can navy and merchant marine. 1t squan-
dered the public lands by unnecessary and
excessive grants to corporations, and by per-
mitting large and valuable tracts to be ap-
propriated by syndieates of spectators; and
it wasted the public money by loose and
extravagant system of expenditures which
has no parallel in our history. 1t main
tained an unequal system of taxation, for
the avowed purpose of obstructing inter-
national exchanges, and at the same time,
with glaring inconsistency, it paid subsidies
out of the public treasury to encourage for
eien commerce. 1t employed the military
power to control elections by the people,
and to overawe the tribunals appointed by
law to make the returns 1t established
aud abolished courts and commissions, and
increased or diminished their Jurisdictions
to meet political emergencies; and, under
the decisions and awards Of these temporary
and irresponsible tribunals, it paid many
millions of dollars out of the public treasury
on claims of at least doubtful validity, held
by people living in part of the country
where Republican votes were sorely needed.
Up to the last moment Of its supremacy, it
habitually used official power for partisan
purposes, and made its placemen an organ
lied body of political serfs, every one of
whom was compelled by the inexorable law
of the party to contribute his money and
his personal services whenever demanded.
1t is not proposed here to attempt an
enumeration of all the obnoxious measures
and arbitrary practices of the Republican
party while in power, but simply to mention
few, for the purpose of indicating the
spirit in which it conducted public affairs.
It has left the country legacy of bad laws
and vicious methods of administration which
it will take many years Of earnest labor to
correct, and 1t is evident that this task can
be best performed by those who have no
personal or political responsibility for the
evils that are to be remedied. The recon
struction of the navy and the restoration of
the merchant marine are not likely to be
accomplished by a continuation of the same
policy which reduced them to their present
condition; nor is it probable that such a
reformation of the civil service as will make
it thoroughly honest and effective, and
place official responsibility above partisan
obligations, can or will be effected by the
same political party which persistently pur-
sued the course that made reform necessary
1t would be an act of folly to intrust the
preservation of the public domain to the
same men who, when they had the power
despoiled this great heritage of the people
The same influences which surrounded and
controlled them then surround and contro
them now, and will continue to do so.
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