Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-10-10
WEDNESDAY. " OCTOBER 10. 1888.
srnnress1nr Votes.

So nearly universal in the North is the
belief that the whites in the South sup
press The negro vote that General W. I.
SHERMAN has come out in the North
HHcrfcan RcricO Gor October with
an article solemnly warning the people
OF the southern States that If they thus
1ersist in rendering the fourteenth
amendment Of no avail the northern
people will come down upon them "iike
the wolf on the fold" General SHER-
NAN writes. ~ he has often done before,
ON a subject which is not familiar TO
him. He assumes that the statements
male bv unprincipled partisans in the
heat Of presidential campaign are true,
and proceeds b. administer rebuke TO
tie soulhcrn people based upon that
assumption.
There aro differing methods Of sup
pressing the voice Of the people. What
has General sunEHAE to say Of the fol-
lowing significant paragraph from the
leading Republican paper in the United
States The New York Tribunc says
Manufacturers whose business inte-
rest. viii be impcrllcd by the success OF
tlc iroe-trade Democracy should CON
vince their workmcn that wage earners
will suffer equally with Themselves II
President Cleveland be reelected.
That might be an innocent paragraph.
Tut is it2 j. it not intended to per
alado the manufacturers IN question
that it is their duty to notify their en-
rlovees that thoy will be discharged if
they vote the Dcmocratic ticket? is,
ut best, an insoent assumption which the
Iribunc reiies upon when 1t takes 1t for
granted that the manufacturer IS lntelli-
rent aud his workmen ignorant; that
4he manufacturer knows how TO vote and
the workman does not that tho manu-
f4cturer, merely because he il the en-
1loycr. is capable Of importing instruc-
zion 20 his workmen, merely because
they are employees. Workingmen
ought b resent such reflections upon
thoir intelligence. The fact is that it Is
not unfrequcntly the case that the en-
rloyee is better informed than the en-
ploysr
Is She Trib,uc's method Of suppress
ing Democratic votes any better than
the alleged southern method DO the
workingmen who are thus compelled to
Vote az their employers tell them to vote
e,crciso the right OF suffrage any more
intclhgcntly or any more freely than the
negroes in whose behalf General SHER-
MANS symmthlcs have been aroused ?
Butthere are oihermethodso OF suppress
ing votes than those condemned by Gen
crd SuruMAN, and those recommended
Nv the Tribunc. In the great State Of
Pennsylvania, where BIArNR's plurality
in 1854 was over eighty thousand, voters
are bought 10y the thousand at the low
l1ce Of twenty five cents each We are
not repeating q campaign story manu-
featured o thousand miles from the scene
Of the alleged suppression Of the ballot,
hut repeating the statement Of Repub-
lean paper published in Philadelphia
when We say that votes arc thus pur-
chasod IN Pennsyyania. Read what the
Philadelphia Epen'ng 2oiegraph says
"The fact that o! the IA. 600 poll-tax
receipts that have been issued this year
90. 900 were bought by the Republican
CITY Campaign Committee and a, 0J0 by
The Democm's-94, 0U0 in all--is a very
serious ono, and one that merits the
SERIOUS consideration of all good citizens
of al parties. In other words, the mum
Der of poll-tax receipts to-wIt, 10000
turchAsed by voters on their own ac-
count is less than one third Of the whole
number issued. The ugly feature Of
this business is that it means,
on the one hand. that in this city are
IN immense number OF voters who
do not care enough about their votes one
way or tho other 20 attend 10 the matter
Of paying IA personal tax of fifty cents
cyery second year, and who consequent
Nv are Just ~ many political dead weights,
whose votes have no value except TO
nullfy those of better men than them
selves and, on the other hand, posi-
bic equal number who are venal 20 the
extent that they are willing 10 sell their
votes 10 this or that political party FOR
the contemplate sum of twenty-five
cents per annum.
Now isn't il enough 10 try ones pa
thence 10 find a paper published in the
midst OF a city controlled by such voters
A. the Telegraph describes raising every
day huIabaloo over the suppression OF
negro votes in the South ?-the Press Of
that city for example. But what harm
can the P'ess do the southern people -?
Surely there can't be a Philadelphian
who considers II night TO buy votes at
twenty five cents apiece who neyerthe-
less considers II wrong, otherwise TO sup
press voters no better qualified than
these Phihdelphians to exercise intelf
gently the right of suffrage.
We advise General SHERMAN and the
Tribune and the Press and all the rest
Of the gang engaged in traducing south
srn men as suppressers OF the ballot to
take the beam out of their own eve be-
fore they Try to take the mote out OF the
eye Of the southern people.
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Not one word has tgsn written for the
Irthtss1e which can Il, ..onst...a =. .