River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-04-12


7th, $3.50 S5O35
9th 1856 1890
10th, 1914 $500.
The acreage rate in Wisconsin for
each member. was So, 800. The dggre.
gate vote for the ten members from
Georgia was q, $40. leaving "A margin
of 7.IS0 votes in favor of Wisconsin
between one of our districts and the
entire ten districts of Georgia. Or, to
put it another way, and using com
parison which was favOrite one with
Southerners in the early days of the
Rebellion, one Georgian voter is equal
to l2.S-l0 Wisconsin voters. Or, to
state it in another form; upon the
basis of the Georgia vote Wisconsin
would be entitled to lis. 2-l0 Congress
men instead of the nine to which she
is now entitled. Or, to state it in
still another form; upon the basis of
the Wisconsin vote, which was at the
rate of one vote to every ALTO inhab-
itants. Georgia should have cast at the
election of 1884, 376,l4 votes. She
did cast 81 SPOT What became of the
odd 348. 62l voters!
Georgia had a population in 1884 of
.542, $50 inhabitants; Wisconsin had
1876 97. OF this number the census of
1880 reports 32l, 43S males of 81 years
and over i'm Georgia, and 33S,932 in
Wisconsin. 1t will be seen that Wis
eonsin had somewhat the advantage
over Georgia in the proportion of
males of voting age to population, on
paper. But in fact Wisconsin had no
advantage, as there were lS9, 400
males of foreign birth, of voting age
in Wisconsin, against 5 1928 in Georgia.
1t is very probable that large num-
Der of these foreign-born males were
not qualified as citizens, and therefore
could not and did not vote. In both
cases an allowance must be made for
the increase of population between the
census of 1880 and the vote of 1884.
.Well," you will probably hear
some independent Wisconsin voter
say. .'what does it all amount to any
way; how does this showing interest
mel | don't care if they are facts;
they don t affect me at ALL" But they
do interest you, very materially, nOW;
and they may interest you still more
materially in the future-a future not
so many years distant, either. These
figures show that in the state of Georgia
and what is true of Georgia is true,
also, of South Carolina, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Ar
kansas the votes of great majority
of the people are suppressed, and the
election of all officers, State and
National made dependent upon small
minority of lawless men,-the same
men who plotted the overthrow of the
Republic by armed rebellion, who
Differed the armies which fought,
who owned the slaves which formed
the pretex for the rebellion, and had
they been successful would have be-
come the aristOcracy of the establish
ed Confederacy. Partly by laws
which they have devised for the pur-
pose. and partly by intimidation,
through murders. arson, floggings and
midnight raidlngs, they have complete
ly wiped out the vote of the cOlOred
men of the South, and have suppress
ed even that of the ''pOOr whites,
whom they do not dare to trust with
the freeman's pOwer-the right of the
ballot. To curtail the voting power
of the latter class poll tax of one
dollar is levied, and no one can vote in
Georgia, until he can show "A receipt
for this tax. In many cases, even
when the tax has been paid. receipt
is withheld and the voter put off until
after election. Such is the manner of
gaining this power. How is it to be
usedl
BY the election of President, who
controls the policy of the government,
and appoints its army of servants
rhe'sOlid south" elected the Demo-
cratic president, who appoints the
rebel Lamar to the Supreme Bench.
By the election of Members of Con-
gress and United States Senators, who
| frame the laws by which the whole
country is governed. Who frame its
tariff bills, such as the Mills bill, which
aims to destroy the prosperity of the
/ North, while increasing the interests
of the cotton and sugar planters of the
South. These are accomplished facts.
| But what OF the futuTel
A few more Democratic states in the
North is all they now require to give
them control of the United States
Senate. The election of President
this fall, and majority in the Senate.
| composed of Northern dough-faces al
/ lied to the solid Southern delegation.
and the last barrier will be swept
away that stands between the people of
/ the Union and the rehabilitated Con-
| federacy. Already they are Boosting Of
what will follow. The war debts of
| the Confederacy must be paid-and
/ Confederate bonds are worth a price
on the London Exchange to-day Con-
/ federate soldiers must be pensioned.
The Slaves must be paid for-and the
| lists are being prepared to-day. Gov.
| Rusk heard and saw this within
month past. The Tariff must go
/ Southern cotton, and tobacco and rice
and whiskey and sugar must 60 out
| chester cotton cloths and Birmingham
cutlery. The Northern "mudsills''
must be punished. Their factories and
mills must be stopped, their greasy
mechanics" must be reduced TO the
level of the slave before the war. or
/ to that of the Continental working
/ man OF to-day, They will not ask to
1 have the amendments of the COnstitu-
/ ton repealed. A Supreme Court CON-
/ posed of Confederates and Northern
Democrats will settle that question.
These are the dangers that Turk in
the unequal representation as shown
i in the figures made above. 1t Is a
danger which cannot be met by Con-
stitutional remedy. or by direct inter-
/ ference. Ii can only be met by coun-
ter-aetion. The interests Of the