The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-30

A Fair Ballot and Honest Count.

Fair Ballot and Honest Count
! The Chicago Tribune has at last found a
way in which it can support the republican
ticket notwithstanding tho high tax aud
| free whisky planks Of the republican plat
/ form. 1t is very simple, but rather novel
one, and deserves to be noticed. The
Tribune proposes to ignore the planks
named. The question that 0vershad0ws
and dwarfs all others" says the Tribune,
els that of a far ballot and an honest cOu +
in the congressional and presidential cltc-
tions in all the states. BY DISTINGUISHING
| hundreds of thousands of voters in the
south the democratic party has usurped at
| least twenty seats in the house Of represen-
tatives and six or eight in the senate.
Fraud has seized the presidency aud stolen
| two seats on the supreme bench"
The Tribune is to be congratulated that
states. Perhaps it will now inquire into the
bribery by which the republicans have car
ried Rhode Island for years, or into the
manner in which a big railroad corporation
| influenced Oregon voters in favor of the re-
publicans last month, or into the methods
by which numerous republican manufact
urers In other states control the votes Of
their employees.
If, after attending 10 those things, it still
insists upon investigating the alleged sup
preston OF the colored vote in the south, it
should study the consus of 1850, and the
election returns of 1854 and 1856 1t will
| find that in each of ten southern states the
cOlored vote is less than 40 per cent. of the
| total vote in those states, and that in the
election of 1881 every district in those states
which contained u majority of colored
voters gave "A republican majority for presi-
dent and elected republican congressman,
| and that in seven white districts republican
| congressman were elected. In 1856 the re
ppblicans were defeated IN two of the coll
| ored districts, but gained eight democratic
districts. This does not look rs if the col
| ored republican vote were suppressed.
Now take the remaining southern states,
which are Georgia, Florida, South Carolina,
| Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. In
two of them, Mississippi ana South Caro-
| lima, the colored vote exceeds the white
vote, but the total white vote of the six
states is greater than the total colored vote.
can read and only 1875, O00can write, while of
| the 623, 1872 white voters nearly 600, 900 can
read and write. 1t has been stated fire.
quently that iliteracy and poverty go to-
gether, and such is certainly true in the
south. 1t is equally true that the illiterate
| and poor voters whether they be white,
black or yellow, take less interest in cleo
| tions than the educated, well-to-do voters,
| because they do not feel that they have so
much at stake The democratic majorities
in the six states named may be accounted
| for in this way, although there are other
reasons why the colored voters do not vote
moro generally. For instance, they have
| discovered that all that is wanted of them
is their vote, while the benefits go to others
This was their experience when carpet
baggers were in full sway in the south, and
it rather disgustod them with politics
Even during the carpet-bag period not
much more than half of them voted.
The Tribune should look after the north
ern republicans, who are disposed to dis
| franchise the colored voters of the south.
| They gave the colOred man the franchise,
and now they want to take it away from
him. Why. Because they have ceased to
derive the benefits accruing from the votes
they created.