Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1889-01-18
A FREE, FAIR BALLOT.
That VIII Be the Underlying Theme
Of Harrison's Inaugural Address
AS REFERS TO THE SOUTH.
Other Matters Tina WIN BE Touched
Upon-Disgraceful Scene In the In
diana senate-Johnson Gives the
Lie Direct to Grif;ths.

NEW YORK, Jan. 1.-THE Suns In
diahapolis special says: 'Gen. Harrison
has completed that part of his inaugural
address that refers to the south. 1t is
not very long, but to the point. The un-
derlying theme of the whole matter will
be the necessity Tor a free and fair bal
lot. The principle of control by the
majority, Gen. Harrison says, is the cor
ner stone of governmental system.
The question of a free and equal ballot,
he declares, is one dominating all
others, because it involves the ques-
ton of a free and fair tribunal to which
every question shall be submitted for ar
bitration. He warns the people that
this principle of government bymajority
has been, toacertain extent, overturned,
and that the industries of the country
have been threatened because the labor
ing vote in a large part Of the country
is suppressed. AS to the south directly,
that, on the contrary, it is the desire of
every good citizen that her pros
perity shall not only be main
tanned, but shall increase; that
the streams of her prosperity shall run
full" as the president-elect once ex-
pressed it publicly. 1t is not now a
question, he insists, of what has oc-
CURED once upon a time, but what is
occurring now. This.is, he says, the al
most entire suppression of the colored
Republican vote at the south upon ma
tional questions.
He finds especially deplorable the
evidence that the persistent suppression
of the votes of the workmen in one
section of the country has demoralized
the trust in the sanctity of the ballot.
The general belief that corrupt and i'm
proper influences have come to have q
great influence in determining the re-
suits even of presidential elections, the
tally.sheet forgeries, and similar crimes
in many states outside of the south, the
revolutionary proceedings in other states
whereby duly elected officers have been
prevented from exercising the functions
for which the people had chosen them,
that threatened free institutions through
the failure or the general faith in the
fairness OF the ballot.
The practice of gerrymandering states
in congress and legislative apportion-
ments for the purpose of suppressing the
the majority and giving to the minority
a power and influence in legislative
bodies to which it is not intended, will
also probably be referred to, although
this part of the address has not vet been
fully considered. There will be other
references to the south in the address in
the part that deals with the tariff ques-
ton, and they will, it is understood, be
of a nature to please the business
element pft that section, b,.t;
they have all to be perfected.
None of the address will be absolutely
finished until a few days before it is de-
livered; certainly not until after the
president-elect has gone to Washington.
What is being done now is the drafting
of the various sections separately. An
other part of the address that is pretty
well under way is the part dealing with
civil service reform, and contrary to the
views of his friend, Lew Wallace, the
president-elect will firt giddily with the
Chinese goddess, of whom the Mug,
wumps are the high priests. Whateve,
he may do in practice, in his address
Gen. Harrison will give utterance te
sentiments upon the subject of office and
office holders that need not call the
blush of shame to the check ever Of
George William Curtis. Indianapolitans
who are close to him, affirm, however
that his affection for the almond-eyed
first cousin to the famous s~tar-eyed
dame of Kentucky, is purely p~latonic.