The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-04-11
LODGES ELECTION BILL
70 Will Go to tho Root Of the Greatest
Political Evil Of tho Day.

70 VIII Go to the Root Of the Greatest
Political Evil Of the Day.
Why do the Southern Democrats ~ q
body fly into passion over Mr.. Lodges
bill and threaten to fight it to the bitter
end, and why do so many Northern Dem
ocrats openly sympathize with them and
declare that they will stand by" their
Southern brethren to the last gasp?
One might reasonably believe that the
loud and solemn protestations of the
Democrats that Congressional elections
in the South were free, fair and honest
were not altogether true; that there is
something behind the returns of Con-
gressional elections in certain Southern
districts which the Democrats, for party
sake, are anxious to hide.
That such belief would find some
justification in the election returns from
those States and districts is undoubted-
ly true. For example, it would seem to
be more than the result of a mere acci-
dent, or a difference caused by
isothermal lines or degrees of latitude,
which required an average of 43,906
votes to elect Representative in the
Fiftieth Congress from Democratic New
Jersey and an average of IS, 1853 votes to
accomplish the same purpose in Demo-
cratic Maryland, while it took only a.
2S3 votes to elect Representative in
the same Congress from Democratic
Georgia, and 16, 500 votes in Democratic
Mississippi. or which required an aver
age Of 1868 votes for Cleveland
nj IN, -
cost only 1851 votes for Cleveland
eiector in South Carolina and 1866
votes for Cleveland elector in Georgia,
and IL, s4l votes for Cleveland elector
in Mississippi, the same year. A Cleve-
land elector in 1888 cost SO, 749 votes in
New Jersey; in Louisiana he cost less
than half as many, 16,031 votes; in
Florida less than half as many, 1865
votes; in Alabama triie more than
half as many, 1850 votes; in South
Carolina about one-fourth as many, S,S61
votes; in Mississippi little more than
one-third as many, 1.,S41 votes, and in
Georgia trifle more than one-third as
many, 11,S66 votes. i'll. &. ~
OF course, Mr.. Lodges bill does not az
feet the choice of Presidential electors,
but may indirectly do o. God by bringing
to the polls many thousand voters who
now stay at home and fail to vote, es-
pecially for Congressman. 1t would be
better on every account il the inequali-
ties Of representation in Congress,
which were never dreamed of and which
would never have been countenanced by
the makers of the constitution, were re-
moved. Why should one vote for rep
resentative from Georgia or South Caro-
lima have as much weight as five votes
in Oregon or Nebraska or Minnesota, or
four votes in New Hampshire or Kan
sas, or three votes in California or Wis
consin? Why should is, 500 votes for q
Representative in Mississippi be as
potent ns A., 900 votes in California, 49,
900 in Kansas, So, 600 in Nebraska, As, 900
in New Hampshire. $500 in Connecti-
cut 61,cO0 in Oregon, or $4,000 in Wis
consin? Is it really because the old
Southern boast is at last realized, that
lone Southern man can whip five
Yankees?" Comparisons may be uD-
pleasant, but sometimes they are neces-
sary. Without dwelling upon them too
long in this case, it may be added that
in the seven States Of Alabama, Arkan-
sas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi and South Carolina, which are
in the present House by
forty-five members, 1854, O25 votes
were cast, counted and returned in 1883,
an average of 1900 votes for each
that in the seven States of
Kansas, Minnesota, Ne
braska, New Hampshire, Oregon and
which are represented in the
present House by thirty-three members, |
1, 557, 500 votes were cast, counted and |
in the same year, an average |
Of 1920 votes for each member. In
other words, voters who are in minor
ity of 693, GOA have a majority Of twelve |
in the House of Representatives. That |
surely is not the sort of representative |
government which the founders of the |
republic established.-N. Y. Tribune.