The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-10-29
corruption is infinitely worse. Better

corruption is infinitely worse. Better
no vote at ali than bought vote.
Realizing these things, the workingmen
of most of the Northern States have de-
manded through their organizations the
passage of State election laws which
will make the voter absolutely indie
pendent and guard the ballot against
both coercion and corruption. Such a
law was introduced in the last Leg
islature of Ohio, passed the House of
Representatives, and would have passed
the Senate had not the dictation of the
caucus brought every Republican vote
to bear against it. And now, no doubt,
these same Senators who thus spurned
the worlingmen's request in Ohio, and
refused to accord TO Ohio's freemen an
independent ballot, are among the most
clamorous for this Force bill for the
South. They belong to that rather nu
merous class of reformers who delight in
painting their neighbors black in order
that their own assumed virtues may
shine brighter by contrast.
But if such law as this is good for
one section why is it not good for an
other? Even Mr.. Reed does not dis
tinctly claim that it is good thing for
the South. He rather apologies for its
mischievous nature by saying that 'if
Mississippi be in danger ofignorant domi-
nation, the United States is not! Buff
| ignorant domination is a good thing for
Mississippi, why is it not good thing
for the United States? If good for the
South, why not for the North? If good
for Georgia, why not for Ohio? More
over, if the partisan Republican election
boards which this bill provides for are
good for Democratic States, why are not
partisan Democratic boards good for Re-
publican States?
The Force Bill, so it happens, itself
answers this question. 1t provides that
the supervisors who are to count in, or
count out. the Representatives in Con-
gress shall be appointed by the judges
of the United States District Court. The
| judge for the Sixth Judicial District is
| Howell E. jackson, of Tennessee, who
is a Democrat and an ex-Confederate
| soldier. His district comprises Tennes-
see, kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. In
case this bayonet bill becomes law,
our prohibitionist friends will proba-
| bly, demand thesapplication of the bayo-
net policy in Ohio and Michigan. as
we'll as in Tennessee and Kentucky.
| In that event the board of super
visors for Ohio will be appointed by
Judge jackson of Tennessee, Demo
crat and an eX-Confc lcratc, and we shall
| see how much better it is to have our
| Congressman chosen for us by partisan
| Democratic boards than it is to choose
! them ourselves.
Now l wish to say, if there are any
| Democrats here-and probably there
are 4 few, for they sometimes break in to
! Republican meetings-if you Democrats
! protest against any such an arrangement
/ as this ycu must either be very mag
unanimous rartisans, Or very foolish in
q partisan sense.
Of course all of US who oppose this
bill no matter what party we have ad-
| hered to- or acted with, will be excom-
municated by the prohibitory tariff or
gans. Any one who does not meekly
put his political conscience in the keep
| ing of the caucus. fawn upon the reign
| ing party boss whoever he happens to
be, and believe in a duty of five hun
dred per cent. on every thing he eats,
drinks, wears or breathes is not an ortho-
doX Republican any more. But it so
happens that fifteen years ago, when the
reasons for it were far more plausible
than they are now, an attempt was made
to enact bayonet law very much the
same in principle as the one now pro-
posed. That attempt was re-
sisted and defeated by such
Republicans as Ellis H. Roberts,
Eugene Hale, William Walter Phelps,
Joseph R. Hawley, Henry L.. Dawes,
James A. Garfield and James G. Blaine.
Now, if it vas good Republicanism to
oppose the Force Bill of 1875, why is it
not good Republicanism to oppose that
of 1890? If force was not good policy
then, why is it good policy now?
The political conditions in the South
of which complaint is made, arise, as
every one knows, from social conditions
which do not exist in the North. These
conditions no force can change and no
law remedy. The attempt to regulate
them by legislation will prove even
more disastrous than the attempt to
cripple, restrain and abolish by statute
the natural laws of trade. Preach it
forever, but you can no more make men
virtuous and intelligent by act of Con-
gress than you can make a nation rich
|
year, or in twenty-five years, the bestial-
ity and degradation produced by century
of servitude. To accomplish this must
be the work of time and of moral rather
than of political influence. To very
great extent it must be the work of the
enfranchised people themselves. They
must work out their own salvation, and
must do it mainly, not by the agency of
legislation or the bayonet, but by their
self-improvement and self-help. Such
is the true American principles; fair
field and no favors. Real American
manhood, black or white, will always be
able to take care of itself. 1t is no baby.
1t is no mendicant. 1t is no leech, or
monopolist. 1t commands respect, not by
physical prowess or military force, but
by the forces of character and virtue
those resistless moral forces which have
defied wrong and subdued tyranny in
every cline and age. Let the colored
voters of the South assert and prove their