The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1890-03-12
Republicans Hostility 10 Major
lilies.

tives from the State OF Ohio; the
Democrats have a disproportionate
number of representatives from the
State of Indiana. The Republicans
again have more representatives
from Massachusetts than their pro-
portion of the population entities
them to. and the Democrats have
from some of the Southern States
more representatives than they
would have If the Congressional del
egations were divided prccisely rs
the voters are divided.
These are Emergencies from ab-
solute justice, but they simply show
that each party intrenches itself III
power as firmly as it can. They
are strictly in accord with that fun
damental principle of Republican
government that majorities rule.
The Democratic States have strong
Democratic delegations in Congress
and Republican States have strong
Republican delegations in Congress.
Nor does any injustice result from
this to the people, for the local af-
fairs of the State are, or should be,
administered by a Legislature con-
sisting of more members than the
Congressional delegation, and Sc
lccted from smaller constituencies;
and, therefore, rejecting the politi-
cal divisions of the people much
more accurately than the Congress-
iohai delegation, just as the Con-
gressional delegation reflects the po-
litical division of the people more
accurately than the two Senators
do
The Congressional delegations,
are, or should be, concerned only
with national affairs, and in this
enlarged arena Republican pre-
ponderance in the Ohio delegation
and Il Democratic preponderance
in the Indiana delegation simply
offset each other; the two delega-
tions represent tolerably faithfully
the political divisions of the people
of the two States.
But now comes Representatives
Wickham and McComas, each OF
whom is afraid of being retired to
private life unless the will of the
majority in his own State be defeatd
by the nation at large, and George
Frisbie Hoar, who processes more
political virtue and is capable of
more political vice than any of his
colleagues, and these three men
propose that Congress, which is
Republican by very narrow ma
jority, by the means of a gross and
preposterous gerrymander in Ohio,
and in defiance of the will of a ma
jority of the people as expressed in
the popular vote at the last election,
shall take control of the districting
of the State of Maryland and Ohio,
and any other States, if it be in the
interest of the Republican party.
The seizure of the government
by armed violence would not be n
greater outrage upon popular gov
ernment, because it denies to the
people of Ohio and Indiana and
Maryland and Massachusetts the
right to manage their own affairs,
and confers this right upon the
other States. The partisanship,
which, limited by State boundaries,
offsets itself, is capable of silencing
the majority and vesting power
permanently in the minority, when
it is put in possession OF the Gener-
al Government. Republican par
tisanship in one State and Demo.
cratic partisanshp in another will
no longer cancel, for the Republi-
cans in Congress will control every
State and fetter the Democrats,
while leaving the Republicans free
te do their worst.
Ii Congress can fix the boundaries
of Congressional districts the pres
ent Congress, being Republican, can
fix things so that barring tidal
waves and millenniums the party
cannot be dislodged for the next 25
years They can fix things so that
it would take three fourths of the
people TO turn them out.
The Republican party doesn't
Want the majority to rule. There
is nothing the Republicans dread
so much as majority, for it is al
ways minority party But one
man with gun is more than a
match for two unarmed men, and
the Republican party holds on to
power on the same principle that
two or three desperadoes go through
railroad train, or a dozen real es-