New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-09-03
lily TILE HOERRONS RICE.

Democratic Senators and Congressman have
We'd with one another in hunting for i'm
predatory adjcctivcs and substantiycs to hurl
at the Federal Election bill. so. too. have
Democratic editors and stuJnp-speakci~. Be-
tween them they have nearly exhausted the
vocabulary of dcnunCiation upon the measure ;
and yet q piece Of legislation more truly
patriotic was never introduced. 1t provides
for nothing more hcinOus than an honest count
of honest votes and elections FREQ from in
tmdution Of any sort. In other words. il aims
TO surround with safeguards experience
has shown to l-e ncccssary-that very founda-
ton Of our republican system OF government.
tho right Of suffragc Why, then, does the
Democratic party AZ one man assail 1t so
fcrocio,lsly? The explanation is "a simple on" ::
|. The Dcmocracys maAIl reliance is the
Solid South.
. The South is kept solidly Democratic be-
cause the black citizens Of that section. most of
| whom arc Republicans. either are not allowed
tc cast their votes or if they are their votes are
rendered nugatory by false counting and bal
lOt-bOx stufiing.
3. The pending Federal Election bill il it
became law would enable these cOlOrcd men
to vote without fear or trembling. and It would
secure fair count of all the ballots which they
| cast.
4. Hence the Democratic leaders rightly re-
| gard the bill as inimical to their party.
That this is the correct explanation OF the
| Democratic attitude toward this benefcent
measure becomes evident in view of two sig
nifcant considerations. In the first place. the
most intelligent and candid members Of the
| Democratic party concedc that elections at the
South arc conducted in brazcn disregard Of the
| right Of the cnlnred men to vote. Well known
Southern statesmen and politicians and promi-
ncnt Southern journals have admitted over and
over again that the niger" either was fright
ened away from the ballotbox or swindled
after he got there. Treating the negroes in
this way they call "a political necessity" the
necessity being as they look at it that " q white
mans government is tO be maintained at all
hazards. They do not believe in government
of the people but merely in government
of white Bourbons. In the second place, al.
though the Democrats thus openly confess
that elections at the South are farce, they
show their contempt for a pure ballot box by
refusing 10 bring forward at Washington any
measure looking to the eradication Of the evil
They make desperate fight against the Lodge
BILL but present no alternative bill t. take its
place. Such Of them as are prominent in Mis-
sissippi politics. with the implied assent Of oil
the others, are now endeavoring so to draft a
new constitution for that State that the white
minority can prevent the black majority from,
having any voice in the management Of public
affairs. SO it will not do for the enemies of the
Lodge bill t. protest that their opposition does
not mean mat they are aversc to fair elections
Their denial is rendered useless by the con
sidc,ations above given. They are iconoclasts
pure and simple. They ycan to secure the
defeat OF the Lodge bill. nhd that is ALL But
II they had any genuine regard for the right of
suffrage, would they spend all their energies
antaganizing that measure? Would they not
take sOme affirmative action? Would they not
press an alternative bill? Would they not de-
n,and fair play for the black voter at the hands
OF the Mississippi Constitutional Convention
| Possibly the Democracy imagines that its ut.
! ttude toward the Lodge bill deceiyes the