The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1891-06-13
PURITY OF THE BALLOT.
Address of Hon. John Goodnow, Pres
ldent of State Republican League
At the Banquet Given in Minneapolis May
27th, in Honor of the Delegates in At
tendance at the Late Afro-Ameri-
can state League Convention.

1--WE reatfim our belief in and devotion
to the supreme and sovereign right of
every lawful citizen, rich or p ,or, native
or foreign born, white or black, to cast
one free ballot in public elections and
have that ballot duly counted" Denial
OF that right should result in decreased
representation in Congress and in the
Electoral College. 1t is particularly ap-
propriate to discuss free ballot at this
gathering for the most fragrant usur pa
ton in this country if the supreme right
of free man is perpetrated on people
of free blood. 1t is asserted and been
earnestly denied that in the Southern
States manhood suffrage is sham and
that'Colored people in many parts ofthe
South are counted for the purpose of in
creasing the representation and influence
of those states, but are not allowed to
aid in choosing that representation and
welding that infue1 ce. The statement
1 m de first has been and should be re-
iterated as often as party platform is
written. But of late years it has been
the fashion to decry the wrong of the
"bloody shirt" as they call any reference
to this gigantic wrong. There has grown
up mawkish sentimental ism in politics
which cries, Let them alone, they are
good fellows and we would probably do
as they are doing if we were in their
places. - Then the men who are anx-
ious to lead .the public to follow after
their se]f-seeking schemes urge that the
South is divided on different lines by
the now economic questions of the day
and that the tgreat white race" as Mr..
Donnelly calls 1t, will work out the SAL
walton of the South if only let alone.
Mr.: Donnelly in his recent Cincinnati
speech likens the public to bull in the
arena. He says, "The public urged to
fury by the irritating goadings of the
money power and monopolies has been
diverted from destroying them by the
waving of the "bloody shirt" in it's face
by certain agile young gentlemen of the
Republican party. Now l do not pre-
tend to cay that your people are debar-
red from voting in Mississippi because
they are Republicans, because I do not
know that they would all vote the Re-
publican ticket if they should be allow
ed to vote! But this I do say and defy
contradiction. There is persistent dis
proportion between the population and
the vote cast in Georgia, Louisiana, Mis-
sissippi and South Carolina and this pro-
portion is greatest in those COMPRESSION
ri districts where the Colored popula-
ton is greatest. Some people in those
districts habitually do not vote or If they
vote their votes never show on the tally
sheets. You gentlemen would laugh at
anyone who would tell you that Mr..
Donnelly's .'great dominant white race"
stay away from the polls. You know,
many of you from sad experience, that
1t is the Colored vote which is suppress
sed. Read the figures of any congress
sional election and it is forced upon you
that there il necessity of some stringent
measures to force those people down
there to free their political slaves. Look
at the dozen districts, all in the South
where there is no opposition to the nom
lnee OF the dominant party, at the 9Th
and 9Th district of Georgia which cast in
Nov. 1890, only 1880 and 8, 4O5 votes re.
spectively when this 4th district Of Min.
nesota cast 1886 votes at the same cleo
ton. Look at the Louisiana district
where the Democratic nominee received
II ,318 votes while his opponent endorsed
by the Republicans and labor parties
only received the votes of 48 men whose
stalwart courage we honor. Look at the
4 great black states of Georgia, Missis.
sippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina,
electing 80 congressman with 1878
votes while Minnesota elected 5 with
z35, 635 votes cast. f they are entitled
to 80 we are entitled to %. II we are
only entitled to 5 they should only hay e
Z members on the floor of congress, else
all men are not equal and our system OF
representative government is humbug,
for by this means we are robbed of our
due influence in the afsirs Of state.
How long should we be patient under
this persistent robbery? The time must
come that where there is persistent
proportion between the vote cast and
the population the representation in
Congress and the electoral college shall
be based on the vote cast and not on the
population. In other words the State
Of Mississippi 30 long as she only casts
81, 600 votes should not have congress-
men but should be put on q par with the
districts which elect congressman with
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