The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-16
THE RUDDER OF THE ROCK.
The Republican party In national con-
vention assembled ct Minneapolis said:

States be allowed 20 east one free and usrc-
strlctsd ballot II al p-oaic elections; that sueh
ballot shsl - counted and returned Is cast;
that scch laws sail he enacted and enforced as
will secure 30 eve-y eisize1, Be be rich or poor,
native o. foregga-So.a, white or black. this SOW
ereign rigns Ezxsxasee1 By the constitution
The free AID sn7ess poY=is, ballot, the Just an
equal repFss<ztx.1s- % al people, as vel 81
their jas; azz s-zsl protection under the laws,
arc fhe foEa5.tsC7 9. or republican inst!tu-
tons. and TIE p4-sy v.l iseyer relax is efforts
until the integrity Q: t1e ballot and he purity
OF election. shall De fully guaranteed and pro-
tected in every state
We denouacc tie continued irhuGiAa ont
RACES rerpef-stei upon American citizens Tor
political reasons Il certain Southern states OF
the Union
These planks of the Republican plat
form reiterate the determination Of the
Republican party TO demand fair vote
and honest count ST every balIot-box IN
the country. and to protest increasingly in
the name of the outraged rights Of human
nature against the organized barbarity OF
the South, where the political banditti OF
the Democratic party steal the suf-
frage of the opposition by suppressiEg it
with the shotgun or steal it after il is cast
by refusing to count it. The Southern
Democracy. when they do not dismantie
the ballot-box by violence, detile il by
fraud and the Republican party will con-
tinue to hold up these monstrous crimes
committed by the Democratic party on the
suffrage in the South until this great
wrong is righted.
There is no question as to the fact that
the South either stamps ont free suffrage
by systematic violence or steals 1t by
systematic fraud. The South does not
deny It, Henry Watterson, of the Louis
vile Courier-Journaf, admits it; the At
lanta Constitution not only admits it but
defends it. The Constitution says:
No matter what may be said from the stand
point Of sentiment or theory, the Southern
whites, warned by the history of other lands
where two races struggled.for the ascendency,
know that their self-preservation depends upon
permanent white rule.
This is a distinct race issue; an issue
that would nullify the Declaration of In
dependence and the fourteenth amend
ment. OF course the South is
not afraid of negro supremacy;
the real reason why the South
suppresses free suffrage by violence or
steals it by fraud is because it can vote On
the stock it has stolen. 1t counts the
negro in the census: it accepts representa-
ton for the negro in congress and then
steals his seat, sits in it and votes in ii
after it is stolen. It thus swells the repre-
sentation of the Democratic party in both
congress and the electoral college, and
makes federal legislation and elects
president because by its successful nulli-
fcation OF the war amendments TO the
constitution ii is able TO steal its way into
power by voting on its stolen stock both
in congress and the electoral college.
There is no race issue about il. The
dread of negro supremacy is only pre-
tense. Under the old ante-war constitu-
ton the Southern Democracy were allowed
representation for their negroes, i've
negroes counting as three white men.
Today when Suffrage is nominally equal
and five negroes count as much in repre-
sentation as five white men the South is
relatively stronger than ever: they get
credit for all their negroes in the appor-
tionment of representatives according TO
population. and then by suppressing or
stealing the colored suffrage by violence or
fraud the Southern Democracy SEXES all
the seats in congress: all the votes in the
electoral college from that section. and
with the aid Of few Democratic states Of
the North assumes to make laws for the
North, whose white public opinion they
have nullifed, whose white voters they
have practically disfranchisei by stolen
representation.
The Democratic scheme for making the
South solid IS about as instinct with
morality rs the graveyard insurance
scheme; about as upright rs stealing a
soldiers discharge and pension papers,
drawing his pension and spending the
proceeds by highway robber and fraudu-
lent claimant. OF course this graveyard
insurance and pension fraud " politics
seems very funny and delightful, TO the
South today, but behind every vast public
wrong follows retrjhution with treleSs
feet: not always swift, but inevitably sure
at last 10 absolve with its Ak the offender
Public opinion that finally destroyed
slavery slowly. but surely. gathered head;
public opinion is slowly. but surely,
gathering head against the perpetuation
OF graveyard insurance and pension
fraud" politics az the South, and some day,
not today, but some other day, the South
will he again brought face TO face with the
alternative whether she viii he ruled by
the rudder Of law, order and obedience 10
law, or be ruled by the rock OF relribation
that ultimately wrecks individuals or ma
lions that defy law, encourage lawlessness
aud seek TO subyeTs eternal right with
transient might.
The South has had that chance offered
her once before; she elected to be ruled by
the rock and the result was war. pov-
erty, misery, mourning. with nothing to
show for il today but the miserable
ghost of a Lost Cause" periodically wall
ing and hooting. ike melancholy owl.
over its last ditch. Whether the South is
ever again confronted with this dread
choice between the rule of the rudder Of
Justice or the rock of retrihution depends
entirely on the South; il may come soon
or late, but come il will surely as it did IN
the case of slavery, because in the long
run, in the last analysis, God Is not
Knocked with impunity."
The confidence the Republican party
feels in the justice OF its cause and its
moral faith recalls Wendell Phillips say
,re 1872 To sneeriu- p-o-slayery Boston :.