Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-11-07
SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION.
Republican Leaders Not Especially Anxious to
Reduce Il.


Republican Leaders Not Especially Anxious to
Reduce II.
The publication Of the census figures
for the whole country, says the Wash
ington correspondent of The News and
Courier, has revived the agitation Of
the reduction Of the representation
from the Southern States in the same
have suppressed the vote Of the Negro.
A few leaders Of the Republican party
are engaged in this agitation; but the
more prominent ones are not giving 1t
much encouragement, the agitators be-
ing blessed with greater lung power
than those who are saying nothing,
pretend to believe that the question Of
approtionment will be taken up and
settled at the coming short session Of
congress, and that the proposed reduc-
ton will be made so that in the 5Sth
congress the Southern States will have
comparatively few representatives.
Rot is the proper word to describe the
quality of this talk The present
administration, even II Mckinley Is re-
elected, will have little or no interest
In politics hereafter, and will have
neither anything to gain nor to lose by
busying itself on the subject Of repre-
sentation from any state. When Nc
Kinley retires from the presidency,
Hanna will also go out Of public life.
The successors Of the present mana
gers of the Republican party have not
yet appeared in the public eye al
though the younger set like Perry 8.
Heath, Henry c. Payne, Of Wisconsin;
Charles Grant Dawes, of Illinois; and
Charles Dick, Of Ohio, has an idea that
1t will succeed to the control now exer-
cised by the junior senator from Ohio.
For that reason there is no force be-
hind the agitation. II there were any
thing to be gained by making an effort
to reduce the representation the effort
to be made this winter might be worth
watching.
REPUBLICANS NOT UNANIMOUS.
While it is supposed that all Repub-
licans are interested in cutting down
the political power Of the Democratic
South, such Is not the case. If the rep
|resentation were cut as much as Crum-
packer. of Indiana, proposes. the Re-
publican majority in the house Of rep
relatives would be unwieldy most of
the time. A large majority Is more Of
thorn in the side Of the party leader
than one consisting Of about dozen
members. When the majority Is large
the demand for honors at the hands Of
the leader Of the house Is much greater
than ordinarily. The leaders OF con-
gress cannot comply with all the re-
quests for chairmanships, etc., and the
result is an opposition within the rul-
ing power becomes as fully organized as
the opposition represented by the De-
mocracy. That was the experience of
the Republican leaders in the 54th con-
gress, elected In 1894, and also the one
elected two years later. For their own
selfish purposes they prefer a prepon-
derance equal to the one In the 56th
congress.
TROUBLESOME NEGRO LEADERS.
For that reason, it may be said with
out fear of more than perfunctory con-
tradiction, that the real leaders OF the
Republican party have no sympathy for
the howl that Is raised in behalf Of the
illiterate blacks Of the South, who by
reason of that illiteracy and general
unfitness to bear the burdens Of citi-
zenship, are debarred from the exercise
of a franchise. The Southern Negroes
make more trouble for the Republican
leaders than all the rest Of the party
combined. There Is never a national
convention but what there Is a horde
of them clamoring at the doors OF the
leaders rooms demanding pay for
their votes, in addition to the payment
Of their hotel bills. II this were all
there might be some sympathy for the
colored brother who is bowling most
about the denial Of political rights. but
It is not. It is notorious that most OF
the Southern State Republicans are un-
able to agree upon delegations to the
national conventions, and for a week
before the convention the national
committee Is compelled to hold daily
sessions from IL to Is hours long, en-
deavoring to settle the so-called dis
putes of the colored brother, which dis
putes are raised solely for the purpose
of abstracting money from the pockets
of the various candidates. There is not
q man who ever served on the national
committee but who knows that the
contests concocted by the Southern Ne
eroes are a farce, and, therefore, are
an unmixed evil.
HE Is HERE TO STAY.
II the Republican leaders could get
rid of the whole crowd Of loud-mouth-
ed. dirty rapscallions claiming to rep
resent the Republican sentiment in the
South, without offending the Northern
Negro. It would be done in the twink
ling of an eye. Nearly every leader OF
national experience in private CONVEX
satIon admits that the Southern Negro
politician Is the worst nuisance who
has ever found his way into public lie,
and his disappearance would afford no
regret whatsoever, but on the other
hand only the greatest relief.
These leaders, for policy's sake, are
compelled to make believe that they
sympathize with the Southern nuisan-
ces. and that If they had the power
they would cut down the representa-
ton; but it is only a very shallow pre-
tence. Any Southern white man who
has ever been in Washington for six
months at a time, and has had any op-
portunity whatsoever Of becoming ac-
ouainted with Republican leaders,
knows that to be fact. He also must
be aware of the fact that the Northern
white man, when he comes to WASH
tngton, discovers that while the colored