Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-11-30
A FALLAcY EXPLODED.


do not pretend to know. He may be
Boer or a brewer, a woman or a mug
wump. or merely n person who lives
OH his income. writes letters to the
newspapers for the sake of an occu-
patton. At any rate he gets long let
ter printed in the New York Sun,
which is just now of the opinion that
the South ought not to be allowed to
have Congressman, advocating n re-
duction of Southern representation in
the Federal Congress. Mr.. Won Ant
werp is negligible quantity. but he
presents n list of sophistry which Is
worth momentary test by the stand
ard of facts and common sense. He
says of the present representation of
Southern States:
Second it works a greater Injustice
to the other States of the Union In
stead of permitting only three votes
cast in those Southern States to equal
five cast in the free States, as formerly.
it now makes one vote in those dis
rranchising States weigh as much as
five and even ten votes in other States
For proof of this statement any one
has but to compare the votes cast in
Louisiana. Mississippi and the Caro-
linas with those in any Northern State
having the same representation in Con-
Sress. 1t shows that there are single
Congress districts in the Northern
states that cast more votes for Presi-
Dental Electors and members of Con-
Sress than the total of any one of the
States which have suppressed the votes
of colored citizens. Compare the dis
tricts of Minnesota with Mississippi,
of West Virginia with North Carolina"
Antwerp stripe. and newspapers of the
New York Sun kidney, are indirectly
responsible for the relatively small
vote cast for Congressman and Presi-
Dental Electors in the South. By their
vagaries and TRADES they help to keep
the South solid: and because it is solid
it casts n small vote. 1t is not at all
that the Southern Congressman does
not represent practicable as many vot-
crs as his Northern colleague; it is
merely that men who are entitled to
vote do not vote because they know
their party is in such an overwhelming
majority that their votes will not be
needed. On the other hand, men of the
opposite party know that they are in
such hopeless minority that they arc
bound TO be defeated, and so stay
away from the polls. This is the fact
and the common sense of the matter.
That this is the real explanation of
the small vote cast in the South is
easily proved by the actual Congress
ional returns. Let US take, for exam
pie. North Carolina, which is n Demo-
cratic State named by the Sun CORE
spondent, and Iowa, a Republican
State, for the sake of comparison. The
following was the total vote for Con-
gressmen in the first nine districts of
Iowa in 1898. in round numbers: $4,000,
$4,000, $4,000, $4,000. $1,000. $1,000. 1000.
10000. $4,000. The following was the
vote of the nine districts of North Car
DINA In order: $4,000. So, 600, 80. 1000, SS,-
600. $4,000, 10000. 80 600, 3S, 600, IS, 900. For
nine Congressman Iowa. a Republican
State. cast $4,000 votes. North Caro-
lima. Democratic State, cast 329, 900 for
her nine congressman. Yet. North
Carolina is one Of the States whose
representation these rabid sectionaists
would reduce, because her Congress-
men represent so few voters! In rock
ribbed Philadelphia. Republicans are
sent to Congress to represent less than
10000 voters, while not single district
in Virginia cast so small vote at the
recent election.
In short. North or South, wherever
either party has a certain majority. a
small vote is sure to be cast. AS the
whole South, having few Congress-
ional districts is always Democratic.
it's relative vote for Congressman is
nearlys always small. but not smaller
than in the solidly Republican sections
of the North. The proposition is,
therefore, TO reduce Southern repre-
sentation, not because the voters are
not here. but because they don't vote.
If the actual vote could be made the
basis of reapportionment Republican
states like Iowa and PENNSYLVANIA
would lose more representatives than
Democratic States like Virginia and
North Carolina. The error of the Sun
correspondent, and his kind, is in COM
pairing close States in the North with
III al; CO.