The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-05
- - = : TS TT AN EASY JOBp
The Milwaukee Free Press goes at il in this style:

The Milwaukee Free Press goes at it in this style:
 Ii has been said that there Will be agitation for cutting down the represeh- tation of the Southern States Tn the House of Representatives because ol lhe disfranchisement of voters in those States. This is by no means a new movement. The crusade was started dur- inr the last Congress, but was cnoKeu of by Republicans of influence It would not seem to be difficult thing for ad- vocates of this reduction to Work up d powerful sentiment in favor of 1t. It IS lawful and 1t is fair, and It IS rlght' The fourteenth amendment IS as piaih OH this matter as any provision or the con stitution. It makes it a duty of Con press to reduce the representation or all States which restrict the right of suf- frage.
 That is a brave start, and one reading it might think The Free Press considered itself cocksure of its ground, but that 1 would be mistake, for it isn't. In fact it goes on to cast quite a number of stumbling blocks in it's own path some of them being thus set out in the same editorial:
 It will be difficult to show that the vote really cast is all that might have been cast in any election. There may as large a number of qualified stay-at-home votes in Alabama as there are in Mas sachusetts. It is easy to show what the voting negro population of a State really is, and what the Republican vote cast is, butt in order to reduce the representation of State having a negro population, 1t will be necessary to prove that the negro votes which are not cast, are. not be- cause they are prevented either by law or through fear. It will probably be necessary also to show that negro voters who did not present themselves at the poll would have been refused even if they had.
 We apprehend that those who under take the work of pre- eparing a law which will cut down representation from Ala bama will have job which will give them something to think about and | worry over for a good part of their | natural lives. Ther, are really but two | propositions for the advocates of such a | law to consider, and they must answer both of them positively before they can | score q point. They must be able to show how many negroes were prevented from voting, and they must show tha
 they were prevented because they wer, negroes. The census shows how man! voters there are in Alabama and the cleo tion returns show how many of then | voted. Nobody knows. or can know, how | many of those who voted were colored nor can any one know how many white: | refraincd frop. voting. If The Free Press l thinks the proposition is such an easy one let it set about ascertaining how many negroes in Alabama were proven ed | from voting, and then let it prove that | because they were negroes, and for nc other reason, they were not allowed tc vote.
 , Let The Free Press take it's own State and try it's hand. The last census show. voting population of 570. 7l5. and at tht late Predsential election the return. show total vote of 42,S94, leaving 127, ,S2 who failed to vote. Can The Free Pres
 tell us why all these men failed to vote
 Then take the State of Massachusetts, t
 which our contemporary alludes. It ha
 a young population or 43,4bo, but in l9O
 only 4l4.2O6 are returned as having vote,
 Jess than one-half. What restrictions
 if any. are put on the citizens of Massa
 chusetts which would prevent more tha,
 half of them from voting? If the voter in either of those States are not allowe
 to vote, should the representation iron
 them be cut down? If not, why not
 Will The Free Press answer?
 The truth of the matter Is, We look O
 all these threats as malicious efforts t
 keep up sectional strife for partisan pur
 poses. So far as Alabama is concerne all her members of Congress were electe
 under the old Constitution and laws an ] cannot be affected on account of any res
 or supposed peculiarities of the new ir
 strument or of the laws which may h
 made under 1t. nor do We have any fea
 that those who are elected hereafter wi
 be in any danger of losing their seats o any such pretcnce as that set forth h } The Free Press. and which it pretend : to think affords good grounds for cut ting down our representations There al
 some members of Congress who will tr