New-York tribune., 1904-10-24
VOTES UNEQUAL WORTH.
MORE VALUE IN SOUTH.
one Ballot in WiIiams's District
Equals "a IN S. e. Payne's.
fFRoM THE rRIBuNE BrREAU.l

wsshingtoa, Oct. 23.-In the Presidential cleo
"A, Of 1900 eleven Southern States. the back
- oe 'rthe Solid South,' elected ll2 members
!, the Electoral College with 1.SS0.115 votes.
,sev-York State. with 1.547.9l2 votes elected
!. ,rlv Sc members OF the Electoral College With
$4,000 fewer voters. New-HOrk was represented
|, the choice OF President by &c fewer electors.
Pat II q little differently. Had New-Yorkers
- the same representation as the Southern
eases-that is one elector Cor each l6 7S6 voters
-tt would have been able to elect % members OF
fbe Electoral College, instead of SO. Again had
,he South had votes in the Electoral College in
she same proportion 10 the total number OF voters
4 81 did New-Yorl. her total representation would
4 have consisted Of 43 electors instead OF 112 To
mt Il bluntly Il required the ballots of practi-
rsIiy 5000 NeW-YoTk Republicans TO offset the
votes of l6.5 200 Southern Democrats or the votes
q 2ls NeW-YOrkers 70 equal the vote OF one
southerner.
Nor is there any reason for believing that this
reneral dispnOportiOn In representation will be
q any way decreased IN the present election. In
fact, the recently adopted constitution IN Vir-
efnia and the new election laws in Maryland,
beth intended 10 further disfranchise the
negroes end other recent laws enacted with the
rame intent, VIII probably increase the disprO-
portion. The figures here given are for the
Louisiana, Mississippi. North and South Caro-
Ina, Tennessee. Texas and Virginia.
IN the Congress election OF 1902 the value OF
q vote cast in New York. as compared with
vote cast in the States named. was even less.
Thar year the Southern States above named,
practically the Solid South. elected 9s members
Of the House Of Representatives with a total
ballot Of ]. .l66996. whereas New-York. with a
total ballot Of 1346526-179,525 more votes
elected only SO members Of the House. In a
single instance-the Congress district repre-
sented by serene E. Payne-there We're cast 4O-
sl3 votes. while the district which elected John
Sharp Williams the Democratic leader. cast
total OF 1433 ballots.
OF course, the reason for this wide discrepancy
il 70 be found in the disfranchisement of the
negro whose head is counted in the census and
made the basis Of representation. but whose bal
lot is rejected at the polls In the Williams dis
irct Of Mississippi for instance, there Is white
population Of 1863 and a coored population OF
ls2l74, so that the ballot of the white man In
the Williams district is tWenty-eight times as
effective as the vote OF the man in the Payne
district.
New-Jerseys vote for members Of Congress In
the last election was 327. .762 for the ten members
Of the House. Georgia, with eleven members OF
the House. elected them by q total vote OF 4O.-
632- Mississippi and Louisiana IN the last cleo
ton poled combined vote Of 44,279, less than
the vote Of the single Indiana district which sent
4 Judge Crumpscker 20 the House. That district
poaed total vote OF 40 i5S
When II IS reflected that, irrespective OF the
voting population Of his district. one Repre-
esAlAifes vote has the same weight another;
@ -. sn q close poll Of the House the single Rep
reseniative Of 400 voters may decide the fate
ot a tarlh bill or free silver bill the menace 10
tsepunilcan government entailed by such in
eqna-ity may well be appreciated