The news & observer., 1904-11-16
THE BLOODY SHIRT
Republican Leaders De-
termined to Punish
the South.
They Have Resolved to Reduce South
ern Representation or TO Restore
the Ballot 10 Every Negro in
the South.
washington Star.)


Der Of Republican leaders in Congress
that an effort will be made at the
next long session to reduce the repre-
scntation of States in the House of
Representatives in proportion to the
extent to which the suffrage is denied
their citizens. Massachusetts and
Mississippi swoud receive relatively
equal treatment in the reduction. If
an extraordinary session Of the Fifty
ninth Congress should be assembled
the subject would probably be taken
up then.
The conviction has been growing
in recent years, stimulated by num-
Der Of close Congressional fights, prlor
to the landslide. that the situation is
intolerable. with respect TO the over
representation of the Southern States
in the House The Northern Rcpub-
licans have been demanding that one
or two things shall be done-and they
don't very much care which is adopt
ed namely, that the negro vote
in the South be counted or when eX-
cluded the representation in Congress
shall conform to the actual vote cast.
The Fight Postponed
For the past four Congresses the
subject has been discussed in earnest.
The leaven set to work by a little
coterie of Republicans has been do
ing its work. and in the last session
/ resulted in a formal caucus of Re-
publicans of the House. 1t was then
| determined to be inadvisable to take
| up the fight. Congress wanted to
get away and go to work on the cam
paign It was recognized that long
and bitter fight would have to be
made to get the desired legislation,
and men in neither body were ready
| to undertake it,
! During the campaign there was
great deal of discussion of the sub
iect among Republicans in their pri-
/ yate councils. When the CongreSsion-
| al campaign committee started in to
| figure out the prospect, the first
| thing they ran up against was that
! wall of 1875 representatives in the
House from the solid South. There
was no similar situation in the North.
There they stood. a nucleus of 126,
| around which to gather & possible
! Democratic House. Chairman Cow
! herd of the opposing committee knew
it. and it comfofted him exceedingly
until he went to New York and tried
to make the Belmont -Sheehan-M Nc
Carren outfit disgorge some campaign
/ funds. and they reminded him that
| he had 126 members sure and ought
TO be able to pick up the rest.
! The Republican National commit
| tee took cOgnizance of the evil of over
representation and one of the few
campaign documents issued by the
committee was an exposition of the
| extent and scope of the deprivation of
actual suffrage and the false rcpresen-
! tation in Congress. Many speeches
made in the campaign took that is
sue as their text.
Speaker Cannon's Arguments.
a great deal of the press matter
furnished by the National and Con-
gressional committees bore upon the
subject Speaker Cannon, in his cam
paign in New England paid n great
deal of attention to it ana addrCSScd d
his remarks mainly TO New England
Democrats, pointing out how they did
themselves and the interests of their
section an injustice by helping to
swell the Democratic representation
in Congress that was based upon cr-
roneous election statistics.
In New England he showed the
voters how a single Congressional dis
trict up North would cast a greater
vote than the vote of eight or nine
representatives. from d Southern State
and how the industrial output Of that
| district would exceed the output Of a
state in the South, the idea being
to contrast the relative political pow
eF OF the sections ana the relative
Importance of >induStricS
In the Middle West the same Icaven
has been working. 1T is all for the
purpose of awakening the voters to
the evils that the leaders see. 1t was
determined that education was ncccs-
SaTy. Some of the leaders in the eau
Gus last session pointed out that an
awful stir would be made in the mid
die States and even in the East. They
said the American people were II kind
ly and generous folk, good naturcd
and not inclined to bear down upon
their neighborS. A force bill" Us
such a measure would instantly be
dubbed by the Southerners, would
sound harShly in the ears of people
of the central sections.
Attitude OF the South.
But these same leaders resolved
that it was time to do something. They
pictured the South as sitting by its
plantation fireside, gazing into the
dying emberS of the past while Smok-
ing the corn-cob pipe of retrospecton
and We're determined that the march
of progress of the East and North
should not be arrested by the Bour-
bon spirit Every time. an economic
measure came up in Congress there
were those l26 inflated votes, solidly