The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1906-01-12
Is Now a Dead Issue.

- ANOW ~ DCdo bSSoCs
stan Correspondent of the New Orleans Times
Democrat.
Washington, Jan. 5.-Nothing is
more striking To a Southern man in
the Fifty-ninth Congress than the
lack of enthusiasm on the Republi-
can side of the House when the
subject of reduction of Southern re-
presentation il introduced. There
are several bills which may said to
be pending in the House, simply
because they have been introduced,
and for no other reason, that have
for their object the arranging Of
Southern representation on the ba
sis Of votes cast instead Of total pop
ulation, but il is only when some
Soutern correspondent pokes sticks
III the cage by asking prominent
Republicans in the popular branch
of Congress their views on the
chances such measures have of pass
ing that they are even thought OF.
Time was when this question was a
perennial topic for debate, Just a.
trusts, railroad monopolies and in
surance outrages are the subject OF
fiery oratory to-day, whenever a
Congressman wants to talk to his
constituents through the medium of
the press and the Congressional
Record, but all that l. past and
gone and the reduction Of South
ern representation is dead issue.
Now and then "A Republican, par
ticularly if he represents hide
bound Grand Army district, or halls
from a section of the land where the
negro vote j. of Importance, will
wax serious on this subject. He
will show that the Southern Repub
licans have more votes III the Re
publican national conventions than
they are really entitled To. Then
he will branch off on the disfran-
chisement of the negro and talk
about the autocratIc control OF
the Democrats in the South, and
all the weary rest Of it. But even
these haranges, which are ever pitch
ed in a highly moral key, rarely
ring true, and the most superficial
investigation serves To show Interior
motives on the part of the speaker,
or else discloses the fact that lac has
been Outgrown by the march of
events.
Representative j Warren Keller
of Ohio once Republican Speaker of
the House, FASTENED To introduce Il
bill of the sort under discussion a.
soon a. he come back to the House
this session. lie got off string Of
words, such a. were used with great
effect by the Republicans during
the reconstruction days, but nobody
paid any attention to him, and the
probabilities are that even hc Will
not have the tcnerity to bring up
the subject again. At present his
bill l. resting in a committee pigeon
hole with no immediate prospects
of being reported.
Until recent years Representative
Crumpacker Of Indiana, in whose
district the negroes hold the balance
of power, and Representative Ohm
stead of Pennsylvania were always
stirring up this subject. Hardly
session passed without speech or
two from each of them calling on
their Republican associates to pass
reduction bill. Sometimes others
would join them, but when the
leaders fell into line ii was "A sign
they wanted To frighten the Demo
Gratis away from some issue by hold
ing the reduction bill over their
heads. This little ruse was nearly
always successful, by the way.
The Republican leaders in the
Senate and House were never really
in sympathy with the idea, although
the late Senator Hoar of Massachu-
sets fathered bill in the Senate az
regularly a Crumpacker and Ohm