CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



" This is the secret of the Democratic ha- 

 tred of this law. The fact is, the Democratic 

 leaders hc.ve determined upon success at the 

 next Presidential election, and as this law 

 s Lauds in their way they have resolved to get 

 rid of it. They propose to repeat in 1880 the 

 friiids and dishonest trickery of their party in 

 1876, only upon a more extensive scale. They 

 say that in order to carry the State of New 

 York for the democracy the bummers, dead- 

 beats, and plug-uglies of New York City must 

 be allowed to vote half a dozen times apiece 

 instead of only once, as they can do under this 

 law. They say that the white-liners and rifle- 

 club men must be permitted to intimidate Re- 

 publican voters, drive them from the polls, 

 and vote tissue ballots to their hearts' content, 

 or the Southern States will all go Republican. 

 Tlyj repeal of this law will be an act solely 

 in the interest of the Democratic party, and 

 not in the interest of the country. It will 

 simply mean the opening of the flood-gates of 

 iniquity, ballot-box stuffing, intimidation, and 

 fraud in order to make Democratic success 

 certain in 18SO. It will only give the Democ- 

 racy more complete control in those localities 

 where they are in the majority, and thus 

 enable them with impunity to perpetrate such 

 frauds upon the ballot-box as will give them 

 a victory." 



Mr. Davis of North Carolina : " The gentle- 

 man from Maine [Mr. Powers] said the other 

 d ly : 'I for one believe that every citizen 

 should have the right to vote, and have that 

 vote honestly counted.' Now, sir, it seems 

 curious to me that gentlemen in the section 

 from which the gentleman from Maine comes, 

 can not discover the fact that in the little 

 State of Rhode Island there are more white 

 men over the age of twenty-one years who 

 are not only not allowed to have their votes 

 honestly counted, but are not allowed to vote 

 at all, than there are negroes disfranchised by 

 intimidation in the States of Louisiana, Florida, 

 and South Carolina combined, even counting all 

 that are alleged to have been intimidated. In 

 the State of Rhode Island free white citizens 

 are excluded unless possessed " of real estate 

 of the value of $134 over and above all incum- 

 brances, ... or which shall rent for $7 per 

 annum, over and above all rent reserved, or 

 interest of any incumbrance thereon." Yet 

 beam-eyed political saints up there can look 

 over the State of Rhode Island down into the 

 South and find a vast deal to complain of. 

 No man is allowed to vote in the State of 

 Massachusetts unless he can read and write. 

 Apply these tests to the impoverished South, 

 and nine tenths of your Republican brethren 

 would be excluded from the right to vote. 



" Now, sir, in regard to Rhode Island, I 

 have only to say that there are free white men 

 who are not allowed to vote. With two Repre- 

 sentatives on this floor, she only cast 26,627 

 votes at the last Presidential election out of a 

 voting population of more than twice that 



number, and in 1876 there were nearly 6,000 

 more votes cast in my single district than 

 were cast in the whole State of Rhode Island ; 

 that is, less than one half her citizens are al- 

 lowed to vote, and they may possibly have to 

 resort to another Dorr rebellion to secure 

 their rights as freemen. 



" Now, in reply to the gentleman from Ohio. 

 He said the other day : 'Not one man on that 

 side of the House has sought in any way to do 

 anything to purify the ballot-box, but all have 

 favored free fraud in our elections.' Is it 

 possible the gentleman from Ohio meant 

 that ? I trust he did not. It is language that 

 can not be reasonably applied to a single 

 gentleman on this side of the House. It is 

 not true, and if applied to any one on this 

 side would be pronounced false and slander- 

 ous. Why, sir, this is the old cry of 'Wolf! ' 

 ' Stop thief! ' this cry of fraud in elections. 

 Why, sir, in 1876 the Democratic majority of 

 all the votes cast was fully a quarter of a mil- 

 lion over that cast for the Republican candi- 

 date, and counting only the white vote it was 

 nearly or quite one million ; and yet the voice 

 of the people was stifled by fraud, by perju- 

 ries, by forgeries, by the improper use of the 

 power of Federal officials all over the land, 

 and by the improper use of the army. Hav- 

 ing the control of an army of office-holders, 

 with the aid of supervisors and marshals ap- 

 pointed for partisan purposes and paid out of 

 the public funds, by assessments on office- 

 holders, and the improper use of official power, 

 the will of the people was defeated. Sir, this 

 amendment is a protest against fraud and out- 

 rages in elections ; a protest against the im- 

 proper use of Federal patronage and Federal 

 power ; and it is strange that a charge such as 

 that made by the gentleman from Ohio should 

 come from that side of the House. 



" Sir, I may be pardoned for a little feeling 

 when I hear not only my whole party abused, 

 but when I hear statements made in regard to 

 my section and my State which I know to be 

 untrue, and which go all over the land to 

 prejudice and poison the public mind against 

 us. I repeat, the gentleman can not find a 

 man on this side of the House who in any way 

 ' approves of fraud in elections ' or in any- 

 thing else. That, perhaps, belongs rather to 

 the gentleman's own party friends in Louisi- 

 ana and Florida, all of whom, so far as I 

 know, have been rewarded by his party; 

 known and recognized perjurers have been 

 rewarded by the bestowal of office, I will not 

 say (because I hope it k not true) with the 

 approval of the gentlemaatrom Ohio. 



" All this complaint against the Democratic 

 party of the South has its 'origin in the fact 

 that by the enfranchisement of the colored 

 man, designed to be in the interest of the Re- 

 publican party, the Democrats have gained 

 power, and our Republican friends have been 

 grievously disappointed. Instead of securing 

 increased power for that party, it has proved, 



