Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1917 — OPENS ATTACK ON “SOLID SOUTH" [ARTICLE]

OPENS ATTACK ON “SOLID SOUTH"

Chicago Tribune Launches Issue In Congress On Unequal Vote of the Solid South; ’ An attack on the part of the Chicago Tribune to eradicate the inequality between northern and.sou them states in the house of representatives and the electoral college was launched Tuesday. Bills are being drafted by Senators Kenyon, of lowa and Gallinger, of New Hampshire, for consideration at this session of congress. Although the southern states have disfrancliised the negro and even some whites, these states still possess representation in the house and the electoral college based on their population, including the disfrancised citizens, in defiance of the constitution. They count the negroes portioning representatives, but count , them out in elections. It thus falls that voters in southern states have undue representation, exercise much greater power in the conduct of the government and in the election of the president than the voters of the northern states. In the recent presidential election the-south cast 2,000,000 popular votes and 139 in the electoral college. The middle west has the same number of electors, but oast 6,000,000 popular votes. Illinois alone cast more popular votes than the entire south, but >in,g only twenty-nine electoral votes. The south is “in the saddle” largely because of its disproportionate voice in the conduct of the government. Through its greater influence in congress, the south imposes taxes ■which bear iqore heavily upon the north than upon the south and then proceeds to take a large proportion of federal appropriations for local pur-, poses.