The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-12-23
Why the Southern Negroes have Be
come Democrats.

Ten years ago, when the reconstruction
of the southern States was at white heat,
a Republican Senator who voted against
his will and Judgment in favor of uuquali-
fled universal suffrage for the negro, fore
told that it would come to no good for his
party. This" said he, sis only putting
of the final reckoning. We give the ne
grocs the ballot, and for while they will
vote with us but they are sure at last to
20 with their employers and masters.
There is no power which can mako those
states Republican for fifteen years.
The prophecy is realized in two-thirds of
the time a period of ten years has suf-
feed to convert the last of the negro states
from the Republican to the Democratic
party.
This is due To the enormous and unforc-
seen politica crimes which have fastened
the downfall OF Republican power and
prestige in every part of the country.
When the great belt of controlling states,
which lie between Narragausctt Bay and
the Mississippi. turn against the Republic
cane, We must expect to sec such n change
everywhere else. But in the South and
among The negro voters, we must expect
to see II consummatcd more powerfully
aud more radically than elsewhere; and
the fact has outrun the expectation.
There are peculiar and overwhelming
reasons why the great mass OF negro C,ti-
zcns should now be Democrats. Their
employers, the white men who owned
them before the rebellion. and who hire
them now. are Democrats: and there is no
class Of laborOrs who are influenced 10y the
f,,r "a b..f so
as negro luborers. Knowingnothing OF poli-
tics FOR themselves, their natural impulse
Is to vote rs the better educated and more
experienced men vote, 10y whom they are
employed and paid; and WHOM these are
men TO whom they have been attached
from their childhood, this impulse is almost
irresistible. Since the war they have been
prevented from following It by peculiar
causes. such rs the distrus, VIII ch grow up
during the rebellion aud the Influence of
secret societies formed among the biacbs
after the war ended; but those causes have
/ now ceased H. operate, and the normal
| tendencies If the negro mud have rcas-
serted themselves.
The failure Of the Frecdman's Savings
/ Bank has probably done more than any
from their ties TO the Republican cause
aud TO send the majority OF them IN mass
over TO the camp Of tue opposite party.
That bank was Que Of the most shameful
swindlcs of the decade, and the Rcpuhh-
cans alone were responsible for its dis
astrous downfall. In that failure, millions
of money belonging 10 the negroes of all
the Southern States We're stolen IRON them
by Republican leaders, acting under the di-
rect patronage OF GRANTS Administration
and never were the poor aud helpless pluu-
dcred by the great and powerful with
more revolving contempt for every princi-
pie OF honesty aud every rule OF decent
business conduct. Il such fraud had not
turned the blacks against its authors, they
would indeed have proved themselves
idiots, unworthy Of any part Of the politi-
cal power which had been bestowed upon
them. In taking vengeance on the rob
beers ut the ballot box. rs they have now
done, they have simply justified those who
gave them the power, by showing that on
occasion they know how to use il to pro-
tect the public Interests and their own.
Moreover, the negro Is naturally con
servatvc. aud among the blacks we hud q
considerable number Of thrifty. shrew1
meu who have talent for acquiring
property. such mon are seen ia every
southern community, AMI there are many
instances of negroes who since the WA
have gained considerable possessions. an,
who have thus bccoue most iunIeuiia
among their own race. All such men ar
of necessity opp scd to the Republicans
and 20 the rockies, methods of public plum
deriug which they hayo inaugurtei il
, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida
and, indeed, in every southern state wher
they have not been checked. a negT'
, property owner is even more sensitive thar
S white man TO public extravaganza an
t high taxation, because he sees that unde
( that system his newly acquired independ
= once Will speedily be wiped out.
1 These are some of the reasons why IN
/ more intelligent negro voters of the Soutl
/ have now So generally voted for the Dem
/ ocratic candidates that every Southor
+ State really went Democratic IN the y,
4 vcmbcr election. The change was 10 4
. expected in the nature Of things, AMI IT, !
/ any state, it should now be defeated 10y fab
t counting, II will hereafter make Itself f.
IS too powerfully to he changed by any Can
j. vassine Board. The Republican party hi
v deserved destruction IN the South MOI
l. tLan elsewhere; and Justice II viii &c