New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-11-28
THE NEGRO VOTER.

NEGRO 1IIDEN CLUBS OBGANIIED bl SO4"h VI
TIE LEADERS IN LOUISIANA
ITnos, STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE rnTBUNEl
Nxw-oRIEASs. Nov. 2o-whsn viii negro vote
the Democratic ticketf This has become question
of national Importance for upon the answer that Is
finally given 10 it in this State depends the issue OF
the Presidential election. The Republicans Oh
Iouisiana say that q eOlored man will never vote
Cor Democratic candidates unless he Is forced 10 90
u tbraneb fear of being murdered, whipped, deprived
ofemployment or abused in some other way ana hlcJ
therefore lump to the conclusion that fear Oh Tins
Kind must have been presentwhonever they near OF
black man who has voted against them And II is
trHe that from the time of their eniranchisemeht
ths colored people have stood almost like stone
wall in opposition TO the Democracy. Even the ku
Klux outrages between 1858 and 1871 failed to
make them desert the party with which they had
been identified from the first they prevented them
from voting but they did not bring them over to
cha other side. There has, therefore, been some
reason in the Republican assertion that the coIored
vote, when not Illegally influenced, was known
antity the disappearance of which, In any election
was to say the least circumstance which needed
explanation.
Now tbs Democrats assert that they have carried
this state by the aid of negro votes ana thaJ bhey
have gained them by fair and honorable means. II
thew have done 80 then they entitled to the full
employed have been Illegal then they ought not to
derive any benefit from majority thus obtained
they deserve defeat, The Louisiana Returning
BOARD is 10 determine by what means political rev.
CLINTON was brought about in certain parishes OIL
this State, aud this is why say that 1t has become
a mattcr of national Importance to determine under
what circumstances negro will vote the Demo-
cratic ticket.
In the first place. the negroes, like all ignorant
A
people, almost invariably follow their Leaders
man, especially OF their own race, VINO once gains
their confidence can generally control thcm WIN
very little effort The reason for this is patent The
rooe r1aDtation negro can neither read nor write,
and has. therefore, no means OF learning anything
be,,ord what comes under his immediate, limited
observation except what he is told by Others Their
depepdence on their leaders for advice III regard 10
their poltca duties becomes, therefore, necessity
From them they learn for whom they ought to vote;
from them alone viii they receive Their uckeIs'
1t is true that the negroes are attached TO the
Republican party the party of freedom out
aside from the fact that it was through that party
that they were emancipated and eniranchlsed' the9
generally know nothing of its principles. They are
more attached TO Gen. Grant than they are TO the
Rennblican party. ave know all about Massa
Grant, said colored man to me in North Carolina
four years ago; "he's the man who freed us and
gave us right to vote but as for this Massa Gree
lev and Massa Sumner, about whom you tell. we
know nothing of then-never heard of them before
and we expect they must be Democrats like the rest
of the white folks
This explicit faith Of the negroes in their leaders
suggests a means of capturing thecoloredvote which
have been surprised that the Democrats did not
long ago resort TO- In the North when it Is desired
to obtain the support Of distinct class OF people for
certain measure IL is done by interesting the most
influential men Of that class in its behalf and have
often wondered that the Democrats did not make on
effort tn engage the services of the leaders OF the
coiored people They say that they did it in Louis
lana this year. and have seen since came to New
Orleans a number OF black men who say that they
stnmped their respective parishes for Tilden aud
Niehols organized Tildcn cOlored clubS' ana saw
that the members of them voted the Democratic
ticket. / don't know how the services OF these men
were secured; have heard that they We're hired by
Democratic committees, but / don't believe that
there can be any doubt that some negro votes for
the Democratic ticket were secured in this way
No negro can ever be induced to vote the Demo
cratic ticket as long he fears that the defeat OF
tbe Republicans will be followed by his reonslaye-
nert or Acknowledgement. The general prevalence
of this fear among the eOored people has given the
Republican party an immense advantage III the
South which it not failed to make the most o.
The negroes remembered the time, before the war
when TIE Nhitc people Oi tuO cOuth "oA" A4 P""0i
they remembered that then they themselves were
slaves: they did not forget that emancipation was
ACCOMPLISHED in spite Of the efforts Of the white
people TO prevent it that every enactment securing
IN tber civil or political rights was bitterly opposed
nv their former masters Under these circum-
stances it is not strange that ignorant people who
do not even understand just what the basis on
which their right to freedom rests should fear that
with the restoration Of their old masters TO power
they themselves would be reduced to their former
condition. How far this fear has been removed in
this State l do not know but DO know that in
come other Southern States the hold which the Re
publican party formerly had on the negroes has
been greatly weakened by few years experience
in the minority. The colored man sees that every
right and privilege which he enjoyed during the cx-
istenco Of the carpot-bag governments is guaran-
tecd TO him now, and a great breach has thus been
made in the political wall which separated him from
his white neighbors
do not know how far the fear of reinstatement
OF disfranchsement has been removed from the
minds of the colored people of Louisiana. should
not think that the conditions for establishing pOlit
ical confidence between the two races here have
been very favorable While peace has now been
preserved for several years in many of the Southern
States, aud political murders are no longer known
not single year has passed, believe. in which the
country has not boon shocked by The report of
riot OF -blOoded assassination in Louisiana. II
makes no difference whether politics has been at the
bottom OF these events not, they certainly must
preyent a feeling of confidence and safety from
Swinging up between the two races. If II has taken
root in spite of these occurrences ard If the fruit
age of il has been that great number of the ne
groes have freely voted the Democratic ticket that