Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-07-25
The Negro in Politics,

an increase of wages.
The Negro in Politics,
A more appropriate heading would
perhaps be "The Negro Out OF Poll
tics tor our colored fellow citizens
has ceased to play any important role
in political affairs. In only one State
does he promise to exert an influence
in determining the result Of future
elections. That State is North Caro-
lima, where the negro vote is solid,
because backed up by = large native
white Republican element. 1t is pos
sible, too, that the discussions between
Liberal and Last Ditch factions of the
Louisina Democracy may make the
black vote power once more Ill that
State. As a rule, however, the negro
has ceased from troubling the South
ern whites. His brief career as a
politician reminds us of the old dog
grel rhyme
mans vapor
Full of woes;
Cuts caper,
Down he goes"
The negro, although not vaporous
except in certain sense, has been full
of woes. His lamentations have fur.
nished the staple of Republican nation
al politics for the past ten years. He
has been 'lIIli"iI-.-I," ..'-- L'---~1"
aud ''Dulldozed,' his walls have moved
the Northern heart, and it was his
"bloody shirt" that has so often led
the Republican hosts to victory.
And then what capers he did cut,
to be sure! How he made farce Of
legislation and turned local govern
ments into subjects for jeerng and
laughter What jobbery and THEY
cry hourished under his rule. What
grotesque rascals climed to high
places on his willing shoulders -? How
the credit and reputation of great
States vanished like the dew after he
had performed his antics in their
courts and capitols ! How deft he
was at issuing bonds and at repudia-
ting them afterwards, and at levying
taxes for other people to pay -
'Down he goes'-down from legisla-
tive halls and the cushioned chairs of
State and county offices to the cotton
field, the rice plantation and the me-
chanics' bench. 1t would not, per-
haps, be safe to say that the high
places that have known him will know
him no more forever, but we may
hope that he will not again appear in
them until he is decently qualified to
} exercise their functions.
We do not doubt that the revolu-
J ton which has taken place in South
ern affairs will, III the end, be bene6ci'
al to the colored people as we'll as tc
the whites. The relations between
} the races will become more friendly
] now that the local self governments
have got into competent hands. The
whites will have no ground OF ami
! mostly against the blacks, and the
blacks will be relieved from the feal
! of violence which haunted them al
long as they attempted to exercise
political control.
1t is a noteworthy fact that nowhere
are the Southern whites attempting t.
limit the negro vote by Legislative re
! strictions, if we except a small pol
tax imposed in some States and opera
tive, of course, upon both races. Ne
: gro suffrage appears to be accepted al
, a finality where negro rule evoked
: the most bitter opposition. 1t would
q be easy to disfanchise large portion
!. of the colored voters without violating
= the Fifteenth Amendment but M
disposition to do so is shown in thu
3 States that have been long unde
: white domination or in those jus
It rescued from negro rule. The idea o
8 the Southern politicians appear to b.
that the black vote will not again b.
y massed against the whites, aud i
u therefore no longer dangerous
It Boston Herald,