Middletown transcript., 1882-03-24
A NEW KIND OF "Boss."


1t seems now to be doubtful whethe
the chief practical result achieved b
Senator Malone and his followers i
not simply and solely new demonstra
tion of the fact that the negro vote cal
be used by unscrupulous leaders VIII,
know how to influence it, no matte
what their objects may be. It hardl,
needed a re-adjuster party or the repu
diation of Southern debts to teach u
this; for the carpet-bag government
set up throughout the South at the clost
of the war had proved it already. Tht
demagogues of the reconstruction peri0t
cast the negro vote as they pleased, ant
they cast it, too, for purposes as directly
antagonistic to the true interests of the
blacks as any for which the BourbonE
since their disappearance have used it.
1t has now been "voted'' by Malone in
Virginia in precisely the same way
The fact is, and the sooner the fact is
recognized the sooner we shall be rid oi
many dangerous illusions with regard
to the future of the country, that the
negroes constitute peasantry wholly
unframed in, and ignorant of, those
ideas of constitutional liberty and pro.
gresS which are the Dir rtf1rig eef ef every
white voter that they are gregarious
and emotional rather than intelligent.
and are easily led in any direction by
white men of energy and determina-
tion. Such white men may be dema-
gogues, as in the case of Malone, oil
they may be filled with sincere desire
to effect desirable political objects
but their relation to the negro vote,
until the character of that vote is ma
terially changed through education and
material improvement, will be substan-
TALLY what it is now.
The Importance of the Malone move
ment lies in the fact that it will proba-
bly, be followed by other movements of
a similar kind in other parts of the
South. Mahone's will not necessarily
make use of his cry, for in most of the
Southern States reputation is dead
question. But almost any cry will, for
the reasons we have mentioned, do
equally well. In any movement, an In
dependent now starts with the advant-
age that he is necessarily an enemy of
the Bourbons, and can therefore adver-
tise himselfa5 a friend of liberal ideas,
and count upon certain amount of
sympathy as friend of the negro. Such
if they are allowed to re-
main local, can do little harm, and may
do much good if they fall, as here and
there they must fall, into the hands of
men with something more than mere
selfish interests at stake. But it is
evidently the intention in certain quar-
ters at the North to utilize them for a
purpose which Republicans have the
right to consider good in itself, but
which can only be advanced, in this
case, by means full of danger to the
country. The purpose is to strengthen
the Republican party at the South; the
means, the use of Federal patronage in
aid of any Independent movement that
may be started. How far the Admin
Of President Garfield actually
went in placing the Federal machine
in Virginia at the disposal of General
Malone and his friends, it is difficult
TO say; but that it was extensively used,
and became potent factor in the cam
paign, their can be no doubt. 1t is now
that in Georgia, or South Car
)lina, or wherever an Independent lead
er shows any strength" among the
negroes, this Scandalous abuse of power
shall be repeated, and that the custom
houses and post-ofices of the general
shall be converted into To-
eal political machines to stimulate the
1t is hard to believe that any Admin
which avows itself in favor of |
,ivil-service reform can lend itself to a
scheme so inconsistent with all pro-
LESSONS of reform as this" Topics of
he Time, " IN THE CENTURY for Apr. |