Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-11
THE NEGRO VOTE.
A Southern Citizen Has a Word to
Say Upon 1T.
HIGHLAND VILLA, corner Hill and
First streets, Los Angeles, CAL, 7

HIGHLAND VILLA, corner Hill and
First streets, Los Angeles, CAL,
September 8, 1888. }
X. c. 0. Benjamin. Esq:
DEAR SIR-I have just read your arti-
Gle in this mornings HERALD, and can
not let the opportunity pass without
telling you of little incident that oc-
Cured at the breakfast table this morn
ing, which goes far to prove many of
your allegations of i'll treatment of the
Negro by the Republican party. was
in conversation with an old-line Repub.
lican from Iowa, who told me he was a
Republican at the birth of the party
After discussing the Southern" ques-
tion q being Southerner and Demo-
craft, the talked drifted on to the fitness
of General Harrison as Presidential
candidate, as viewed through Pacific
Coast spectacles, on account of his un-
savory record on the Chinese question.
This wealthy and representative Repub-
lican then told me that General Harri-
sons record on the Chinese question
would be of very small importance to
Republicans at the approaching election,
and that so far as he (the speaker) was
concerned, he liked the Chinaman a
great deal better than he did the Negro,
too many of the latter of whom, he
thought, were coming to California.
When asked him how that could be,
when l knew him to be such an old and
staunch Republican. he replied: "Be-
cause the Negro is getting to be too inde-
pendent and hard to control" As a
Southerner, cannot fail to recognize in
this reply the strong proof of what l
have ever known to be the truth of this
great question, namely: That the Negro
was held in greater contempt by the Re-
publicans of the North than bv the DEM
ocrats of the South; that the "color
line" was more sharply drawn at the
North, and among Republicans, than at
the South; that the colored people were
just as much slaves OF the Republican
party as they were of their Southern
masters; and that, under the guidance
of Providence, whose hand is plainly to
be seen in this whole matter, the day
was not far distant when the colored
people would be enabled to rise above
their ignorance and degradation, assert
their independence, and break the
shackles of their second slavery. And l
desire to say. further, that in my hum
ole Judgment it will not be very long be-
fore the veil of ignorance will be lifted
from the eyes of many, very many, peo-
pie, when it will be plainly seen that the
South is not only the only distinctive
American section OF the Union, but that
she is and will continue tc be throughout
the future the truest friend of the colored
people. The Southern people have not
forgotten, and never can forget, the God
gifted devotion of this race at time
when many of their wives and children
were at the mercy Of the race; when the
natural affection existing between the
whites and blacks at the South was so
strong that often both not only rsked but
surrendered life itself in defense of the
other; and when, even now, Demo-
cratic President is found appointing COL
ored men of distinguished qualifications
and ability to important and responsible
positions of trust under the Government.
Yours truly, JOHN Cox,
A native of Georgia.