Morning journal and courier., 1888-11-14

l that his taxes are all paid. The taxes are, 1 first, four dollars, formerly three dollars and 1 fifty cents, per capita for black and white alike for street purposes, regardless of prop l erty, and second, State and county taxes, which vary according to the wealth of the until after the books are closed the amount l is increased to three dollars and fifty cents, formerly five dollars. If a man swears false ly he is prosecuted for perjury and sent up." ''But if he doesn't pay his taxes he is lia- ble to prosecution also, is he not?"
 "Ah; he should be. That is the theory
 But as a matter of fact the colored man is not troubled in case he gives ups the right of franchise" S
 4tThen this act of generosity is really & trap to rob the negro of his citizenshipP' Exactly. He is bribed to refrain from voting. The southern whites are fond of
 bragging over their hberality in supporting l the blacks, and of asserting that the negroes l cannot be made to pay their taxes. Of course the negroes will eYade their taxes when the chance is extended to them in this way. Any class of poor voters would, black or white. One of the greatest obstacles in the way of Republican success here in Allan l ta (barring of course Democratic fraud) is this willingness of the negroes to sell their right of franchise"
 l "And yet you are hopefulF'
 Mot exactly hopeful. How could we be HH power to cheat us out of our rights and their determination to do so3 But we are feeling good natured. We are watching the growth of the Prohibition party here with a great deal of complaeency."
 .'Are you going to put full municipal ticket in the field1'
 t'It depends upon the action of the third political party. Its members have declared | that they will do so, although there is wing l of the party which opposes doing so. If a Prohibition third party ticket is put in the field we will certainly get ont full ticket. The Democratic party is badly split up over | the temperance question. The two tickets | already in the field are Democratic. Instead | of the Prohibition Democrats and the anti 1 Democrats we now have the Conservative Democrats and the regular Democrats. The l Conservatives seem to be in the ascendenoy l just at present. Their ticket has the SUD- | port of the Constitution. The other ticket I is called the Peoples ticket and is put out in | the interest of the saloon power. Those who l are too pronounced in their temperance con- victions to vote even the Conservative ticket l will vote the Prohibition (third party) ticket. The Conservative ticket doesn't take very ad- l vaneed ground on the temperance question. l As the Constitution insists, it is 8 compro- mise ticket; 8 sort of happy mean @ be- | tween the Peoples ticket and the straight | Prohibition ticket"
 sI suppose there is good deal of "com- promising" in Atlanta politics."
 l "Oh, yes. Very often it is wiser to com promise with the more liberal wing of the
 Democratic party than to put out g ticket of
 our own. We have overtures made to us ev- cry election time looking toward 8 compro- 1 mise on certain candidates"
 "Aren't promises held out to you in return | for your support2"
 l ''Oh, yes; promises galorel And they are never fully redeemed Some times little | miserable favor is extended to soms promi- nent worker,-most often some renegade Re- l publican negro. But no adequate return is | ever made for our service. There is not 2 l single colored man on the police force of Att | lanta, although we have been promised few | places on the staff time, time and again. Indeed there is scarcely any negro in the public service in Atlanta to-day, unless it be ] in some menial position which 8 white man | would not condescsnd to occupy"
 "Don't you get discouraged waiting for the ! chivalry to redeem their promises to youP'
 "Yes, indeed; but what can we do ordina- rilYa We stand little show at the polls. w
 can only treasure up the wrong in our bo soms and bide our time. This time we ars determined to close our ears against all pro posals, and as soon as the Prohibs decide upon their ticket, nominate one of our own l We think of putting H. l. Kimban at it l head. We could not hit upon a more popu
 lar white northerner resident here.''
 A, L. s.