Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-26

the count of the vote was finished he stated
that he had never seen an election North or
South conducted with more fairness. 1t
was the first Southern election he had seen,
and, instead of the attempted ballot box
stufing and bulldozing he expected to see,
he found everything conducted with more
fairness than elections at his North
ern home. Of course, he knew
nothing of the work done on the outside. but
he might have watched the election at 80
per cent of the voting places in the South,
and he could have said the same of the fair
ness of the count.
The negroes OF the South long ago learned
that in close election their votes had a
market value, and those who are too honest
and patriotic to sell their votes are few and
far between. Sixty per cent of the negro
votes of the South can be purchased at an
average cost of 81 each. An average of 50
per vote will buy 80 or S5 per cent of them,
and make the price high enough and every
vote south of Mason and DIxon's line can
be bought.
CHEAPER THAN BULLDOZING.
There are probably few places in the
South where ballot-box stufing and bull
doing are still resorted to to control the
negro vote, but these places are in the back.
woods, so to speak, where the white people
have not yet learned the political methods
of the metropolis and Indiana. This pur-
chase OF votes may be fraud on the ballot,
but it is practiced in almost every Northern
State. 1t works well here. 1t keeps the
South solid, and at the same time satisfies
the colored voters.
1 heard Democratic politician not long
ago, in speaking of the purchase of votes,
say: "It is cheaper to buy negro than to
bury him. We can buy his vote for SOC, and
it would cost 50 to bury him, so, you see,
there is no occasion to go back to the shot
gun policy"
Another thing which reduces the negro
vote is the fact that thousands of them never
remain long enough in one place to be
eligible. Whenever work begins on a new
railroad in any part of the South, or new
town is laid out, thousands of negroes flock
there from half a dozen States. Ten to
twenty per cent of the Eegro population of
the South, fully 20 per cent of the males, is
a floating population. They drift from
place to place, following new railroads and
new towns, and never remain long enough
in a State or county to cast vote.
THE NEGRO DEMOCRATS.
Thousands of intelligent negroes are
leaving the Republican party in the South.
They may have been bought of, they may
have grown weary of waiting on promises
that are never kept, but whatever the
reason the fact remains that colored Demo-
cratic clubs are being organized in every
town and city in this section.
1t seems that nothing will stop the cry of
ballot-box frauds in the South, but if Con-
gress would send fair and impartial COM
mittee down here in November to watch the
modus operandi of electIng Democratic Con-
gressmen they would at least be able to dis
cover that whatever frauds existed they are
outside the ballot box. There are still
a few exceptions. but at large majority of
the voting places in the South the ballots
cast are honestly counted and the negroes
vote if they want to. 1t is on the outside
that the Democratic hustler gets in his
work. w. L. HAwLEY.