Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-06-17
From the New York Herhld.1
Vote as You Please.
a colored man writes to the Herald in
frame of mind which indicates ninety in III

A colored man writes to the Herald in 3
frame of mind which indicates ninety in the
shade as follows:-
ssWill you tell me and those whom l rep
resent what we have received from the re-
publican party as the reward of cur allegi-
ance? Why shouldn't we be as free as the
whites TO vote any ticket we please without
being stigmatized as traitors to our kind?
What has the party done for us that we
should support it as a matter of course?"
Well. these questions are easily answer
ed, but in answering them we shall be
forced to tell you sons disagreeable truths.
The republicans have done mighty little
for you as race, but you have done great
deal for them. They have played you for
dupes very successfully during tho last
thirty years, and would like to do it thirty
years more. So long as you are silly enough
to be used they will use you.
They tell you that they gave you your
freedom, which is pure bosh, and yet you
have been gulled into believing it. The
emancipation proclamation was military
necessity, and was issued not so much to
help you as to hurt the enemy. You were
made free by the exigencies of wa, and
your freedom was part of the strategy by
which the South was disabled and brought
reluctantly to terms. Mr.. Lincoln said dis
tinctly that if he could end the rebellion
without emancipatiug you he would do it.
He delayed proclaiming your freedom for
months, hoping he might not be compelled
to resort to 80 heroic a measure. He would
never have made you free if hs could have
brought the rebellion to a close by leaving
you slaves. But he saw at last that it must
be done as means of winning the victory,
and then he did it as a deraier resort.
Slavery was, therefore, abolished by the
circumstances of the case. and, although
everybody in the North was glad that this
blot had been rubbed out, the republican
leaders stepped to the front, claimed the
credit of everything, cried o-s from one end
of the country to the Of Or, "We did it,"
and then demanded that thereafter you
should vote for them tight or wrong. 1t
was shrswd political game, aud you were
trapped into accepting their story because
as race you were wholly uninform5G as' to
the facts. From that time to this you have
been derided, <diouled and scorned, both
in Congress and on the stump, Whenever
you dared to have an opinion of your own.
The case may therefore be summed up in
this wsy :-As long as you remain in igno-
rance you will vote the republican ticket
only; when you begin to think for your.
selves, you will vote as you please. Those
of you who are in the N 1rth have received a
good public school education; those of you
who are in the South have great many in
situations of learning which will properly
equip you for the struggle of life. The
time, therefore, is not far distant when you
will SEQ through the devices by which you
have been cheated and throw your ballot
according to your Judgment rather than
yoar prejudiees.
As American citizens you have just as
much interest in the government az any of
us. is policies affect you, your homes,
your prospects, your future. You should
vote for what you believe will benefit your
race. If that benefit is represented by thu
all right; if it is represented by
the dem ocfats, all right. If, for example,
you like the high taxes of the Mckinley
bill, and want to pay an exorbitaut price
for clothing and food, that is your business
and you have perfect right to say 80. But
il, on the contrary, you want lower prices
for the necessaries of life, steady work at
fair wsges, and such comforts as ought TO
ba brought within reach of the laboring
man, you will vote with the democrats. Of
course the republicans will weep and wall
and gnssh their teeth, call your traitors, in
CRATES and other pet names, but what of it?
You should belong to the party which will
do the most for you, and make it easier for
you to live, no matter what it's name is.
Let US call your attention to another fact
in closing. The republicans have talked
themselves hoarse in trying to provo their
love for your people. Well, they have been
in power pretty continuously now for a |
generation, and what have they done? In
the distribution of offices do you get your |
share? You are very mnch cossetted and |
before an election, but after
election where are you? In the soup
When the colored people get their eyes
open they will vote either ticket they please,
and if anybody grumbles they will tell him
plainly to mind his business and let them
mind theirs.