Evening journal., 1892-07-27
PouTIcs ANp PgNITENTIARIgs.
The Place of the Negroes Republican
solicitude Fluctuatcs.


The Place Of the Negroes Republican
soiicitude Fluctuatcs.
It has hcen generally observed that in
Presidential years the solicitude of the
Republicans for the colored brother
exhibits a phenomenal increase. Hun
dreds OF reams of good white paper are
used up in detailing the hard usage he
gets from the wicked Democrats of the
South The main reason of al this is, of
course. perfectly well understood. Ii is
TO stir up sectional prejudice and to get
some party advantage.
A good deal of this stuff is intended
for the consumption Of the colored voters
in the northern states The Importance
Of the colored vote to Republican success
in several close states has frequently
been mentioned, but 70 is not fully ap
preciated The colored population OF
many of the northern states has in
creased from so to 100 per cent In
twenty years and in a few the rate is
much greater OF the 7,410, 900 persons
of African descent in the whole country,
139, 5j6 or about 10 per cent, are in the
northern states. There are nearly a
quarter of million in New York, New
/ Jersey and Pennsylvania alone. II is
vital to the success of the Republican
party to retain the bulk of these voters
The negro voters in the northern states
are held to their Republican allegiance
/ largely by stories of the outrages inflicted
/ on their race I'm the South. They are
told, among other things. that negro
/ has no chance of Justice in the South ;
that the courts, controlled by the white
men, are ever ready TO convict the negro
when any charge is brought against him.
/ The best possible use is made of the num-
Der of negro convicts in southern peni-
tentiaries
Mr. Patterson. Of Tennessee in a
recent address in the House, paid some
attention TO this matter treating it in
the light of information furnished by
recent census bulletins. No one. of
course. can suspect the Census Bureau
of any desire to supply Democratic cam
paign arguments. The census reports
show that i'm the penintentiaries of the
fifteen southern states and the District
of Columbia, there were, in 1880, 11liO
inmates, of which 12, 043 were colored
and ., 127 white Now the white popu
lation of these states is 10 493. 353 and
the coiored 6, 14j,9lj The ratio of con
victs, therefore, TO every 100, 900 of popu
lation is thirty white and IL;
colored.
The Republican newspapers will use
these figures, as they have used similal
figures before to show that the coloreC
man is prosecuted in the South But
take the state of the case in the Other
states, which had i'm 1890 population OF
80, 445, 456 whites and 739 500 colored. Oi
the %, 1876 inmates of penitentiaries il
these states in 1890, 24,32i were white
and 2,Sl2 colored. This means that fol
every hundred thousand of population
there were siXty-one white and 3o'
colored convicts. In proportion TO popu
lation there are more than twice as man!
negroes sent to the penitentiary in thI
northern as in the southern states
These figures carry their own lesson
They may be interpreted in diiieren
ways. but any way is to the discredit O.
the SNUG hypocrites who are so fond O
confessing other peoples sins If there
no more crime among colored peopl
North than there is South, then th
Northern people are more severe in thei
dealings with the negro than the South
orn people. On the other hand, if Grim
is twice as prevalent among the negroC
, in the Northern as in the Southern state,
what a commentary does this furnis
upon the civilizing humanizing, and Chris
tianizing influence which contact wit
C his selfstyled "best friend" has upo
4 the Northern negro The Northern RI
4 publicans are welcome to either horn {
e dilemma.
4 There are some q, 5,OO0 colored voters
I Massachusetts. enough to turn the sea-
in years when the vote is clos
The same may be said Of the 1 500
Rhode Island, the ., 800 in Connection
s the i6, 600 in New York, the O,O0O
y New Jersey, the % 600 in Pennsylvani
r 10000 in Ohio, 0.000 in Indiana, an
10. 500 in Illinois. There is no reaso
why these voters should give their soil
support to the Republican party. The
/. are the victims of the same ruinot
/, economic system which afilicts the viii
i people, and the Republican pretence
be their friends as wholly hollow an
iusiucefe Louisville COurier-J Journal