The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-09-20
Mr.. Lowndes Favors Negro Office
Holding in Maryland

\ prudent man always considers the
consequences that may follow from an
important act which he is about to per-
form, before he undertakes to do the
act. OF course if he is influenced by
blind passion or unreasoning anger he
will act without reflection; and when
he does this he will invariably regret
his rashness. His subsequent regrets
will never undo the hasty act and it
may take years of toll and suffering TO
repair the damage it has caused. These
regrets will not restore him to the posi-
ton he formerly occupied and they will
not obliterate or even mollify the con-
quences which his rash and angry nc
ton entailed. If those consequences
should be evil he Will have no one to
blame but himself for bringing them
down on his own head. If they de-
prive him of his property or curtail his
political rights his own hand will have
inflicted the injury. 1t is WELL there
fore, to weigh carefully the probable
| consequences of an act before doing the
act: and this is a true i'm relation to
voting, a. ii is in relation to any other
/ subject.
Now, what consequences will follow
should Democrats by their votes hand
the state of Maryland over to the Re
publicans? Some of them are these /:
Every State officer whom the Governor
will appoint will be Republican.
Every officer elected by the Board Of
Public Works will be a Republican
Every officer elected by the Legislature
will be Republican. This means that
the secretary of State, the State Libra
rian, the Adjutant General, the Super
intendent of the State House, Officers of
| Registration, Justices of the Peace, Di-
rectors of the Penitentary, House of
! Correction and the Agricultural Col
/ lege, School Commissioners, State Tax
! Commissioner, Insurance Commission
er, Officers of the Oyster Navy, United
States Senator, State Treasurer, two Po-
! lice Commissioners of Baltimore City,
Notaries Public and many subordinate
officials will he Republicans in Dem
ocratic state. Were all Republicans
Uhite men this consequence of turning
the State over to the opposite party
would not be such serious matter.
But when you consider that more than
one-half of the vote actually cast by
the Republican party in Maryland is
cast by negroes, ii becomes n matter of
grave concern. Let us look the situa-
ton squarely in the face. Take the GU
bernatorial election of 1891, when Gov.
Brown was elected. There were 1872
<9iEvotes cast for all the candidates for
Governor. OF these los, $50 We're DEM
, Ocratic votes; 1S,3SS were Republican
votes and 5,l20 were Prohibition votes.
Of the total registered vote of the State
4o,s93 were negroes. We all know that
nearly every negro votes at every cleo
, ton, and that nearly every one of them
votes the Republican ticket. But sup
pose that only 5000 of them voted in
1891. Then if you deduct those 5000
negro votes from the IS, 3SS total Repub-
lican vote, you have but 33,3SS whHe |
men voting the Republican ticket. I
Thus the White Republican vote was
5,SO6 Tess than one-hof of the whole
Republican vote polled that Var.
Now, if the Republican party succeeds
this fall how will it be possible for it to
ignore the claims of the negro to some |
political preferment, when the negro
vote constitutes the majority of the Re |
publican party's strength The Re-
publican leaders will not retain Demo- |
Gratis in, or appoint them to office; and |
they cannot afford to entirely disregard
the negro, even if they were soinclined
Doubtless they will not at once place
him in the more lucrative positions,
but they will be driven by the fact that
the negro vote makes up the majority
of the Republican voters, to give him
some appointments. 1t has not been
possible for the Republican party to do
this heretofore in Maryland, because
that party has not had the opportunity
to do it-has not been in control of the
State-since the negro began to vote.
But wherever the same party in other
States has by the aid of the negro Sc
cured supremacy it has been forced to
place some negroes in office. Police
men, Justices of the Peace, School Com
missioners, or School Trustees will be
amongst the first negro officials selected.
How would you fancy seeing Baltimore
City, like the City of Washington, OIL
cered in part by negro policemen IS
long as the Democratic party remains
in power such thing will be impossi-
bic. As soon as the Republican party
gets into power this result will be GER
tainty. Why incur the risk of it by
voting the Republican ticket? And
how would you fancy being brought
before negro Justice of the Peace as
many white man has been in other
States where the Republican party
owed its supremacy to negro votes ?
This would not be tolerated, you say