Saint Mary's beacon., 1896-01-16

that his freedon n safer in tn
hands OF that pelly than any other
and, Of course, &ith him argumen
10 useless. II onIy confirms him il
his belief. He keows and will ad
init that IL be uishes . friendly ac
be 10 more apt . 20 it from Dem
ocrat than Rep 1lican but, wher
ii comes to voting oh, we'll, then
bis former Dsmocratic friend and
helper j. his fr:s4zs sssl slongers and
forthwith, BY E,s vote. like the ad.
der in the fable. he stings the hand
of bis ben-fsctor.
This though strongly put is the
truth, and for one who has the best
interest of his country at heart, the
contemplation is anything but as
suring. What is the use of '.free
ballot ald fair count" where the
basic element of that vote is igno-
rance and prejudice When a few
seif-constituted leaders. actusted
solely By the greed for Office, mar
shal them at the primaries and elec-
tions for the sole purpose of self-ag-
grandizement.
In our structure of government,
power is, through the elective fran
chise, lodged in the people. The
true lover of his country may we'll
tremble for its future when he sees
this power, through ignorance and
prejudice and it is not entirely
confined to the colored vote1 so
wantonly abused. Our average vo-
ter is by no means as familiar with
the government under which he
lives, and which, by his vote, he
helps to fashion, as he should be.
lie may be able to tell you it is a
Republic. but does not know il is
,nSnlu:e or limited He does not
.rrI"rly crmpr, h-nd the subdI-
vision "f power into the legislative,
he executive and the judicial. Hs
does not know when State law endS
md national begins. Nor, is tIR
average place hunter by any meark
versed in the science of governmeyt
Of the Constitution of his county,
which in all probability he has ff,ol
read since his school l-boy days., il
then, he knows little and cares hess
lie only knows that he is aooc
hustler at the primaries. con{ven
tions and at the polls, and, ass hi
objective point is office, Why l,ae i
much more concerned about tn
certainty of getting it than hoaay h
gets it.
Such is the condition as it con
fronts US to-day. Politics has d.
generated into u mere scramble No
pffice, and 50 long as the conditions
'xist so long will it continue. If
he colored vote was about pouall,
divided. the temptation to jump
heir principles and their party,
sell their birthright for a mess of
pottage would no longer exist, aud
fruitful source of discomfort and
possible danger be eliminated. AS
long the bulk OF one party is made
up from class that does not share.
nor is it intended that they shall
share in the distribution of Office.
so long will We end renegade whites
calling themselves Republicans. or
bv any other name. ever present
and anxious to ally themselves with
~ party where the chance Of Office
10 by an inuerse ratio as much great.
er as the moer of whites in the
opposing party exceeds their own.
10 illustrate We will say in
round numbers that the white
vote of the county is 1900
We will give the Republican vote
ut 1900 also. OF this 1900 we will
say that 200 is white, now, since
the remaining 1000 is colored and
not taken into calculation when the
offices are divided up. it follows
that the 200 white voters get all the
offices that would be divided up
among the 1900 white voters Of the
democratic party. Then it is plain
from this showing that the chance
of getting Office in the republican
party is six times greater than in
the democratic party. liz the color
ed voter, since he does not get Office,
would divide his vote, then the
chance Of getting Office would be no
greater in one party than the other,
and the white vote would divide mp
on principle. and not q 10 too plain
" nov. because Of the greater