Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-11-02
A LETTER FROM THE
!. CITY BY THE SEA.
The Election Excitement to be In the
Closing Days Of the Campaign.
DEI0eRlTlC BlRHsTORIERs COMING FRIDAY.
THE coLoRED VOTERS AN OBJECT OF
SPECIAL soLICITUDE AT THE PRE-
SENT rlME.-A BAD "BREAK" IN
THEIR RANKS.

The election is close upon us, but there
is not as much excitement here as / ex.
pected to see within ten days of SO i'm
portant an event. As q matter of fact
you can 90 to the grocery store or the
butcher shop without much danger o1
being put through a political catechism
concerning how you are going to vote.
The campaign evidently is to be ol
brief duration, without much red-fire
and most of the telling work crowded
into the last three or four days of it.
The Democratic .'whirlwind' camp
aigners are to be here Friday evening,
and if there is anything in them they
Academy of Music after SO many rehear-
sells in the other Counties. Mr.. Crane,
the candidate for Governor, is almost
many will 60 to hear him. out of curiOs-
ity, who have no political sympathy
with him or his party. | am expecting
to see rather heavier vote cast than
some of my friends. who are predicting
light vote, on account of the apparent
spathy at present prevailing. l am not
much of prophet, but will venture the
prediction that Lewis Evans will have
the biggest majority of any candidate in
this City, and that Ashley will have none
at all. Beyond that I am not casting
any horoscopes that require figures to
back up their predictions.
The storm centre of political disturb
ance is west of Atlantic Avenue, and it's
area takes in q large section Of our col
ored voters From what / see and hear,
in my wanderings about town, / am
positive that there has never before been
such break in their ranks. Because
Abraham Lincoln freed them a genera
ton ago, our Republican politicians have
taken it for granted that they would for
ever continue to vote the Republican
ticket without any recognition of their
qualifications to hold office.
do not recall an instance in which the
name of any colored man has ever ap-
peared upon the County ticket. Nor
have they been recognized in the distri-
button of official patronage in any man
ner. Our Congressman have had the
disposition OF many places of profit, but
| cannot hear that any of the rich plums,
no, not even the little crumbs, have fallen
into the clutches of the colorpd brother
One OF them told me that Congressman
Gardner will not hire one of them even
to pick strawberries or cranberries on
his '-Terrapin Road" farm. The result
is such break in the ranks here that it
may endanger the whole County ticket,
unless the stampede can be checked.
Money is depended upon to do the
trick, as it has before, but there are in
dicatiOns that the better class of our col
ored voters are not to be purchased this
year.
am told that the estimates handed in
at the last meeting of the County Com
mittee. tor the amount of .'sponduiics"
to persuade them to return to the fold,
were startling in their amounts, and
caused graat CONSERVATION among the
Office holders, who are to have their sal
aries sliced for the good of the cause.
My advice to our colored brethren is to
stand firm and not sell themselves at the
ballOt-box. Let them defeat the Ring
once, and make good job of it. and
they can make ary reasonable political
demand hereafter, and it will be treated
with respect.
| am not candidate myself for any
thing, and have no special pets that
am "rO Ooting" for. / want to see good
men, able men and honest men elected to
Office, and / not very particular as to
which party puts it's label upon them.
Beyond that I am perfectly serene and
content to let the November Cyclone hit
US wherever it pleases.
"ARGUs."