Arizona republican., 1900-09-08
Elimination of the Negro
 From Politics
A KIND OF EXPERIMENT
If It Succeeds In North Carolina It Will Be Tried Wherever the Colored Man Prevails In Threat ening Numbers the Whites and Blacks Look Upon Each Other.

Raleigh, N. C., Sept. 7.-For many years the illiterate blacks of the south have been deprived of their ballots il- | legally. This fact has not been con- cealed by the whites of the southern
 states; in fact, they have freely and openly declared that so long as the negro was entitled by law to the same right of suffrage as themselves they would see that either he did not vote or else that his vote was not counted as it was cast. The recent movement
 throughout the south toward the dis franchisement of illiterate negroes is merely an attempt on the part of the whites to legalize what has been done Illegally ever since the war.
 The social relations of the white man to the black man in the south are not very well understood by the people of the northern states. Despite the fact that the whites have ceased to own the blacks as chattels they do own them in fact as the dominant and controlling 1 power socially and commercially The l blacks do not resent this relation to the whites, but seem to accept it as the natural order of things and as not 1 eiIlllelS uHucSlEdDle ms IS tnOr-
 oughly well illustrated in North Car olina today, where by an overwhelming majority, into the character of which , the less inquiry is made the better. | 75,000 or S0,OOC negroes had their suf> i frage taken from them. Such action in northern state would produce a l local revolution accompanied by armed violence and the warning of one class | un0n Annthpr In faHf a would be impossible under any circum-
 stances except those which prevail in ! the southern states.
 i The negro of North Carolina looks
 upon the white man of property or of | influence as his natural born superior
 one to whom he not only gives respect. ! but to whom he looks for protection in time of trouble and assistance in time | of need. On the other hand the white
 man of North Carolina. and these characterizations apply to nearly all of i the southern states as well, looks upon the negro as his social and commercial | Inferior, but at the same time feels a ; great responsibility as to the negro's welfare and happiness. Following out this theory and relationship. the white man very naturally and consistently does not believe that the negro should possess the same power in politics as | himself, and under no circumstances should be placed in political position where he may wield authority over white men.
 The closer the investigator gets to this problem in the south the more Iib-
 eral view he will take of this movement to disfranchise thousands of those who are technically American citizens In conversation with the business men. the professional men and all others who are in any way identified with the real life of the south, it will be found that
 while the white element will vigorously and e1nphatically repudiate the negro
 as political equal, the defense of the negro as a member of the community.
 as laborer, and as a unit to be taken
 care of by the state is ready and equally emphtic. It is this feeling which prompts the leading white men of the party of disfranchisement In the south to urge that the color question be left
 out of the political situation so that the people of the south may express their
 real sentiments anent the issues as out
 lined In the platforms of the national parties. So long, however, as the race question is an issue in the campaign the solid south will continue to roll up large democratic majorites, for the democratic party Is the party of dis franchisement, and few self resp cting
 white men of the south will allow them
 selves to go or record as opposed to the issue.
 The situation politically, however. is a very difficur, one. Ninety per cent of the negroes in North Carolina, as an
 instance, vote the republican ticket. The amendment of the constitution which was adopted August and which disfranchise5 between S0,000 and 100000 negro voters, or about so per cent of
 the negroes in the state, does not go
 into effect until 1902. The opportunity is offered, therefore, in the approaching election for the republicans to array this vote solidly against the democrats on various pleas. The republicans have announced that they intend to make unusual effort to register. organize and vote the negroes in November. Owing to the danger which threatens the democratic ticket from this source the democrats in self defense will again appeal to those in favor of disfran-
 chisement to rally and defeat the pur-
 pose of the republicans.
 The democrats would be glad to let
 the race issue alone, believing that very
 few of the negroes who will be dis franchised two years from now will
 take sufficient interest in the present
 election to cast 8 ballot. The con-
 servative element of the democratic
 party puts the matter in the light of a
 question which has been settled. They say that the negro has been eliminated from politics, that the result desired by