The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-16

For the second time since 1868. or in
thirty three years, Congress is COM
posed entirely of white men. From
the days of reconstruction in the South
until the end of the last previous Con-
gress there was always one or more
negroes in the House or the Senate, or
both, with the exception of the short
period between 1SS7-S9. The first ne
gro to hold a seat in the National Leg
islative body was ]. Willis Menard Of
Louisiana, whose certificate of election
was signed by Gov, Warmoth. Nov.
26, 1868, and the last was George II.
White of North Carolina, whose term
expired last year and who has since
become a prachcing attorney at law in
Washington. There was time when
South Cardinals delegation in Con-
gress was pretty nearly all black-in
the days when Moses and his gang
mlsgoverned the state at home while
Rainey, Elliott and Delarge misrepre-
scented her at Washington
IL isn't worth while going back to
discuss the ways and means by which
negroes We're sent to Washington as
representatives Of Southern states. It
is very we'll known that in almost all
instances they were forced upon the
people by the Republican party.
through carpet-bag local governments.
until the repeal of the force laws. And
as soon as the federal election laws
We're repealed, the negro began to dis
appear from the halls of Washington.
He was not able to maintain the fic-
uuous position to which ne had been
elevated on the point of federal bay
onets, and hence had to go. Only so
long as he was kept in place by the
Republican party, as punishment and
humiliation to the South. did he -four
ish in any numbers in National Legis-
lation. And during the thirty-ore
years that there We're negroes in the
Congress, no one of them ever originat-
ed single important piece of legis-
lation, or made a speech, that will be
held remarkable by generations to
come.
Another noteworthy fact is that
while the Republican party has con-
trolled virtually all of the North for
the greater part of the past thirty
three years, and while the negroes in
Congress, have been all Republicans,
no negro has ever represented a. North
ern constituency. They have had edu-
Gated negroes in the North, but none
has ever been favored with a congress
sional Office. On the other hand. igno-
rant black men have been forced on
the South by carpet baggers from
Northern states. 1t is gratifying to
reflect that through it all, Georgia was
only once represented by a black man
in Congress-the exception being the
case of Jefferson Long of Macon, who
was a member of the Forty-first Con-
gress.
The probability is that the present
disappearance of the negro from Con-
gress will prove permanent, or at least
continue for many years to come. The
black vote is not now nearly so i'm
portant as in years gone by, and it
is steadily being reduced. In some
states it is being eliminated by con-
stitutiona changes and In others by
the adoption of the white primary
With the dwindling of the negro's po-
litical Importance there is a dwindlng
of the Republican party's interest in
him There was a time when a black
skin, if it came on a political mission
from the South, was a passport to Re-
publican favor. Some of the most
high minded and patriotic white men
of the South have been ousted from
seats in Congress in favor of compare
lively ignorant negroes, for no other
reason than that the former were
Democrats and the latter Republicans.
But such things are of the past
There are stlll Republicans in Congress,
whose names might be called, that
would like nothing better than to Dust
all of the Southern white men and
place ignorant negroes, whom they
could control. in their seats. But such
narrow, vindictive partisans are in the
minority. They are behind the times
The country has outgrown them. 1t
is white mans country, with its face
set towards high ideals and progress
siveness.