Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-06-27

i
white race, and can make the
Republican party responsible for
efforts looking toward negro domi-
nation all these differences will be
healed when election day comes and
the south will continue 10 be the
stronghold and main support OF
Republican opposition, whatever its
name.
The race question simply over
shadows all others The Democracy
OF the South prides itself on being the
party of the white man and of political
and personal responsibility. This it
undoubtedly is. Northern people who
take up residence in the South, what
ever their politicaltraditions commonly
vote the Democratic ticket, as being
the one standing for good government
and morals. The Republican party Of
the South is an alliance OF the negro
and the element that hopes to fatten
on federal patronage. 1t has no
attraction for the respectable Northern
Republican.
But by a curious turn OF events the
negro in the South is being eliminated
from politics by the very element that
is likely to regret it later. So appre
hensive has the Democracy become
that in some way the mastery will be
gained by the negro that system of
practical and general disfranchise-
ment has been begun and is already in
force in some OF the states and extend
ing to others. The right OF the negro
to vote, guaranteed by the fifteenth
amendment, is being abridged in
several ways, by state constitutional
enactments. These operate differently /
in different states, but their purpose
is the same in ALTO deprive the
negro of his ballot Mississippi /
Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, /
Maryland, Virginia, Alabama and |
other states either have imposed, or
are about to impose, restrictions on
the suffrage that will practically insure /
control to the whites. Though the
spirit of the fifteenth amendment is
thus plainly violated, its letter is not,
and the federal government cannot
interfere. A few years viii undoubted-
ly see the complete disappearance Of
the negro as a political factor in the
South. This done. there is hope that
the unreasonable bourbonism of the
whites will likewise disappear.
With the spectre Of negro rule
banished, there will be opportunity for
the natural and healthy differences to
oyer,national policies to come to the
front. Already this is manifest in
some quarters. South Carolina, for
example, is rent by opposing political
forces. Though both the Tilman and
McLaurin factions are nominally
to confess to the
name of Republican would be fatal
it is plain that the latter is the entering
wedge OF liberalism. Senator Nc
Laurin has supported the Mckinley
administration in all its principal
moves, including expansion. 1t is his
belief that the Democracy should not
exist merely for the purpose Of
Republicanism. He has a
strong and active following among the
intelligent men of his state. Tilman
the bourbon wing, and
denounces his colleague as
Republican. This inyectiye might
suffice now to defeat the McLaurin
party, but the time is coming when it
viii not
As soon as the Southern mind can
divorce the Republican party and the
negro in politics, it will be open to the
merits Of the case, which have long
been obscured. Many Southern
Democrats are protectionists, expan-
sionists and opponents of free silver,
but until the negro issue is removed
they sink their opinions on these
matters and marshal with the national
Democracy. Populism fourished in
the South a few years ago, because it
afforded an opportunity for disatiected
Democrats to register protest with
out mourning the stigma OF becoming
Republicans, and allying with negroes.
This race prejudice is unfamiliar to us
OF the North, but we know that it
exists.
The Republican party has never
profted by Southern negro aid. The
negroes have not in recent wears I
amounted to anything as a political
power. If they are legally disfran-
ohised, instead Of being intimidated
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