The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-03-12
TUESDAY. MARCH IL, 1901.
THE NEGRO VOTE IN THE SOUTH.

The New York sun. often cratic but
always Interesting. says that n the
bottom .hc purpose of negro disti;in-
..,isen,cnt i'll Southern States is inc
same everywhere That the great
mass of the whites are on one slue ia
politics and the negroes on Inc oiii-
or, and that 1.-The whites having Sc
cured the control by confessed violence
arains the ncgro's right OF suffrage
they proceed 10 get rid OF an nhcon-
Portable political opposition by mend
ing their State Constitutions SO as TO
disfranchisc ii and assure the poil'l-
cal control To themselves absolutely.
If the sun means TO say that Tie
,,ur.pose of negro iisfranchiSemenf is
10 keep the government of the South
err States III the hands OF the whites
ii is right: if il means TO say that the
purpose is TO keep one party III conlfol.
10 the exclusion Of all other parties IT
is wrong. There is Stron" sentiment
throughout the South in favor OF Il
respectable opposition party, and if the
editor of The Sun VIII take the trouble
10 read some OF the Virginia news
papcrs. notably alic Norfolk air@lnlan-
Pilot. he will see that some of the
Democrats in Virginia argue against
DISTINGUISHING the negro, for fear that
if The negro is disfranchiSed in this
State the whites Will divide.
The sun is a sensible newspaper and
IL ought 10 see thai the S1ireSt way OF
building up the Republican party III
The South is 10 eliminate the negro
vote. So long as the negroes are per-
n.itted 10 vote. they VIII vote almost
as one man with The Republican party
and usually against the interest OF the
whites. The negroes themselves have
drawn The color line in politics and
forced the whites to form on the 9th
err side The negroes constitute the
great mass of the Republican party in
the South and are its main strength
SO long as that condition exists the
whites viii be almost solidly opposed
10 the Republican party, and the man
who would be a Republican must bear
the odium of belonging 10 the negro
party. or course there are exceptions
in those communities where there are
comparatively few negroes, but we
have stated the rule for The black dis
tr-icts. But the Southern whites are not
Of the same political views, so far as
questions of national politics so.
There are many whites in the South
who believe III the principles and poll
,t,n
and who, under other conditions,
would affiliate With that parry. The
only thing that keeps them in the
Democratic party and out OF The Re-
publican party is the fear of negro
rule. Once remove that fear and they
viii so where their inclnations take
them.
Rm,it is arused, in Mississippi. South
Carolina and other Southern States.
where The negro has been DISTINGUISHED
the whites still vote together and are
all Democrats. There are Two rea-
sons for this: one is that the Southern
whites have for SO long a time stood
together in the Democratic party. that
il has almost become second nature
with them DO vote The Democratic
ticket. and under any conditions It
would require some time 10 cause a
breaking away from old associations
and party atfiliatien. Bnt the prin-
cipal reason is that. in spite Of the fact
that the negro vote has been eliminated
there is still the fear Of negro domino
zion. and will be so long as the if
teenth amendment of the Constitution
OF the United States is in force. But
as soon as The whites satisfy them
selves that they viii be permitted to
manage the suffrage question in their
own way. as soon as The fear of negro
rule shall have been removed, the
Southern whites viii divide and there
will be two evenly matched, equally
respectable parties in the Southern
States. which. in the opinion Of all