The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-06
LILY WHITES TO FIGHT
SENATOR PRITcHARD COMES OUT AGAINST THE AD-
 MINISTEATIoN.
Negro Domination in the South . Would Mean Disaster to the
 Republican Party,
 He Asserts.

| Washington Special.
 l The fight between the administration | and the reorganizers of the Repuohcah l Party in the South. the so-called Lily Whites" is fairly on, Senator Fritcharo | of North Carolina the leader of the move ment, tonight made statement wnicn | removes all doubt about his position. It 1 indicates unmistskably that Mir. Pritch- ard will go on with his fight. The only | doubt in the matter has been about the attitude of North Carolina. The admin | lstration is said to have had Senator | Pritchard in mind for Federal Judge | ship, and 1t has been questioned whether North Carolina would not accept this
 peace offering and drop the agitation. MT. | Pritchard has rejected this oait' II IL was | offered.
 In the course Of hls statement Seha'oi Pritchard says:
 When our party met in convention at I Greensborough it declared in It's plat | form that, inasmuch as the recent Con | stitutional amendments which restricted | suffrage in so far as the colored voter l Is concerned had been adopted, it was no | longer a political question: and that IL l could not be considered as political is- | sue in the future if the Democrats would abide by the pledges which they made | in the campaign of 1900. which were to the effect that if the Constitutional amendment should be adopted, all men l wonld he permitted to exercise the right of intellectual freedom in dealing with political questions.
 There has been no disposition on the part of the Republican Party In NoEtn Carolina to prevent the coloreo man rom participating as a delegate in any con yention to which he may be elected oy those who are duly qualified voters: the
 Republicans in North Carolina simply refused to adopt any policy which has a tendency to create strife anu conteh- ton among our people as whole. Every wise colored man knows that anything approaching negro domination In the South would result in disaster for the Ke- nublican Party and lasting injury to the colored race.
 "There is a disposition on the part of inc nroeressive people of North Carolina to break away from the Democratic Far ty, and thousands of them did SO at the
 last election, but the movement IS not we'll under way yet, and. while we nave made gains that are marvellous, at the same time if we adhere to the poncy adopted at Greensborough convention for | A sufficient length of time to convince the | people that Republican rule will mean | just and fair government for all, then North Carolina win be as reliably Repub- 1 lican as Pennsylvania or Ohio. In other
 words. if we can only fix the status of | the Republican Party of North Carolina l as being analogous to that of Pennsylva- \ mia or Ohio-that is to say. that the nat | ural leadership of the party. the intelli- gence and character of the party. VIII | control its affairs-then there will be no question about the State giving her elec- | toral vote to President Roosevelt in 1904
 "Out of a white vote of 3o4.0O0, only | 1Sa 900 white votes were cast at the last election. which leaves 105,O00 white people
 who did not vote. and the question nat | uralIy arises as to what course this class
 of people will pursue in the future. It IS | reasonable to assume that all these who have been disfranchised on account of
 the non-payment of poll tax will vote the | Republican ticket at the next election.
 "The remainder of those who failed to
 vote at the last election constitute a | very important element in our State. This
 class is made up of farmers, merchants, | laborerg and business men who are unal- | terably opposed to the Democratic ma | chine, but who were not thoroughly sat- l isfied at the last election that the sue
 cess of the Republican Party would not
 mean negro domination. By the next cleo | ton there will be be no question about | the fact that the policy adopted at the i Greensborough Convention, which is real | Iy the policy of fair and equal treatment
 to all men with regard purely to their
 merits as men. will become the perma-
 nent policy of the Republican Party in
 the State and the result will be that
 this class of people will take stand in
 opposition to the Democracy. The Demo- crats lost 51.O00 white votes in the State 1 at the last election, and these losses were l sustained in almost every county in the
 State, and this, too in spite of the fact
 that they made the most aggressive cam
 paign that has been made in North Caro- 1 lima since the war"