Evening star., 1902-08-19
This Years Southern Elections.

A dispatch from Asheville states that
Senator Pritchard will dine with the Presi-
dent by invitation on Thursday, and adds:
ut is practically certain that President
Roosevelt will discuss political conditions in
North Carolina: 1t is equally certain that
the senator will tell the President that the
time was never more propitious In the his
tory of this state for advancing the cause
of the republican party.
The results of the elections this year in
the lower southern states will be watched
with considerable interest Conditions pre-
vail there now which have long been de-
sired by those in control Of the political
situation, and which have been made the
basis of promise of new and greatly i'm
proved order of things. "Close the polling
booths to the negro" 1t has been asserted,
"and the south will divide politically and
discuss public questions on their merits"
The negro as a political factor has been
completely cast out. He Is a factor no
where. The whites are In complete pos
session of the whole southern field. Negro
domination-never anything but a fakir's
cry-is as impossible as Indian domination.
Shall We see in North Carolina or any
where else any sign now of what has been
promised? Here and there man who has
been cooperating with the democrats has
gone over to the republicans. Here and
there the republicans have put candidates
in the field. In Texas, in Louisiana, in
Virginia, In North Carolina, and elsewhere
congressional nominations have been made,
and in Arkansas the novel spectacle Is pre-
sented of a joint debate between the candi
dates of the two parties for governor. But
will anything come of 1t? What will the
| harvest be?
Louisiana has been described as most
! promising territory for the development of
| a white mans republican party. The sugar
/ planters. the country has repeatedly been
| told only awaited the laying of the blac
| specter to go over In a body to the party
| of protection. Have they made the change?
| And shall We hear from them in November? E?
| This is how Mr.. Broussard, a democratic
representative from that state, recently ex-
| planned matters in an interview with a Star
J reporter:
THE lily whites are brand-new repub-
J lican organization. The principal plank in
/ their platform is protection to cane sugar
| On this rock they split from the democratic
party, and the present administration seems
to want to encourage the movement. for,
| according to all reports. the federal ap-
| pOintments in the state have all gone to the
! lily whites since their organization. They,
| however. have evinced somewhat of a de-
! sire to bring in the other two republican
! distributing some of this patronage to a
| few blacks and others.
| With the organization of the new repub-
| lican party in Louisiana the number of such
| organizations has been increased to three.
| AS to the actual strength of the entire three
organiza tons. l should say that If they
could bring all Of their votes together into
| one district they might have a fair chance
OF electing one republican to Congress from
| that state. AS they are scattered through
out the state. you can see from this how
| much chance there Is for the fulf1llment of
their prediction Of sending six sugar repub-
Hcans to Congress"
! Mr.. Broussard knows his Louisiana. 1t is
! safe to accept his estimate of the situation
| there 1t is probably safe, too, to conclude
that the chances for republican success
| elsewhere in the lower south are no more
| promising than in Louisiana. A member
or two from North Carolina. a member or
two from Tennessee. will probably repre-
sent the full republican strength in the
next House from those states where Jug
Cling with the suffrage has become fine
1