The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-10-22
WHAT HAS CAUSED THE CHANGE!


out of the Republican State Convention
1t is given out that the President ap-
proves organizing the Lily White party
in the South. The next week Pritchard
journeys to Alabama, makes the same
speech that he made at Greensboro. and
the Alabama Republicans notify the ne
groes that they are not wanted. Then
drag net is set to catch Democrats into
1.-The respectable Republican party"
They are offered all the nominations they
will take. pledged plenty of campaign
Doodle, and promised Ito be taken care
Of at the lame duck department of the
national administration. A bakers dozen
Democrats, who had been denied posi-
tions as big as their appetite craved, bit
at the hook. and are now being run for
Office in North Carolina for various po-
sitions from Chief Justice down. So
Lilly White" was this new respectable
Republican party" run by the same gang
which put 1000 negroes in office, that II
anyone said niger" in their hearing
they almost had a fit. And their organs
squeaked if niger" was so much as
limited at by a Democratic speaker. We
were told that the National Republican
party had kicked out the niger" and
able sin.
Suddenly, without warning, like peal
of thunder out of a clear sky, there came
declaration from Washington that
busted the respectable" Republican
party in the Southern States. Some ne
gro bishops called to see the President
to protest against the way they were
treated by the Republican leaders in
North Carolina and Alabama. They came
away saying that the President repudiated
the action of Southern white Republicans
in excluding them from participation in
the party councils. Nobody has ques-
toned the truthfulness of their state
ment Last week, when the Negro Con-
ference was held in Raleigh to protest
against the treatment of negro Republi-
cans, letter was given out for pub
LEGATION by Lee Person, ex-Republican
Senator from Edgecombe county. The
letter was written by Hon. John S. Clark
son, recently appointed Surveyor of the
Port of New York" his duties being to
look after Southern delegates for Roose-
Welt. Here is his letter:
New York, N. Y, Oct. 13, 1902
NY Dear Mr.. Person: 1 am glad to
have your letter. / need no thanks for
what l did in opposing the Jim Crow"
party in Alabama and other Southern
States. No self-respecting Republican
can tolerate any such attempted de-
parture from the cardinal doctrine of the
party. The President has no sympathy
with it, and you may assure all your
friends, and your whole race, that he is
as sound on the doctrine of human rights
and manhood suffrage as l am.
shall be glad to hear from you when
ever you have anything to communicate.
Sincerely yours,
JAMES S. GARRISON.
Concluding a sarcastic editorial, sug-
gested by Mr.. Clarksons letter to Lee
Person, the New York Times of yester
day said:
"He stole my niggers," said the late
John Sherman, abiding to the secret,
dark and midnight intrigues of Mr.. Rus
sell A. Alger, through which Mr.. Sher-
mans careful plans for securing the sup
port of all the colored delegates in
coming National Convention were made
to miscarry. We do not know whether
the finger of enticement is now reckoning
the colored voters from any quarter. Mr..
Clarkson's labors among the blacks are
purely philanthropic. Incidentally, of
course he is in the way to hear of any
political movements which would work
to the disadvantage of the colored race
and the Republican party. Naturally, If
such information came to him he would
write just such a letter as that which he
sent to Mr.. Person. There are not many
men wearing away their lives in the toll of
an eight thousand -dollar Federal office
who would take the time and trouble to
write a kind letter to a humble negro
politician down in North Carolina.
should be glad to hear from you when
ever you have anything to communicate
says this hard working man in conclud-
ing his letter to Mr.. Lee Person."
There are two explanations that may
have caused the abandonment of white
Republican party in the South.
1. The first Is that it offends the ne
gro voters in the close States OF the
North. 1t is we'll known that il there
were no negro voters in New Jersey. New
York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois those
States would always go Democratic 1t
s the negro vote that makes them Repub-
lican. The Northern negroes were be-
ginning to show their teeth, because
their brethren in the South were kicked
out of the Republican conventions. One
of them said: 1.-The Republican Conven-
ton DISTINGUISHES the most intelligent
negroes in the councils of the party,
while at the polls the Democrats dis
franchise only the ignorant of our race"
Mr.. Clarkson, whose special business it