The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-14
A suRPRIsEp EDITOR.

! can organ. had the breath joited out of n by the action of the Republicans in Alabama, and declares that it never expected to live to record any such re- versai of party policy in States where ! the rsee has occupied a conspicuous if not controlling position. and by men who were created in their political life and sustained in 1t for quarter of a century | by Afro-American Republicans. Truly, as Victor Hugo has said. the romances of fact are stranger than the romances of fction."
 But the excruciating feature of 1t is that The Age is not right sure that it is through being surprised by it's Party friends-or those who formerly claimed to be such. we have yet to be fur ther surprised by having the color line drawn bv the National Republican Par ty." 1t says, and though the editor claims that he does not anticipate any such ex- traordinasy action. and admits that i've do not know what would be our sensa- tions should the unexpected happen" yet he admits that he has seen so many ex- traordirsry things happen that he isn't sure whether he would be surprised or not.
 It is really none of our funeral, but we can whisper a word to The Age that 1t can file away for future reference. Whenever the Republican Party, Nation al or State, believes that it will be bene- hted by the elimination of the negro. it will te done. Questions of consistency. gratitude, right and wrong or anything of the kind will have no influence, If the Party leaders thirk their organization will be benefited by ignoring the colored race. In Alabama they thought they saw a political advantage in dropping the me- gro contingent, and they dropped him. That's the whole of it.
 But there Is one thing that may pre- vent the National Republican Party. as we'll as in tte States of the North. from dropping the negro, and that Is simply question of votes. The negroes of the Northern States are no insignificant fac tor in elections, and they have been vot- ing the Republican ticket with cheerful soiidity. as they have in the South where and districts in some of the Northern States where the colored voters hold the balance of power. and if they should be driven from the Republican Party. they could elect . number of Democratic tick cts.
 
 Northern and National Republican organ izations from alternating the colored vot- CTS and fin this and nothing else lies their hope of retaining place or influence in the bama when the negroes will be qualih ed to vote in any appreciable numbers. we shall look for the Republicans again to affiliate with them and to try to use them as they have used them heretofore We may be mistaken in this, but do not be- lievs We are. All that will prevent it will be the belief on the part of Republi- can leaders that they will be stronger by drawing the color Ane. or by keeping it drawn.
 As part of this subject and germane to it. we append an article from The New Fork Post. Its filings at the Democrats of the South are balanced by it's refer ences to Northern as we'll as Southern Republicans. The Post says:
 Why are Crumpacker, Grosvenor. Chandler. ct al. silent over the political ostracism of colored citEens by Repub- lican organizations in the Southern States? When the Democrats in that section were framing election turnstiles that would bar illitsrate negroes while admitting ignorant whites, no political penalty was deemed too severe by the Northern champions of negro rights; but when white Republicans in Alabama and North Carolina are denying representa- ton in party conventions to the saving remnant of the colored vote-the educated and property-Owning negro electorate, which not even Democratic malice and ingenuity could disfranchise-not a pro- test is uttered by the Republicans of the North. Their silence needs explanation. They have not the selfish motive of their brethren of the South, who are substi- tCting white Republican organization for the lost negro vote as a oasis for Federal patronage; and the only logical conclusion is that they have jettisoned the negro vote in their pursuit of the tgnis fatuus of a white mans party in the South. To find a Republican virtue in a Democratic sin Is evidently no wrench to certain kind of political conscience