The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-12-10
CONDITIONS CHANGING,

CONDITIONS CHANGING,
The politicians who are now
scrambling for the shoes of the
dead Collector of the Port of
Charleston, and the United States
Marshal, are giving the President
a great deal of narrowing annoy
ance these days. President Roose-
velt has had some tough pro-
positions to contend with, and
Since the race question has been
piled upon him he finds that
he cannot brush it aside without
doing his party great injury.
So far as this State is concerned
it would matter not whether the
brother in black was recognized,
but in the large doubtful states,
The negro vote is a factor, and
the President cannot give the
colored applicants for official
favor the cold shoulder. In the
State of Ohio and other West
ern States, the negro vote is a
large factor, and both parties
keep a sharp lookout for it. If
the Republicans fails to give the
negro recognition, the Democrats
make-political capital of it., and
as an inducement to capture
that vote they make promises of
recognition. In our opinion,
Roosevelt is not inclined to en-
courage the negro in politics but
he is so situated that he must do
something for him, Or take the
chances of letting the Democrats
in the West capture the politi-
cal prize.
We have about reached the
conclusion that we of the South
are not acting with wisdom when
we contend to prevent our re-
presentation being cut down;
we believe, were congress to re-
duce the representation in the
South, the elimination of the
negro vote would follow and
two white parties would result,
putting the Southern States on
an equal footing with the States
of the North, East, and West;
all sectional lines would be wiped
out, and healthy political con-
dition would come, but as long
as the negro is to be considered,
matters not how insignifcantly
there will always be a solid south
arrayed against a solid north,
and the south will always be
held back. 1t is plain to see,
that the south only has a voice
in the political conventions,
which is nothing more nor less
than the politicians field: what
we need, is a voice in the form
ing of the governmental policies
of the country where the peo-
pie as we'll as the politicians can
be benefited. What good is
there to the people, if we are
not permitted to have a hand in
the shaping Of policies? The
south is a powerful factor in a
political convention, and it furn-
ishishes a large vote, but it does
not help the people of the south,
if we could shape our course so
that the solid north would divide
we then might get something
out of it; this however, will not
come as long as we continue in
our present course. The negro
is practically out of our political
calculations here; in the north
he is not, he is a strong factor
there, because he is needed to
overcome the vast Democratic
southern majority. The cutting
down of our representation
would change this, and it would
in our opinion, be but temporary,
because as soon as both North
and South become divided, new
alliances would be formed upon
pending issues, and then the
South would win friends at the
North whose interests would be
identical with ours, and the
South's just r epresen tation
would be returned and held for
all time.
When Senator Tillman was
seeking new alliances in the
West, he was on the right track,
but unfortunately he did get the
proper element. Those who
took to his ideas were made up
of the element imbued with all
sorts of wild theories, which did
not appeal to the business
mind-it was a revolutionary
element, and business men were
frightened away. A change is
coming, a close observer of po-
litical events must see it, and
the only question is, will the
people of the South act wisely
and take advantage of the op-
portunity, or will they cling to
ideas that are every day proving
detrimental TO their intereStS2