The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-28
IT ALI DEPENDS.

Discussing The Globe Democrats taunt that 'the South has no will of it's own but is ready to take up anybody that the Democrats of the rest of the country fa- vor." The virginian- Pilot says:
 The Southern people, as matter of fact. are the most independent of Amerf- cans. They are independent almost to Quixotism. But they have had no oppor- tunity to be independent in the matter of the selection of Presidential nominees without playing into the hands of their enemies.
 To a great extent that is truth. and The Globe Democrats taunt Is not wholly undeserved, much as we may feel humii- lated: yet. as The virginian-Pilot re- marks. it was due to circWnstances over which we had little control. Owing to the peculiar conditions existing here the South has had more to apprehend from a Republican administration and Congress than any other section had. We were al- ways standing over a volcano which the party in power could set off if 1t saw proper. When President and Congress were both Republican it was in the power of that party to make the South uninhab- itabie for the white race, or to bring a condition of chaos from which we might have been powerless to escape. It was practiced to come extent during the days of reconstruction and the memory of that period has not passed from the minds of our people.
 Whether the Republican Party would ever attempt to re-enact those scenes may be problematicaL It could never again be done peaceably. at all events. There are yet certain implacable sectionalists in the North who would apparently be glad to again put the negro of the South in pow CT. They are not likely to have sufticient encouragement even from their own peo- pie to attempt it, but the danger has ever been apparent. Circumstances might have come about which would have caus- ed Republicans to again attempt the re- construction of the Southern States, with results tenfold more dire than those which | attended the other effort.
 It is largely because of this possibility | that Southern Democrats have for so many years deferred to those of other l sections and allowed them to practically dictate the candidate and the policy of the party. The majority of the certain Democratic vote is Southern, and if the Democrats of the South should present an
 undivided delegation in any national con- vention they could force the nomination ! of any candidate and the adoption of any platform they would agree on. But | the South cannot elect a President, and | a ticket which would not command tic | support of the other sections would be defeated.
 | Al! this is to be considered but at the same tune we by no means advocate a surrender by the South of all voice or choice in the matter. The black death''
 which threatened us both socially and po- litically is no longer to be seriously fear ed and we feel that the time has come
 when our section can and ought to be
 more self-assertive than it has been. pro- vided, of course, the Southern Democracy | is entirely cured of the alteration whlcl | lately led it astray. If all the Democrats
 of the Southern States will unite in a | grand effort tor old-time Democracy they can plant a sound man on a sound plat
 form, and with the hearty endorsement
 such a ticket would get from conserva. tive citizens everywhere we believe thai
 success is more than probable. If. how
 ever. the Southern wing of the
 party goes to the convention di.
 vided, or if, God forbid! there
 should still be determination | to cling to the un-Democratic theorIcs
 which have twice defeated us. then and in that case 1t were infinitely better for
 us to keep our mouths shut and let the
 Democrats of the North and East name
 both candidates and platform.
 And so. to sum up the whole matter, ii the Southern Democrats will unite in a
 demand for old-time Democracy we shall
 be glad to see them more assertive than
 they have been for many years. but ii
 they will not so unite we hope they will
 remain dumb.