Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1903-10-15
ANOMALOUS POLITICALLY.
CURIOUS Features of thar Political sit
uatiOn in the Southern
States.

days ago a member of congress said the
southerners in politics are study. and
he explained his remark by adding:
They will accept any man a demo
cratic convention hands them, and will
take any old platform it promulgates
the only thing they insist upon being
that the democratic label shall be affixed
to all goods That this should be 50
nearly 40 years after the war is ore
or the curiosities of politics, says
the indianapolis Journal. The term
solid south" originated so long a-o
that the younger generation of voters
now on the stage are ignorant of it's
origin, and almost of its significance,
yet the condition continues long after
the causes that gave rise to it have
passed away II is an unfortunate thing
for the country and especially for the
! south. 1t is the more surprising, be-
! cause, while slavery existed, the only
institution or issue that differentiated
the southern states from those of the
north, there was no solid south Even
the long-continued agitation of the
slavery question and the determined op-
position to its extension did not drive
the south together politically until a
few years before The war. AS long as
the whig party existed its nominees for
president always carried some southern
states. In 1910 William Henry Harrison
carried eight southern states. in 1914
Henry Clay carried five, and as late as
1852 Gen. Scott, the whig candidate. and
nf bar l.
nessse and kentucky. and received
large popular vote in several other south
ern states. In 1856 Millard Fillmore. an
other northern man. received a large
popular vote in every southern state.
though he did not carry one. The civil
war made the south solid, and il has
continued so ever since as far as electoral
votes are concerned. The unfortunate
experiences of the reconstruction period
Increased the political solidity of the
south, and the withdrawal of union
troops during the Hayes administration
did not help matters particle. Forth
last 70 years every southern state has
cast its electoral vote for the demo-
cratic candidate, without caring much
where he came from, or what kind of a
platform he stood on. There were how
ever, nnmiStakable signs of disintegra-
tion In 1896. when Mckinley received
very large popular vote in several south
ern states, and again in 1900, when the
republican vote in the south was almost
equally as large.
The most curious feature of the situa-
tion is that the south should have con-
tinued for nearly 40 years so unswerv-
ing IN its political devotion to party
that has never brought it anything but |
disaster, and which is to-day opposed to
all the national policies that have Gre |
ated the new south, and its unexampled
prosperity. For all the progress the |
south has made since the war. and it has !
been very great, it is indebted, under
providence, to republican policies and !
legislation accomplished in spite of .
steady and determined democratic op-
position. Yet. as the congressman above .
quoted said, the southern states will
accept any man democratic conven-
tlon hands them, and will take any old
platform it promulgates. 4" 1t is a re-
markable case of a people subordinat-
A'S NhSii htOl dl anu material interests to
a political sentiment, which. if if ever
had any reason for existing, has become
only the shadow of a shade In all other
respects the southern people are intel
llgent, progressive and accessible to rea-
son. They are thoroughly posted as to
the resources of the south. and have
shown keen appreciation of and great en-
-erprise In utilizing the opportunities
which republican policies and legisla-
Ion have placed within their reach; vet
hey continue to vote for the party that
has done absolutely nothing for them.
and whose success in a national election
would have blighting influence on every
Industry The condition is so
anomalous that it would seem it cannot
continue permanently, and the sooner II
ends the better for the south and the
whole country.
Republican Policies Sound.
Advocates of republican policies are
sometimes rebuked as being unfairly
PARTISAN in claiming material progress
md prosperity as natural results of the
enforcement of such policies The demo-
ratio free trader does not like to face