The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-21
NOTABLE ARTICLE
BOSTON HERALD'S OPINION OF
 THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.
says tne White People of the South Have But Acted in Self
 Defense.

bOSlon Herald.
 me error into which MT. Root fell in ms speech at the Union League Club is
 'o the partisan bent into
 .t .e ,i'iio mas run by reason of his niN eAcurslons into politics MT, i'oot never hao occasion to think of polit- lcal questions, either from an bis,orico, or practical point of view for ,ha n,,rI pose Of applying theories to nrsctica m III ne became a member of inc C,a,,ino+ IL IS tradition of the RepljlIican port,. that the sunrage was granted to the ne Slo TOT the purpose of elevating him
 ms IS the fundamental error into which MT. noot mas been led by his association with the leaders and politicians of Inc republican Party. He loads the fauI+ of ehe failure of negro suffrage unon inc southern States and the Southern neonle whereas this failure was inevitable hv reason or the motive which induced inc Hepuphcan Party to grant suffrage to the black man. '0 '
 me suffrage was not granted to the
 's iol the purpose of elevating him, ,. s. oI 'ie purpose of giving the South ern States to the Republican PartI Thera
 'ere men among the leaders of thought
 the Republican Party of fortv weave
 'so "ho believed that the ballot was for 'hc uelehse or the black man against the 'hcfoachments and oppression of bis for mer masters. It is undoubtedly true that charles Sumner. for example beIieyea Tn the grant of negro suffrage. because ne believed in the negro, and because he Fesarded him as being possessed of those intellectual principles which we sum in IS political instinct, and which is really tie possession only of the whites Charles sumner ignored all social and radical In
 ne believed, the most of the men who Note- .'"o suffrage in lo65 were gov e' "eu t-..--,. : partisan passion or by partisan greed. They wanted the negro
 to vote in the Southern States because
 they belived that this grant of suffrage 'o the slaves which the war had freed
 would result in making the Southern States Republican.
 we Know what has happened since that
 fruftlesS effort was formulated in the htteenth amendment to the Constitution
 ne negro has not been permitted to vote. By one device or another he has been Kept away from the polls, until in recent years he has become not at all a factor III the political life of the States in which ne dWells, not an influence upon the gov ernment of his own locality, but merely a factor of the Republican organization So far as politics is concerned. the negro IS now, as he has been for a dozen years purchasable commodity In the make-up or national Republican conventions.
 he mas no power and no influence in his nome community. He has been excluded from holding office in his towns. his conn ties and his States. To him parttcipation Tn politics has not meant an opportunity Tor public service. There has been no chance offered him to benefit the State or ms people. No public service of a high character has been demanded of him, no such service has 1t been possible for him to render. He has been condemned +o such participation in party politics as the managers of the Republican machine or the city of New York are condemned 10. In other words he Is in politics for the spells Of office. or for the bribe money wnlch conscienceless politicians pay for votes In primaries and conventions.
 Tn the city of New York Tammany Hall pays well for the friendship of members or the Republican machine Legislation at Albany for the benefit of the Hall ia purohased by the distribution of municipal oInces' In the Southern States the negro idS come to represent in national politics very much what Republican politicians in the city of New York stand for in +hn politics of the State. The Republican noI- itic1an of a Southern State with a blao,- skin Is usually corrupt and corruntiro person, belonging to a class the like of "hich IS the most obnoxious in our North erh clties. Men who want votes in Ma tional Conventions buy the black cheanlv ana pay him generally with Federal offices which he administers in a comrnupit,, which knows him, not for a black man but for scoundrel
 II the negro Is now less thought of and m nfn oh ts more onnoXlous than he was In the SoutHerH states' IL Is not because, as MT. root seems to think, there has been A change Of sentiment toward him. grow ing out of inherent antipathv n, tbo Southern white: 1t is because the Southerp black man who Is in politics stands for all that Tammany stands for in the citv or New York. and even more The chanpe of sentiment toward the individual h1ack | man which Mir. Root recognizes as a foa- ture of the moment is the erowtb or | many years.
 For this change of sentiment Mir Han na Is much more responsible than tbe Southern whites or the Democratic Party | It Is not true, as We all know, that Mr | Hanna IS the first corrupter of the blacks | but conditions have arisen which bave | eliminated in MT. Hanna's time and which have brought about the conse- quences which MT. Root deplores.
 Excluded from the rewards and gains of politics at home, the blacks have pre served their influence and their power In the party organization itself They do not vote in the Southern States because their votes count for nothing; they do vote in the Republican caucuses and nri- maries. and constitute the majority of votes inside the party give them a stand Ing which brings them rewards from the Federal Government The black man of the South who Is in politics at all is in Republican conventions, because their