The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1904-06-29
The Negro Suffrage" Plank Ii the
Republican Platform.

representation Ia Congress, con
tanned in the Republican platform,
has naturally excited much com
ment, particularly among the
Democratic politicians of the
South. All agree, as a matter of
course, that it is a plain bait to
catch the negro vote in certain
doubtful States. But otherwise
the comments vary considerably.
There are those who hold that it
is campaign thunder, pure and
simple, and that no sincere at
tempt to reduce the representa-
tion of certain Southern States
will be made in the event of Re-
publican success, There are
others, in whose calculations the
personal equation of The President
figures largely, who think that it
expresses the very plain intention
of the party, now under Mr..
Roosevelt's control, to revive and
execute the plan thae, in the shape
of the Crumpacker bill, has been
so successfully stiiied during sew
eral sessions. Still others, view
ing the matter from different
standpoint, father welcome the
declaration, believing that its
effect will be to make the South
realize the necessity of throwing
its weight in the national conyen-
ton in favor of q man and a plat
form that can win and thus guar
antee her immunity from Federal
interference with her concerns.
That the plank will infame sec
tionalism is accepted by all as be-
yond question.
Whether Republican success
would be followed by an execu-
tion of the threat leveled at this
section no one knows. We do
know, however, that that party is
now apparently under the COM
plete control of a man whose atti-
tude toward us has been decidedly
hostile. We shrewdly suspect that
a firm lease of power will give
him the opportunity he has long
desired of coming out loud and
bold" on the negro question. And
we should not be at all surprised
to find him backing with the force
of his administration, in case he
should be elected, the scheme to
cut down the number of Southern
Congressman, both as party
measure and as just punishment
for the refusal of this section. to
permit its electorate to be de-
bauched by the ingress of unnum-
bered, thinly veneered sayages.
In point of fact, it is, after all,
Mr.. Roosevelt that is more sig
nificant and menacing than the
declaration in the platform.
Strictly considered, that paragraph
contains no ground for perturba-
ton. 1t says that we favor such
congressional action as shall de-
termine whether by special dis
examinations the elective franchise
in any State has been unconstitu-
tionally limited, and, if such is
the case, we demand that Republi-
cans in Congress, etc. I" The
country knows that the limita-
tons obtaining in the Southern
States, at least most of them, have
been declared constitutional by
the Federal Supreme Court. And
SO, if the Republican action is to
be conditioned on the sunconsGi-
tutionality" of the suffrage pro-
visions of our Constitutions, we
need have no fear. But, unfor-
tunately, the second section of the
fourteenth amendment gives Con-
gress full power to deal with the
matter, and it need not be expect
ed that the party would be held
by the wording of its platform if 4
its leaders resolved to carry out
the nefarious Crumpacker pro-
gramme.
One thing is certain, however,
amid all the uncertainties sur
rounding the matter, and that is
the plank will particularly i'm
press the. South with the adyan-
tage of winning in the next cam
paign and thus predispose her
delegates Ia the Democratic con-
vention to work for such har-
monizing of differences as will
best enable the party to present
united and effective front to the
enemy. Confronted with the prob
ability of a partisan effort to cut
down her representation, and with
the possibility of its success she
has entirely too much at stake to
daily with trifes. Democratic
success means more to her than
to any other section Of
this country, because of
this peculiar problem with which
she is saddled and out of which
the Republicans have been max
ing capital since the organization
Of the party. A Republican vic
tory, on the other hand, means
that sectionalism is to receive
fresh fuel and that her tranquility