Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-19
THE NEGRO IN MARYLAND.
Slavery and Not Freedom Drove Whites
From Southern Counties.


From the New York Evening Post
The negro Is to be disfranchised in Mary
land, although there most Of the causes
which have led to similar action by the
states farther south are absent. The negro
population of Maryland Is relatively small
being but 1913 to every LOCO inhabitants as
contrasted with Mississippi 5s5; South Car
DINA. 5s4; Louisiana, All: Alabama, 452;
Florida. 437: Virginia. 356: and North Car
DINA. $50. In Maryland no person can be
chosen by the vote Of the state at large I'M
less he receives more than three white for
every two black votes. Nothing, therefore,
which by any latitude Of language can
possibly be called negro domination is pos
sible there.
In all the other southern commemorative
just named negroes have held distinguished
office. Two of them from Mississippi have
had seats In the Senate of the United
States. In Louisiana. Mississippi and South
Carolina men OF that race have held high
state and judicial offices, and have been
sent to the national House Of Representa-
tives, as they have been from Alabama and
North Carolina. In all the states In which
they are now disfranchised negroes have
filled county and other local offices of dig
nifty, power and emolument. Nothing OF
the kind has ever been known in Maryland
Not only has no negro ever been elected to
any office of any kind in that state. other
than that of city councilman, but no negro
has ever been the candidate Of any organ
lied political party for office.
During the twenty-five years prior to 1895
In which the democratic party controlled all
branches of the state government no at
tempt at Acknowledgement was ever made
There would seem to be less reason for II
now than heretofore. as for ninety years
the proportion of negroes to the total popu-
lation Of the state has been steadily dimfn-
fishing, as appears from every census since
1910. when the ratio was $50 to every LOCO.
When President Roosevelt entertained
Booker Washington the Maryland negroes
were relatively only about half as numerous
as they were when Benjamin Bannecker
was the guest Of Thomas Jefferson. There
Is not single county In Maryland in " fiich
the negroes do not now constitute a smaller
proportion of the total population than they
did twenty years ago. Indeed, outside Of
Baltimore city and county there we're in
1900, 1,761 fewer negroes than there were In
1880. Maryland has really no black belt In
the sense in which that term is used in the
farther southern states, in each of which
there many counties in which the ne
groes are in the majority.
There Is a prevailing superstition that
things were very much better in the three
negro counties-Charles, st. Mary's and
Calvert-in ante-bellum days; that they
were then rich, prosperous and progressive
and that since the war the whites have Left
these counties and the negroes have crowd
ed into them. Now. the fact Is that precise
ly the opposite is true In the halcyon days
before the war" the population of these
counties was decreasing, and was 1900 less
when Abraham Lincoln was elected the six
teenth President (42d1D than 1t was when
George Washington became the first
"a 500. On the other hand, in 1890. after
thirty years of negro suffrage. they had
1900 more inhabitants than they had In
1880 (45,067), and a trif1e more than they
had in 1880 Slavery. and not freedom.
tended to drive out the whites who In 1860
years before % sol and $50. respective
ly). In the forty years since 1860 they have
regained f22,O20) nearly all they lost In the
preceding seventy years. The black popu-
lation. which In 1850 was 1900 more than it
was in 1880. was In 1900 800 less than It
was in 1860.
The fact is that large majority of the
white people of Maryland have never felt
and much of this feeling is entirely indie
pendent Of the way in which the negro
may vote or of the results Of his vote. For
many years no attempt was made to dis
franchise him, simply because it was not
then supposed that the Constitution of the
United States could be defied or evaded.
But that is now thought practicable, and
the democratic politicians are much inter-
ested in 1t, because the large growth in the
white republican vote of the state and the
greater independence of many of the DEM
ocratic voters have made Maryland
doubtful state. If the democratic man.
ayers can get rid of thirty or forty thou
sand negro votes they will be for number
of years in absolute control. 1t Is highly
probable that a constitutional amendment
DISTINGUISHING the negroes and not mate
rally affecting the whites will be adopted
If 1t be submitted to popular vote. Many
white republicans have their full share Of
prejudice against the negro, and are likely
enough either to vote for the amendment
or to refrain from voting at all. Some Of
them have an idea that II the negro Is dis
franchised Maryland will become a repub-
lican state. Whatever may happen in the
remote future, there is no probability Of
such a result for many years to come.
With the negro disfranchised, the normal
democratic majority in Maryland will GER
tainly not be less than $1,000. and may be
more. Under such conditions the repub-
ltcan party organization will go to pieces.
All the walters upon Providence will ally
themselves with the democratic organiza-
ton. Maryland will be as thoroughly
party state as Is Pennsylvania.