The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-09-21
DISCARDS THE
COLORED MAN
Leading New York Paper Sees
Mistake Of Giving Franchise
to Emancipated Slaves.
{ Editorial in New York SUM-

had proved a failure, he expressed a
sentiment which now prevails
throughout this country among both
republicans and democrats.
Moreover, Mr.. Root merely recog-
nized fact. In practise the expert
ment of giving suffrage to the eman-
cipated slaves has proved unsuccess-
full. 1t has broken down completely.
In the south, where are nearly nine
tenths of the negroes, laws and state
constitutional amendments have
practically disfranchised them; yet
the republican party. which gave to
them the suffrage and fortified the
gift with an amendment to the federal
constitution inflicting the penalty of
q reduction of representation in states
which in any way abridged it, has
looked on and done nothing to protect
its negro followers against such dis
elimination, and it becomes more and
more evident every day that it will do
nothing in that direction. When
federal troops were withdrawn from
the soutll as protectors Of negro voters
at the polls, and when the force bill
failed OF enactment, negro suffrage
was doomed, at least for the present
generation. The attempt of the re-
publican party to assure to itself for
all time the electoral votes of south
ern states by means of negro suffrage
not only failed utterally. but was
also the means Of assuring demo-
cratic solidity of the south which
will probably long continue.
At the Maryland republican con-
vention on Wednesday, presided over
by Mr.. Bonararte, member of the
cabipet of president Roosevelt, the
platform adopted contained this
declaration:
''The republican party of the state
Of Maryland favors no social equality
among the races, favors no negro do
mination over the white people here
or elsewhere, and can be depended
upon to guard against the establish
ment of either Of these conditlors here
in Maryland. -
Ii is understood, too, that secretary
Bonaparte had chief hand in the
construction Of this platform. 1t is
notable also that there were only
eight negro delegates in the con-
vention, though at the convention Of
two years ago their number was ten
times as great.
This is Of capital significance. It
indicates that the republicans have
found negro suffrage to be an intol-
erable incubus on their party rather
than a help to it, at least in the
southern states.
Moreover. the negro population Of
Maryland was less than fifth Of the
total in 1900 Of all the states in
which slavery formerly existed, with
the exception of Delaware, Kentucky,
Missouri, and West Virginia, so
largely northern in character and po-
litical sentiment, Maryland has the
smallest percentage of negroes, and
reason for dread Of negro domina-
tion'' would seem to be small there,
if not infinitesimal; yet even the
Maryland republicans are forced for
self-preservation to come out squarely
against social equality for the me-
groes. This declaration, made by q
republican convention presided over
by cabinet officer in republican
administration, reaches out in its
principle to the great body of negro
citizens in states Of the north where
they now exercise the privilege of the
suffrage without restriction. If the
negro of the south is unfit to be
trusted with the franchise, is not the
northern negro equally untrnstworthy
as a voter? If it is right and just
and necessary to take away the
suffrage from the one, should il not be
rescused from misuse By the other?
Ia the very states where the
electoral votes are pivotal for the re-
publican party in close presidential
election the negro population is large
umerically New York and Ohio
about . hundred thousand each, il
Illinois about ninety thousand, in New
Jersey about seventy thousand, in
Indiana and Kansas somewhere about
sixty thousand each. In Massachu.
sstts and Connecticut there arc enough
negroes to make their votes decisive
In . close election. They may turn
the scale in California.
If, then, the republican party aban-
dons the negroes Of Che south and con,