The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1905-08-30
Negro Candidate for Masistr ate.
We clip from Lexington Leader
OF August 22nd the following:

nouncement of Robert L. Garner, q
colored man, as o candidate for the
Republican nomination for Magis-
trate in the Second Msgisterial dis
trict of Lexington, now represented
In the Fiscal Court by Squire John
b. PAYNE, according him the same
privilege in that regard as it would
any other man, white or colored,
Republican or Democrat.
The Leader publishes Garner's
announcement as a matter of busi-
ness and of news, but it is bound
to express the opinion that il he is
sincerely Republican, and acting
in good faith, he is making a great
mistake and forcing an issue that
ii successful in the preliminary
stages is bound to be fatal to his
party and disastrous to his race in
the end.
In the large Northern cities
where the Negroes form a compar-
atively small part of the population,
and the race problem seldom be-
comes acute, we have known the
Republicans to nominate occasion
al magistrates to represent the Ne
gro race, and the petty litigation
between colored people usually
drifts to these courts. In Cleve-
land for many years the Republi-
cans nominated and elected John =.
Green, Negro, as justice of the
peace, and his court was one of the
most dignified and orderly in the
city, his decisions being universally
respected by white and colored
people.
In the South the congested Negro
population, much of it illiterate
and shiftless, results in wholly dis
similar social conditions and polft-
ical customs, and that which the
Republicans of Cleveland might dc
without raising an issue or causing
even a ripple of comment becomes
absolutely out OF the esques;ion in
city like Lexington.
The Republican party in Ken
tucky, and in Lexington especially
has been handicapped by the gene
raj belief that sooner or later such
demands for Negro recognition
would be made as were voiced by
the recent editorials in the Stand
ard and the speeches of Rev. S. +.
Smith, Porter Jackson and others /,
in the Republican conference, and
that it would not have the strength |
or courage to meet the situation
thus presented. Republican lead
ers, who have appreciated the loyal
ty of a great many good colored |
citizens and sympsthized with |
them in the disadvantages under
which they labor, have heard with !
some timidity the occasional MUIR
murings of discomfort, and have
felt that sooner or later they would
be confronted by the question in
volved in this years demand for
division of the ticket.
The attitude of the Leader is al
most universally indorsed by white
Republicans and independent vot
ers, and several of the most intelli- |
gent colored men of Lexington have
assured us that they appreciate the
situation the Leader presents and
agree with it's conclusions.
In no spirit of antagonism to the
Negro race, but in recognition of
social and political conditions that
are the growth Of generations, the
Republican party must for its own
preservation and perpetuation now
Jake stand that will eventually
-ally to its support hundreds and
thousands of citizens who have
oeen voting the Democratic ticket
lnder protest under the foolish il
usion that Republican supremacy
meant "nigger domination" and
social equality"
The issue had to be met sooner
'r later, and we are not altogether
sorry that it has come this year.
Il is UP to the Republicans of Lex