Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1905-06-30
WAsHrKaros. Iune 81. 1905.

that Republicans Of marked prominence do
not hesitate TO express their sympathy with
the movement which causes 30 much pain
and distress 10 the new Secretary OF the Navy,
the chairman Of the Republican State Com.
mittee and all the other Republican leaders
Of Maryland. OF course, when their ex-
pressions are for public consumption, Re
publican leaders here will rave Just like the
Republican leaders in Maryland, bot that is
something else. No doubt as the campaign
progresses II will be easy 10 induce Repub-
lican Congressmen and orators from the
outside TO take part and talk precisely as
Mr.. Bonaparte and Mr.. Hanna are talking.
Next winter, after the so-called Poe amend
ment Is adopted, unquesticnably there will
be a lot oil fiery defamation in Congress in
the same strain. That will be all. The
movement TO confne the suffrage TO sub
stance and intelligence will 20 on, and it
will, as it does, command the approval OF
the majority everywhere. But yesterday 8
Western Republican said TO me in the pres.
ence OF number of others, sill of bis own
party, he hoped TO see the day when the
negro would be eliminated from the suffrage
10 every State Of the Union. Not one OF
them dissented. You can hear any day in
Washington Republicans saying there ought
to be Jim Crow cars on the street railways.
The Republican politicians 10 Maryland
may tear their hair and beat their breasts 10
their hearts content. Bot they have a mo
hopoly OF the fun, and no one outside wants
10 divide with them. Anyone here OF judg
ment and experience who cares TO exercise
his faculties can see as be runs that the na-
tiOnal Republican party has abandoned the
negro to his political fate. Why? Because
ii is inevitable, and because it Is Just. / DEFY
Mr.. Bonaparte or Mr.. Hanna, or any OF
them, to find one rational man OF their party
out OF ten whose views possess any value or
influence who will not admit the establish.
ment OF negro suffrage TO have been a blum.
der, II not crime. Indeed, it is a matter
which has passed out OF the realm OF argu-
ment. II Is an admitted fact. No word paint
ing, no flights OF imagination, no heights nor
depths OF denunciation can alter the plain,
naked fact that the negro is no more fit for
the suffrage to-day than he was on the day
II was conferred upon him. His political
slavery Of the last thirty-fve years has been
worse than his preceding bodily slavery it
has been vicious, demOralizing, degrading
In the extreme. The blind mule in the
treadmll displays every whit as much In
telligence as does the negro in his exercise
OF the privilege OF the elective franchise.
For il is a privilege, one TO be given and one
10 be taken away, and in no sense right.
The negroes of Maryland voted for the frat
time at the Congressional elections Of 1870
They voted the Republican ticket In a mass
They have been doing it ever since. Where
Is the intelligence, the discrimination, the
weighing OF issues in this2 Why, you might
us well carry the horses and dogs OF Mary
land 10 the polls and vote them for the Re.
publican ticket. II Is natural perhaps for
Mr.. Hanna and Mr.. Stone to want TO hold on
TO such political asset as this, but, for the
life Of me, l don't see how 1t can commend
itself TO the body OF the people Of Maryland.
have said the national Republican party has
abandoned the negro TO his fate because II is
right However, there is another reason more
determining in It's effect on the minds OF practl-
cal politicians than any mere question OF
right or wrong know all about the e..
adjustment OF negro suffrage. / was here
N the midst of things when ii was con-
,eived and when IL was Matched.
The people mainly receive their impress.
lions OF legislation through what takes place
the open. | make no doubt, even at
his day, there are sentimental persons who
would be moved to tears Of sympathy over
he high spun and high. flown arguments
Uttered on the floors Of Congress 10 favor
4 negro suffrage. How differently would they
eel II they could have heard what took place
caususl II was not by Congress negro
suffrage was fastened upon this country, but
by Republican Senatorial caucus sitting
behind closed doors. Congress merely reg.
istered the edict Of the caucus. This caucus
decided for negro suffrage by a bare ma
jority OF one. BY what arguments was this
obtainedf Not by the beautiful talk about
the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood
of man, and all that sort of thing. oh, no.
simply and solely because 1t was urged
again and again that the negro would be
the permanent political vassal Of the Re-
publican party. Even then II required the
most desperate appeals to party loyalty and
party interest TO secure this pitilul majority
OF one. For there were many Republican
Senators who tugged hard with their con-
sciences before they could get their own
consent 10 lasten this awful curse upon the
institutions OF this country. II never was
put there constitntionally or lawfully, for it
was not ratified by the free will OF the States.
II by any possibility the Supreme Court
could be brought face Ia face with this ques.
ton 1t could not decide otherwise. Unfor.
tunately, there Is no hope of this. Well, the
scheme worked Tor while. The Republi.
can party, with It's hordes of negro vassals,
placed It's carpetbag allies in control in the
South. The sickening story OF that satur.
MALTA OF crime and lust and rapine made the
whole nation SILVER aud shudder aud thrill
with horror. What saved Maryland from
a similar fate Only the accident that ne
groes were not so numerous as 10 the States
10 the South. The South, in maddened des
peration, rose and burst It's letters There
was talk, as there will he again, but there
was no attempt from Washington 10 forge
the chains anew. The Republican leaders
concluded negroes were no longer uumps,
and day by day from that time 10 this they
are more and more convinced TO this effect.
Therefore, in their hearts they are really
bidding Godspeed 10 such movements as
that In progress now In Maryland. can
not tell how long In the most influential Re.
publican circles the feeling has been grow
ing that the party will be 10 infinitely bet.
ter condition TO be rid OF the negro, the Mary
land Republicans 10 the contrary notwith
standing.
read that Mr., Hanna said for thirty years
the great struggle OF the Republican party
In Maryland has been TO get and keep hon.
eat elections This was not always the case
with the Republican party In Maryland.
There was time anterior 10 this thirty years
OF which be speaks when honest elections
were just what the Republican party of
Maryland didn't want. From 1861 TO 1867
the Republican party was 10 absolute con.
troll In Maryland, and there was not an hon
est election 10 all that period. II there had
been the Republican party would not have
been 10 control. Mr.. Bonaparte and Mr..
Hanna are much frightened about honest
elections. II is only in Maryland, however.
that they demand honest elections. Phila.
delphia is only hundred miles from Balti-
more, but their political vision does not
seem TO extend that far. The Republicans
OF Maryland, according 70 Mr.. Hanna, have
been struggling for thirty years for honest
elections. The Republicans Of Philadelphia
for the past thirty years have been struR.
Cling against honest elections and have suc.
ceeded. There has not been an honest elec.
ton In Philadelphia in more than that time
The people OF Philadelphia have very re
Gently risen 10 their wrath and swept out
the Infamous Republican ring-permaneut-
ly, II IL 70 be hoped. although some fear