The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-23
REPUBS ARE ANXIOUS
ATTITUDE OF NEGROES GIVES
 THEM CONCERN.
Some Public Men Believe Blacks VIII Refuse FlatIy to Vote for Taft
 Whose Friends Laugh

william n. Tart or Theodore Roosevelt IS undoubtedly giving the average Re. publican politician no little concern.
 And beyond any doubt the final strug- gle in shaping up the various State delegations is being conducted on lines Which would seemingly make the ne- gro voter more of factor in settling the question than he has ever been in a national contest.
 This Is quite manifest if any seeker after information will take the trou- ble to sound Republicans both in and out of Congress with the understand Ing that his views are not to find their way into print.
 The quiet talk in Republican circles indicates that most of those who do not think 1t wise to nominate Secre- tary Taft is based on a firm belief that the negroes are in earnest when they declare that they will not vote for him If he should be the choice of the Chicago convention in June.
 The voting strength of the negroes in Ohio. New Jersey. New York. Penn sylvania. Indiana, Illinois. Kansas and Massachusetts has been controlled al- most to man by the Republicans in years gone by. and in close contests 1t has saved the party from defeat many a time.
 In private conversations ardent sup 1 the negroes are just now violently op-. posed to the administration candidate for President. This they figure Is due primarily to the action of President Roosevelt in kicking out of the army three companies of negro soldiers on account of the Brownsville shooting. Negroes all over the country have been hoping that because they have protested against the President and Secretary Taft that the party leaders would listen to their grumbllngs and nominate some one who Is not objec- tionable to the race.
 Most of the Taft supporters who have been heard to express opinions l here are not disposed to admit that the threatened bolt of the negroes will amount to much. Their idea IS that the blacks are mad at present and are | merely blowing off steam to keep from exploding, but they will be found | marching to the polls in November, voting for the big Secretary of War if he Is placed at the head of the ticket, as they think he will be. The negroes they contend. will not like the dose. but they will take 1t rather than see Bryan or some other man put up by l the Democrats elected.
 George H. White. formerly of North Carolina, but for some years a prac- ticing attorney In Philadelphia, is one 
 with the organization formed for the purpose of trying to prevent the nofl- | ination of either Secretary Taft or l President Roosevelt by the Chicago convention.
 1 White was the last negro to hold seat in Congress, He comes to Wash l ington quite frequently. He says. that from what he knows of the temper | of the negroes not less than 1000, 900 l will bolt the Republican party this | year if the Roosevelt Taft combination | run the coming campaign. White goes further than some of the others identi- | fled with the movement in declaring that If Bryan Is the Democratic nomt- l nee the large ma jority of these negroes I would vote for him as a rebuke to the 1 present administration.
 Some of the other officers of tho 1 organization do not go that far. They l contend that quite a percentage of the disgruntled ones would support the ] Democratic candidate. and the others I would decline to vote at all for Presi- I dent.
 Senator Foraker is clearly the choice I of the negroes for the Presidency. but l they are beginning to realize that he l has no chance for the nomination at l Chicago. They hear too much talk in this city to the effect that if 1t isn't i Taft at the Chicago Convention it win i De t6OOSeVelI, ana that kOOu news l for the blacks.
 According to what can be gleaned l from talking with leading Democrats they do not put much faith in the l threats of the negroes. The general expectation among Democrats is that ,l nine-tenths of the negroes will sup. port the Republican ticket this year no matter who happens to head tho ticket. The blacks, they think, arc . AA-,1 n a.-. Party, and they would not know how to break loose and assert their inde pendence. At any rate the Democrat. who are hopeful of defeating the Re publicans in the national contest thit year are not figuring on material hell from negroes.
 One of the most active workers il the Republican Party against tht Roosevelt Taft combination and wh, has for many years been prominen at the national conventions of hi
 party, has thrown up the sponge an, looks for the nomination of Taft a Chicago. His main objection to havinl his name appear in connection with public statement at this time is tha he feels blue over the outlook and doe
 not relish the idea of belonging to tn army of the defeated. If this man name could be quoted it would creat something of a sensation in politica
 circles.
 A few days before the recent Stat
 Convention was held in New York you
 correspondent met him and inquired:
 How comes on the fight against tn
 administration combfnation?"
 Looks to me if 1t is about over
 was the rather gloomy reply.
 This was surprising in view of tn
 fact that this Republican and sever;
 others had felt so certain a month bC
 fore of forming a successful combina
 tion against Taft at the Chicago COT
 vention.
 Being pressed for a further explar
 ation. he continued:
 "The power of President Rooseve
 is too much for us. He will fore
 Taft's nomination Why. New Yorl
 really for Taft. You will get an ide
 district conventions are hold. Hughe
 has no chance and never did, and tn
 real choice of the New York Republ
 cans Is Taft The same condition eS
 ists in Pennsylvania. Knox cannot de liver that delegation to any anti ad
 ministration man after he drops out.
 Every reader of newspapers know
 that New York gave Hughes only
 perfunctory indorsement. The mos
 important statement made by the Re
 publican quoted above was this:
 What makes the old line Republ
 cans sick at heart is that the Roose
 velt-Taft fellows do moi know 'wha
 is in store for them if they force Tai
 on the party. I am confident that tn
 rank and file of the negroes will nc