The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-08-07
BRYAN AND THE NEGRO VOTE


In his Macon speech Mr.. Watson
claimed that Mr.. Bryan was playing
fast and loose" on the Brownsville
affair. and while he had held up the
presidents hands in some Of his other
policies he studiously avoided prais-
ing him for the brave stand he too
on the Brownsville "shOot-up"
Mr.. Watson threatens 20 smoke
Mr.. Bryan out on this matter. so vital
ly interesting to southern voters. if.
he says, il is possible to do so.
Since M. WatsOn's Macon speech
the Charleston News and Courier has
come to his assistance ami is aiding
him in smoking" Mr. Bryan out. and
is demanding that be make a public
deliverance on this subject.
The News and Courier says:
We have no right TO ask for any
promise from Mr.. Taft as to what he
will do with the negro question if he
snail be elected. But the questions
We have asked Mr.. Bryan areentire-
" proper in view of the relation of
the south to him and its particular
responsibility for his nomination at
Denver. We have asked him three
questions bearing directly upon the
negro in the south, namely, if elected
president, first, will be attempt any
| interference with the conditions of
negro suffrage in the southern states;
second, will he make any effort to re-
store the negro soldiers who "shOt
up" the town of Brownsville, Texas,
to the service; and, third, will he ap-
point negroes to official places in the
federal service, meaning the federal
service in the south. He can answer
these questions for himself, and the
white people of the south have a
right to know. That is ALL"
The Columbia State says that Mr.
Bryan needs no smoking OUT on the
Brownsville affair, or on the negro
question generally.
The State quotes Mr.. Bryan's posi-
ton on the Brownsville affair from
the COmmoner, made soon after that
occurrence, as follows:
And still more is il the duty of sol
diers, sworn to support the cOnstitu-
ton and the laws, to assist in bring
ing to punishment those who are
guilty of criminal offenses. even
though the guilty parties belong to
the same company The friends of
the black man, whether they be them
selves white or black, can not afford
to defend crime or the shielding of
crime. 1t may be that the president
has gone beyond his authority; if so.
the question ought to be discussed as
a legal one. Those who assert the
moral right Of cOlored soldiers to
shield comrades charged with a cap
ital offense will not give any material
assistance in the settlement OF the
race question"
As to Mr. Bryan's position on the
south;s attitude toward the negro,
the State quotes Mr.. Bryan as fol-
lows:
"The white man in the south has
disfranchised the negro in self-pro-
lection: and there is not republican
in the north who would not have done
the same thing under the same circum-
stances. These republicans in the
north who dispute this or say they are
different from the south, either are
not frank with themselves or are as
Stunning what is not true. The white
men of the south will not allow a few
men to use the solid black vote to
further their own financial and politi-
cal interests. And that is what was
being done.
81 want to say right now that the
white men in the south are giving the
negroes better laws than the negroes
would give to the white men if they
were making the laws"
The State says that Mr.. Bryan had
said more along this line than Judge
Parker or the late President Cleve-
land ever said, and his utterances
ought to be entirely satisfactory to
southern democrats.
This paper agrees with the state
that Mr.. Bryan needs no smoking
out"-his position concerning this
question is too well known to give
southern democrats the least uneasi-
ness.