The Democratic advocate., 1909-10-08
negro SUFFRAGE
in The south
ALL BUT MARYLAND HAVE TAKEN The
BALLOT FROM The NEGRO
This Is Our Last Chance to Line Up
With Our Sister States

1t shivers to it's bones for the fate
which is to come upon Maryland as
one-party State, but it has no regret
'11r condemnation for the tricky cond1-
tions. graft, ballot-box stufting and
repeating at elections which ever since
the Civil War have prevailed IN the
Republican State of Pennsylvania
Rhere are more Republican one-party
States than Pennsylvania where the
ayiIs with which Maryland is threat
aned have been and are tenfold worse.
But we need not bother about them
ket us take the States Of the South as
examples, for quite number OF years
before 1861 and up to the present time
the Southern States have been sol1dly
arrayed on the side of one political
party. From 1852, when the Wing
party went down in final extinction,
to the Reconstruction era, the Demo-
cratic party practically held the en-
tire South. Corruption in politics
was unknown The electorate was
pure and intelligent; the representa-
tives in the National Congress and In
the State Legislature were men OF
high ability and of character beyond
reproach; government was honestly
efficiently and economically admins
tered.
Then came that cursed, unholy era
of Reconstruction, so-called, and for
a series of dismal, calamltous years
the Southern States were Stlllone-party
States, but not Democratic. RepuDllcan
carpet-baggers, foul birds OF prey,
the worst scum of the earth, Swarmed
down upon the South and, with the
aid of the cursed negro suffrage,
which it is contended should still be
hung to the neck of Maryland, cast
into chains that whole section. My
God What chains they were IL is
an oft-to1d tale and iteration may
weary, but the day can never come
when every noble heart will not tnrob
with horror and Indignation at the
record of the government of those Re-
publican one-party States. The un-
bappy people were not put to the
sword by their Republican rulers. 1t
would have been better fate for many.
Pillage and rapine ran riot; the States
were poverty-stricken to the last de-
gree; all public and private enter
prise was stifled, and a whole people
almost literally left starving.
Now, mark the contrast Little by
lite at first, and then more rapidly
and vigorously, those States loosened
the Republican chains that bound
them. One after another they at last
shook off the hideous fetters alto
gether the strongest of all being neg
70 suffrage. They were still one
party States, but, blessed be Allah!
not Republican, What have they
done for themselves as Democratic
States? Such advancement in mater
ial progress has not been excelled.
The air huns with prosperity. Bus1-
ness enterprises OF as great magn1-
tude as in any other part of the coun-
try are constantly put in motion. All
the magnificent natural resources of
these States are being developed, the
people, relieved of the incubus, which
held them down, are buoyant, cheerful
and hopeful 1t will not be long before
the East and the West will have to
hump to keep the South from leading
the procession. 1t is no longer that
Northern adventures and political SOL
diers of fortune flock to the South.
Men Of character and men of capital
by hundreds and thousands are going
from the East and the West into every
State of the South. They are helping
to build up what their predecessors
attempted to destroy. They are at
tracted by the knowledge that good |
government is achieved; that the |
blight and contamination of negro suf-
frage is no longer to be feared. Nine |
tenths of these men were Republicans
on national issues when they went
Southland may yet be for that mat
ter-but in all local contests they vote
the Democratic ticket. The one-party
cry has no terrors for them. If the
negro is eliminated from the electo-
ate in Maryland, why should the State
not have the same prospects for ad-
vancement and development as its sis
ter States of the South? Why is it
that the desirable class of immigrants
to a large extent avoid Maryland and
go to States where the negro and his
political privileges are not so much
in evidence?
Among other false statements of the
Maryland Republican leaders is the
assertion as to the small percentage
Of negroes in it's population. It is
said on good authority that the per-
centage of negroes in Maryland is
four times greater than in Missouri,
almost about the same as Texas, half
as large as Kentucky and o little over
three per cent. less than Tennessee.
Baltimore per square mile is the
largest urban center of negro popula-
ton in the country.
Texas is a grand State, with its
teeming millions of people, it's vast
territory, it's stupendous cotton crop,
it's boundless cattle ranges and the
richness and variety of it's many pro-
ducts. 1t is rock-ribbed Democratic
one-party State. There are not
enough negroes voting in Texas-to
speak figuratively-to fill bushel
measure. In some counties in Texas
no negroe is permitted to plant his
foot There are thosands of indolent, |
shiftless, vicious negroes in Maryland |
whose only occupation is voting the
Republican ticket. No negro without
visible means of support is tolerated |
in Texas. He is simply told to move
on, and he moves. Now, you must
understand, it is not former slave
responsible for this. Texas today has
five or six times the population it had
holders or their descendants who are
in 1865. Some of this increase is, of
course, due to emigration from the !
other Southern States, but the bulk
of it is from the nonslave-holding
States and foreign countries This
mass of men when settling in Texas
could not possibly have entertained
any prejudice against the negro To
the contrary it is safe to assume they
were favorably inclined toward him.
Association and observation taught /
them what it has taught all other |