The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-05-01
New Series-VOl. xxx. 10 20
THE WHITE MANS PARTY.
Mr.. Ifllman Explains the Cause of
the SOuth's Political Solidity.

| the SOuth's Political Solidity.
| senator Tillman, in his address n
| day or two ago to the South Carolina
Society of New York, spoke with an
earnestness and determination on
political conditions and the race pro-
blem In the South which some of our
Northern contemporaries profess to
be unable to understand. Naturally
they cannot see a perilous and per-
| picking situation in the South in the
same light in which Mr.. Tillman
views 1t. Mr.. Tillman speaks with
the knowledge and intensity of "the
man on the spot" Our Northern con-
temporaries, who are 500 miles dis
tant from the Black Belt of South
| Carolina discuss from the theoretical
standpoint and as an abstract propo-
sition, condition which no man can
realize in all its seriousness unless
brought face to face with it.
In commenting on President Taft's
attitude toward the South and the
suggestion, based upon his overtures.
that the South should no longer re-
main solid in it's devotion to the
Democratic party, Senator Tillman
made statement which reflects un-
questionably the predominant senti-
ment of the white people Of the South
I'VE are often asked he said, "why
We Of the South vote the Democratic
ticket. My answer is that the Demo-
cratic party is the only white mans
man. In South Carolina there are
$4,000 more negro voters, if they were
allowed to vote, than white voters.
We have had eight years of negro
domination, and so long as Demo-
cracy means the rule of the white
man, so long will we remain Demo-
cratic"
| The expectation Of Republican
gains in the Southern States to the
extent of a political revolution in that
quarter will never be realized as long
as the Republican party is associated
in the minds of the Southern people
with the fear Of negro domination. 1t
was through the Republican party
that the Negro became a powerful
factor in the politics of the South and
continued for years to be a menace to
Southern civilization. 1t was through
Democratic party that the white man
secured control Of their own govern
ments and establish white supremacy
in every Southern Stale. No recog-
milton in the distribution of offices,
no rewards in the form of tariff ia
vors, will wean the white men Of
South from the Democratic party. AS
long as there is the remotest possibi-
lity that change to the Republican
party might imperil white supremacy
in the South the overwhelming ma
jority of white men in the Southern
States will adhere, from sheer self-de-
fense, to the Democratic party-the
white mans party" as Senator Till
man describes it.
Mr.. Tiilman is blunt, plsin-spok-
en- man. In respect to the interpreta-
ton Of certain principles of Demo
cracy he is not always lin accord with
all elements of the Democratic party
in the South. But in regard to the
continuance of white supremacy in
the South and also the maintenance
of Democratic solidity in the South
ern States, so long as the Democratic
party is the only party which guar
antees while supremacy, Mr.. Tillman
speaks for every Southern Democrat.
Republicanizaticn of the South is an
"iridescent dream" while the negro
remains menace to Southern civili-
zation. There is nothing the Repub-
lican party could give to the South
which would in the slightest degree
compensate the Southern people for
the breaking down of the existing bar
riers between the races and the sur
render of the safeguards upon which
white supremacy is now firmly estab.
lisbed under the rule of the Demo-
cracy. These are the fundamental
considerations which make the South
solid and will keep it politically in
tact. Mr.. Tillman has given the un-
vanished truth about the South
Baltimore Sum-