The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-03-25
DISFRANCHISEMENT THE VERY
BEST AND THE VERY WORST
REMEDY.


the current number of Uncle Remus'
Magazine, Joel Chandler Harris month
ly publication printed at Atlanta. Ga,
which voices the sentiment of the en-
tire South on matters appertaining to
the welfare of the people of that section
of the United States, the dlsfranchise-
ment of the negro is discussed and the
solution of the South's predicament as
result of the disfranchisement of the
colored man is very plainly set forth.
Conditions prevailing in Georgia at
present will of a surety prevail in Mary
land should the disfranchisement
amendment be adopted and a word of
warning now may be of nestimable
benefit to the people of Maryland
Democrat and Republican.
The following extract from the maya
zine above referred to is reproduced
herewith:
The white Democratic primary-an
evil, but until now, perhaps, neces-
sary evil-has literally squeezed the
South dry of the sap of craftsmanship,
and there has sprung up a horde of
shrewd, short-sighted... politicians who
would suffocate-two at the time un-
der the cloak of any one of those great
men who when living were at home in
the White House or formerly STROBE in
the aisles of the Senate and House, head
and shoulder above their fellows from
other sections.
1.-The walls of the South's gallery of
statesmen are today full to overlooking
but her legislative halls are empty. Let
US say that the golden blaze of an era
of commerce necessarily dwarfs the in
tellectual renaissance, but also let US
be fully frank and see the blight that
the white democratic primary has put
on our political buds and so prevented
their full fruitage.
''In what manner does this primary
show its power to rot the South's states
m anship and so rob her of her long held
power and prestige? For example: In
a primary for the Democratic nomina-
ton the race is between Democrats for
selection by Democrats-an and the result
means an election. In nine cases out
of ten there is no lssue-no platform
save democracy-and, as in the two re-
cent gubernatorial primaries in Georgia,
tho rnS11lt &c ,f Il
abuse, vicious cartOonIng, and flow
of billingsgate that would make a fish
wife faint from pure ecstacy; the physi-
cal deficiencies of an opponent are de-
nounced from the platform with all the
vigor of an attack on some venomous,
man-eating trusts, and
mot one step forward is taken in
the path of educating the people in is
sues that confronts them, in the prob
lens and perplexities of our more-than-
ever complicated machinery of govern
ment.
Imagine the difference if Repubuli-
cans and Democrats could begin to
meet in the South in joint debate in a
race for the goYernorship or for seat
in Congress. Tariff, trust curbing,
national banking laws, postal savings
bank, colonial problems, canal condi.
tons, foreign relations, immigration,
and score more of interesting and
vital questions would be exploited, and
in the minds of many young men there
would be implanted the seed of ambi-
ton and knowledge to develop true
craftsmanship; for the South has been
the home Of the statesmen as Virginia
was once the mother of presidents.
$50 the primary, benevolent in it's
outward aspects and first intentions,
has driven the big vital issues out of
the peoples grasp and the platform is
made the place for the airing of vulgar
popularity and personal spite, with
slim filler of patriotism la fub-dub.
This brings us to the disfranchise-
ment of the negro, the very best and
the very worse move that a Southern
state could make.
''If on the one hand the South has
been unfair to the negro in disfranchioe-
ment, on the other, in our method at
least, we have been wantonly unjust to
the illiterate white voter. Not many
uneducated Southern whites voters
and soon-to-be-voters? See where
Georgia or Alabama or South Carolina
stands in percentage of illiteracy
THE educational restriction put on
the negro has proved to him a stimulus
to acquire an education. And he is go
ing to get it. Often he may not be able
to reach to calculus and Greek, and Just
as often when he can he is obnoxious;
but that is beside the question. He can
and will learn of his three RS; and
while the negro is fitting himself for
suffrage, there, safely sheltered by the
''grand-daddy" clause, is sitting the
illiterate white voter whistling and
whiting and forgetting that even
grandfathers, though dead, soon be-
come great-grandfathers, while the
grandson becomes impossible as an an
castor