Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-03-31
POLITICS IN FLORIDA.
DIR. GREEN WRITES OF THE
NEGRO PROBLEM IN THE
SOUTH.
Disposition to Disfranchise Negroes
Still Strong, Despite Better
understanding.

1
Editor Public Opinion:
The readers of the Public Opin-
ion may perhaps remember that
when President Taft was sojourn-
| ing in Georgia, a few days since,
he gave courageous expressions on
more than one occasion to some
very optimistic thoughts regarding
the much talked of breaking up of
| the Solid South The president
] appeared to be hopeful that in the
near future there will come rift
in the cloud which has so long
| darkened the southern skies large
| enough to admit into the light, not
| only the Mysterious Stranger" and
! the other states along the border,
but even also the black belt of the
South Atlantic group and the gulf
! states further west.
Well, from the standpoint of re-
publicans here in the south, such
contamination is doubtless de-
| sirable; but ii hardly seems TO be
| attainable just yet. In some of the
| old border states south of Mason
and DiXon's line the voters will
| probably continue for some time TO
come pretty nearly equally divided
politically switching from one party
to another as their best judgment
may dictate. But further south no
such division of sentiment has ever
existed, the social problem, as every
intelligent person knows is the all
absorbing thing in southern poll
tics; other questions are secondary.
The whites feel that they are super
Tor to the negroes and that feeling
dominates their political as we'll as
social life; it is the supreme thing
with them. For this and other
reasons which to the whites appear
quite sufficient, the south will be
likely to maintain its solidity for
the present.
Judging by what he says in his
message to congress, however, the
President appears to be concerned
not so much about an early break
age in the electoral vote of the
south as to a wider and freer dis
cussion of political views and a
larger liberation for all classes of
citizens. The sensible attitude ilc
assumes as to the appointment of
negroes to local offices where the
race feeling is, acute, will tend 10
and create a better and friendlier
feeling toward the Republican adj
ministration, but it will not do
much toward checking what APP
pears to be g. growing disposition
to entirely eliminate the blacks
from local politics. In line with
what seems to be the popular drift
in this state, the Palatka News joins
with other papers in the demand for
new state constitution which shall
contain an amendment disfranchis-
ing the blacks. In late issue the
News has an editorial from which
| clip the following:
Recently the State of Georgia,
tired of the negro's menace and
growing Importance as balance of
power in the affairs of various
counties and even the state at large,
determined upon DISTINGUISHING
amendment to the state Constitu
ton. This amendment was finally
passed, and though the majority
was small. the negro has been elm
mated from the politics of Georgia.
If Florida desires that its gov
eminent shall remain in the hands
of its citizens of Anglo-Saxon blood,
it, too, will be obliged to incorpor-
ate that desire into the fundament
al law of the state.
The negro is menace to the
moral and political advancement of
the state. Inscriptions factional
leaders are often caught in the act
of siliciting his vote. In the set
Element o. moral questions, always
non-partisan, the negro race lines
up practically solid for the immor-
al.
Take as an example the local OPP
tion election of year ago in Put
nam county. But few negroes were
qualified to vote and the question
was practically settled by the white
voters. The county voted at that
time to outlaw the sale of liquor.
Since that time more than 200
negroes have been qualified to vote
in the next local option election,
which the liquor interests will
strive to bring about next Septem-
Der. They will vote for liquor, SO
out of 100 of them.
In a contest of this kind between
Anglo-SaXons there is a satisfaction
to either side in the settlement
But when it is known that the
negro was brought in to settle ii
for us-there is social and political
nausea.
If the people of the state wish
10 eliminate the negro as a political
factor there is but one way to do ii
"a constitutional convention. Such
convention could do the trick and
yet leave the latch-string to the
door OF hope hanging on the out
side for the worthy negro and those
who are ambitious to become such.
Give us the convention"
ii. II. GREEN.