The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-11-20
SOUTH May
SOON CEASE
TO Be SOLID
Satisfaction Over Prospect
General in Various Sections
Among Best Class Southern
Democrats.
HARDING IS WELL Liked
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

NEW ORLEANS, La, Nov. 20
When Senator Harding was address
ing the open air crowd in New Orlean
on Tuesday, just before sailing O
Panama, l stood on the city hall step
behind him with the owner and edito
OF one of the New Orleans newspapers
man who not only is a Democrat b,
conviction, but is so tied to that part,
by tradition and official association
that it is possible to speak of him a.
n Brahmin among Democrats.
The remark which occurred to thi:
man as we watched the upturned face!
was this: "The significant thing abou
that crowd, is that there is hardly {
negro In it; on former occasions, wher
Republican presidents visited New Or
leans, the occasion was regarded by
the negros as their particular day. anC
more than half the crowd was colored
That crowd, that has come to heal
Harding" he continued, sis represent
ative of the people who voted for him.
They are as good as any people
In our city. In some respects they arc
the best people in our city"
Best People Vote.
The people who voted for Harding
include most of our banking people
most of our mercantile people, and
most of the people connected with our
leading industries. Actually two-fifths
of the people of this state voted for
Harding. and most of them were peO-
pie of this class. The negro element
in the vote that Harding got was
a negligible fraction. not over three
or four thousand at the outside With
the votes of the people of the best
class Harding carried several dis
.rlcts of this city, and came close to
carrying the city as a whole.
"lf the Republicans had been wcll
organized and had made a real fight,
or if the Democratic vote had not been
stimulated by the fact that proposal.
for a new constitution was voted on
the same day, Harding might well
have carried Louisiana"
Expresses Satisfaction.
All these things and others to tho
same effect this Democratic editor
said, and he said them not with bitter.
ness or regret, but with satisfaction
And this satisfaction with the prospect
that the south may soon cease to be
a solid unit politically, and may be.
come normal section like every other
part of the country, doubtful as be-
tween the parties and with both par
ties contending for it in each election
The satisfaction over this prospect is
general with the class of Democrats
of whom this speaker is typical.
In some parts of the South this
satisfaction is true on the grounds
that it is more wholesome for a COM
munity to have two parties contend
ing for its votes than for one party
to have a monopoly of it. They cite
the educational value of political cam
paigns, political delegates and politi-
cal pamphleting."
Want Protection.
IN Louisiana the satisfaction over
Republican victory is not entirely al
truistic. Louisiana is less a cotton
state than the other southern states.
Louisiana is sugar state, a rice state
and a lumber state. And all three of
these industries need, or think they
need protection. When Senator Hard
ing crossed the state from west to
cast on his way from Texas to New
Orleans he passed through no commun-
lty that is not a sugar or a rice COM
All this satisfaction with Republican
victory, on the part of those southern
ers who enter in that satisfaction, in
cludes one important assumption. 1t
includes the assumption that the Re-
publican party if and when it becomes
equal in power to the Democrats in
The south will take the same attitudes
mat the Democrats take toward negro
voting. 1t goes on the assumption that
Wherever the negro population is half
Or close to half Of the whole, that ele-
ment shall not be solicited to vote
and become balance of power be
tween two white factions.
South Is Agreed.
If the south thought the Republi- |
cans would be likely to do in the fu- !
.ure as they have in the past, to stim !
llate the negro to vote so as to give !
hat many paWnS to unscrupulous poll !
icianS, to bribe the negro and Inv !
and sell his power in the national !
elections, if the south thought the Re-
'ublicans were going to continue these |
PRACTICES, the Republican party would
lave no better prospects here in the
uture than in the past. But the south
las come to feel that nearly every-
'ody now agrees about what is best
o do about the negro as a voter in
communities where he is so numerous
hat his vote would be the determining
actor.
Aside from the satisfaction of the
uGar people. tho rice people. the lum-
er people and the other commercial
nd financial classes with his election.
enator Harding made in New Orleans
he same impression of simple friend
ness that he has made elsewhere in
he south and received from the audi
nee tribute that was clearly in
ended to make him feel that he had
leir goodwill and good wishes"
Copyright 1920 by the New York
,vening Post, Inc.
PECIII AT0Ec ACE AckEn