Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-09
TO PREVENT NEGRO
WOMEN FROM VOTING
Expected Southern States Will
Find Way to Keep Them
From Polls.

Washington Correspondent Baltimore Sun.
Washington, Sept. 9HThat the Negro
women of the south will find themselves
disfranchised, notwithstanding the nine
teenth amendment to the Federal Con-
stitution, is a political fact which Is taken
for granted in southern circles here. Al
though Repubhca politicians profess
aston ishment over the possibility, 1t is
suspected that they are not at all sur
prised to find determination on the part
of southern whites to dominate the gov
ernment of their States.
AS matter of fact, notice was served
informally, but none the less forclbly,
unon the equal suffragists by Southern
Senators and Congressman at the time
the Anthony amendment was pending
before Congress, that if the measure
should be submitted and ratified the
south would take decisive steps at the
earliest practicable moment to nullify
II so far as it applied to 100000 Negro
women in the southern States.
Republican statesmen, knowing the
political fate of the Negro men in the
south. expressed neither indignation,
protest nor surprise Those who did
not acuuiesce quietly in the plan OF
action were indifferent to it, realizing
perhaps that if southerners could nulli-
~. in effect, constitutional amendments
granting the Negro men the right OF
suffrage and get away with it, they could
do the same thing with respect to Negro
women.
According TO the views of those south
erners now in Washington, each State
will deal in its own way with the prob
lem of disfranchIsing the Negro women.
Some will resort to the literacy test.
some TO the "Grandfather clause" and
some to other expedients. But all will
take some step In the same general dl-
rection and before many years have
passed il may be assumed that the Negro
women of the south will be voteless In
about the same proportion as Negro men
at the present time.
Nor viii the threats of certain north
ern politicians to reduce southern rep
rceentation in Congress if the women are
disfranchised deter the south, it is de-
clared here today. Those threats, it is
recalled. have been indulged in for 80
years Following each of the last three
decennial censuses Republican leaders
have proclaimed their intention of cut
titg down the number of southern Con-
grcssmen as a means of Furnishing that
SECTION for taking the vote away from
the Negro. But these threats have been
empty. They have never been taken
seriously and those now made are not
being taken seriously.
Ut so happens that the whole problem
os redistricting the country following a
census and of providing a new scheme
of Cor gressional representation is so
complicated by personal interests that it
becomes inevitably a matter of wholesale
logrolling. Each man holding a seat in
the house is primarily interested in his
own fate and in his own district. This
gives the south an opportunity to play
the game, throwing its strength here
or there OF elsewhere TO the best ad-
vantage to itself.
Because of this fact there is only re-
mote likelihood thai sout hern repre-
sentation in Congress viii be reduced
As result of disfrarchsing Negro women
or Is the result OF anything else short
OF general reduction throughout the
country In order to keep down the size
of the House membership. Air eady it
is almost too large TO be housed COM
fortably in the House chamber.
The opposition to equal suffrage among
southern leaders did not proceed from
disinchnation to give white women the