The Cordova daily times., 1921-02-23
COLORED MEN
 WANT OFFICES
 FROM HARDING
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES

federal government. They look to the new president to recognize their race with substantial appointments. They want political recognition of some members of their race, accord ing to negro leaders in Washington, and are particularly anxious for fed eral appointments based on political services in the last campaign. The negro in the last national po litical campaign made considerable progress. This was shown by the selection of a colored man, Henry Lincoln Johnson, by the Republicans of Georgia to be national committee man from that state. Of course such an appointment is not approved by the people of Georgia generally; even 1 the best class of white Republicans do not favor putting a negro in such position, it is reported here by Georgians who have recently been in Washington and talked with your correspondent. But the fact remains that Johnson is noy national commit teeman, and under the procedure nearly always followed in Democratic states like Georgia, when the fed eral administration is Republican, Johnson will be in a position to die tate every federal appointment in Georgia, including probably all the postmasterships This situation will not be liked by the Georgia people, and protests will be made against Johnson dishing out the Georgia fed eral pie" even by leading white Republicans in that state, it is re- ported here.
 There is only one thing that will prevent Johnson becoming the politi- cal boss of Georgia in the Harding administration, and that is a con- certed effort by the white Republi- cans in that state to prevent the col ored national committeeman from making the recommendations for various federal position, or if he makes them, from having the John son nominees appointed by President Harding. It seems hardly possible that MT. Harding will take the reCom- mendations of Johnson for all the federal appointments in Georgia over the candidates of other men recom- mended by the white Republican leaders of that state, who helped to nominate MT. Harding at Chicago Still, you never can tell what will happen in politics, and it may be that Johnson will be able to distri- bute the Georgia federal "pie" de- spite opposition of the white Republi- cans, and over the protest of the IGeorgia Democrats, who make up the bulk of the voters.
 This situation has already caused considerable concern to some of the men who will be close to Senator Harding, and who do not relish hay ing a colored man set up as the political dictator in state that is of the solid Democratic south, and which naturally has violent preju- ldice against political domination of the negro race in anything.
 Johnson is the only negro serving on the Republican national commit tee.
 There are now 12,000,O00 negroes in the United States, approximate ly 10 per cent of the total population. Practically every negro vote was cast for Harding and Coolidge last No vember MT. Harding will have to recognize that support politically, but whether or not he will recognize it to the extent that undoubtedly will be demanded by the colored brother remains to be seen. In some of the debatable states where the colored population was large there is no doubt that the colored votes helped to swing these states in the Republi- can columns, and in instances made the Republican victory sure m some of these states.
 The negroes will demand two things from the Harding administra- tion. They will ask political recog- milton in the shape of appointments to office. They will ask from con- gress legislation to protect them in their political rights, which they claim are denied them in the south ern states. It may be that they are deprived of their political rights under the thirteenth amendment, wholly or in party, in all or some of the southern states, but it is certain that the Caucasian population of the southern state, constitution or no constitution, congress or no congress.