The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1922-11-18
LEST WE FORGEr--A POLITICAL
POLICY FOE 1924.

IVAANL NOIs AU@rfs
The Fall Campaign is on. The two
great political parties are facing
each other in battle array. The Is
sues that divide them are neither
deep nor profound. No definitive
distinction has yet been stated. The
party that is in, wants to stay in;
the party that Is out. wants to get
in. The conservatism Of the Repub-
lican party is political constant.
The Democratic attitude Is shiftin
and variable. The Northern pro-
gressives find themselves fettered
by bonds of iniquity with Southern
reactionaries. The liberalism Of Til
den and Cleveland and Wilson is
counter-balanced by the provincial
vehemence of Tillman and Watson
and Vardaman. The Negro stands
bepuzzled between the luke-warm
favor Of the Republicans and appre-
hensive fear of the Democrats The
attitude of the two parties is repid-
ly gravitating to the lower level of
the traditional Southern policy.
The Negroes attitude towards the
present administration may well be
expressed by Kipling quatrain:
For to admire and for to see,
For to behold this world so
wide,
It never done no good to me,
But can't drop 1t If l tried {"
And so he will go into the Fall
Campaign under stimulus of the
same old appeal and with expectation
of the same old blind mans bluff.
The established policy of the Repub-
lican party offers little or no con-
structive advantage for the Negro.
The bad precedence set by Taft and
continued by Harding is not likely
to be changed by their successors.
There is no sign of relief in sight.
The presidential campaign Of 1924
will be Of great significance in the
political history of the race. The
Republican managers will of course
try to hoodwink him with the same
old game of vacuous campaign prom
ises. which has worked so success
fully for the past ten quadreniums
II must in all candor be said that
the Negro political manipulators
have have heretofore displayed lit
tie craftsmanship. They have been
content to round up the Negro vote
and to receive or distribute the cold
crumbs of patronage. 1 am des-
cribing rather than criticising our
political leadership which under all
of the difficult circumstances, has
done perhaps all that 1t could. But
the outstanding fact still remains
that no constructive or comprehen-
sive program has yet been forth
coming.
The nomination of independent
Negro candidates for president, sena-
tors and governors, merely as a pro-
test against the Republican apos-
tacy has not yet resulted In any
clear advantage to the race. The
vindictive spirit is more apt to hurt
than to help. ITO contribute even
indirectly to the national triumph
of the Democrats to spite the Re-
publicans. is a rather risky proceed
ure in face of the well known and
emphatically avowed attitude of the
dominant element of the benefited
party The average Republican
would rather see his Democratic RI
val elected than yield to the threats
of the Negro recalcitrants.
The Negro cannot hope for much
further racial advantage through
appointive positions. All govern
ment appointees must be loyal to the
powers that appointed them. They
cannot represent the Negro where
his interests run athwart the adopt
ed policy of the administration. The
chief function of "the black cabi-
net" is to vindicate the ways of the
administration to the Negro. Ap-
pointive offices in all grades and
departments of the government are
the Negroes just due because of his
party fealty and by reason OF his
potentiality in every feature of gov
ernmental power. But complaisant