The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-10-22
Pol. ITN'IANS
REAZE:
FACT
AL Three Major Parties Are
Appealing to Element.
IS, 200, ooo.in Class
By WILLTAM HARD.


any campaign is not news" at
al. It is only humdrum slogging
Of one sort and another. It's
striking meaning does not appear
even to the specialized eye until
one gets behind the scenes.
Among the many sorts Of
slogging and drudging done by
political managers in this country
during campaigns, a high and inn
portant place must be assigned
to the bureaus which in the va
rious political headquarters are
marked foreign languages"
In these bureaus gentlemen of
specialized experience and intelli-
gence endeavor to hook and net
our variegated foreign voters, who
IN large numbers read newspapers
In foreign languages.
More Than SideshOws.
Side by side with such bureaus
there is almost invariably also a
bureau for special work among
negroes.
A great many people. may think
the bureaus for foreign voters and
bureaus for negroes are mere side.
shows which can have only a tiny
and negligible effect upon an
election.
People who take that view are
sadly behind the times In American
politics. The special appeals to
the special racial groups among
us are an extremely important
and may sometimes be even q de.
ctsively important-part of an
American Presidential election.
In order to illustrate this fact,
this writer has been at the pains to
make a calculation which he has
never before seen made.
He has proceeded as follows:
Eliminates Solid South.
He has first of all eliminated
from consideration the ten States
Of the Solid South where foreign
voters are few and where negro
votes do not affect the outcome.
Then the remaining thirty-eight
States of the Union he has added
together, out Of the figures Of the
last election year, which are the
latest figures available, the four
following classes of American
citizens Of voting age:
/. White voters Of foreign parent.
age.
3. White voters Of half-foreign
parentage.
3. Negro voters.
4. Voters born abroad but now
naturalized
The total of these four classes
gives us our total OF voters not
native white and not Of full native
white parentage.
The point Is to see how large
this figure is in comparison with
the full native white figure.
The calculation shows the follow
ing results:
100000 In This Class
In this country, by the latest
figures, the number of native whites
Of full native white parentage and
Of voting age is approximately "a
OOO, 900.
Meanwhile, the number Of white
voters of foreign parentage plus
white voters Of half-foreign parent.
age, plus negro voters, plus voters
born abroad but now naturalized is
approximately 100000.
Nineteen million is approximately
four-fifths Of $4,000, 900.
II we assume that the $4,000 900
Of native white voters Of full native
white parentage are to be reached
In an American campaign by pu-c4y
general campaign work, 1t still re-
mains ffsI1o that oddtftOV1olIrV Ar,,r
fifths Of that number Of voters exist
who, perhaps, can be reached by
some sort of special argument based
on some sort Of special reason Of
race.
Or, to put 1t in another way, out
Of every 100 persons of voting age
In these American States (outside Of
the Solid South there are forty.
four who, because of foreign birth
or because of foreign parentage. or
because Of colored descent, are per.
haps open to arguments of a special
racial character.
It is because Of the situation re.
vealed by these figures that the race
animosities fostered by the Ku Klux
s4n have travelled out of the Solid
South into Northern and Western
States, where foreign voters are SO
Mucu more numerous.
Can Give Khan Good Fight.
It can also be seen from these
ngures that our voters Of foreign
birth and of foreign parentage, plus
our negro voters, are certainly
numerically able to give our ku
kluxers long run for their money.
When forty.four out of every
hundred voters in our States outside
Of the Solid South have an imme.
date link to some foreign stock,
or are Of negro stock, 1t Is album.
dainty clear that any organization
which, like the Ku Klux Khan, tries
to prevent foreigners and negroes
from holding office has taken on
q big job.
Leaving that point aside, however,
Tor q moment let us see into what
racial classes our voters of foreign
18th fall.
Let us for a moment eliminate
the negroes and also the voters of