The monitor., 1928-09-21
WHY THE NEGRO DETECTION
FROM THE C. o. p.


the democratic party, many attempts
have been made to assign a satisfac-
tory reason for it. None seems to be
satisfactory, nor does the tide seem
to be stemmed. Political agents at
tempt to reassure party chieftains
that the Negro will be back in the
fold in November. But, somehow,
this reinsurance does not seem to
allay the anxiety of the perturbed
chiefs, who see this unusual senti-
fment grow in volume and momentum
despite all of their efforts to the
CONTRARY.
So the situation has been reduced
to wild guessing contest, as to what
the colored brother will do Novem-
Der 9Th.
What makes the Negro SO hard to
fathom is the fact that he seems de.
termined to do his own thinking and
voting. Nothing wrong about that.
But this sort of thing upsets the prog
nostigations of any politician. And
why wouldn't it? Here is block of
voters which has always been counted
on by the republicans as quadren-
NAL insta1lment of the "debt" the
Negro owes the republican party,
that seems to be fast slipping over
the democratic fence. A block which
will be felt wherever it falls. The
Negro vote could defeat or elect eth
er Hoover or Smith, for they are larg-
est in the so-called doubtful states.
1t is interesting and amusing to
note some of the comments on the
Negro detection. Some political
dopsters are silly enough to say the
Negro cannot and will not desert the
G. o. p, the party that gave him his
freedom, for he owes the republican
party a debt which he must continue
to pay as long as he lives. That to
desert the fold at this time, when he
| is most sorely needed, would consti-
tute gross disloyalty and ingratitude.
These "vices," he consoles himself,
being foreign to the colored man,
will not be practiced in November.
Elementary logic, this.
| The Negro answers this bunk, in
a manner that statles the whole
REPUBLICAN ranks: He acknowledges
that such a debt once existed and
thanks the party which "stood on his
notes" But he shows receipts where
the "debt" has been paid in full. He
also questions how this "bill'' was
placed on the charge side of his led
ger anyway, and proceeds to show
just how and when it was supposed
to have been incurred.
The republicans claim that because
that party liberated him from slavery
| in 1868, they hold lifetime mort
gage on his suffrage. The celored
brother counters with this sound but
homely logic: That the only reason
the republicans had to iberate him
| from slavery was because they or
their forbears placed him in slavery.
And that because the institution
proved Improbable to one section of
i the country, while profitable to an
other, and that because of the econ
omic competition created, the North
fought to free the slaves only because
there was no other alternative. That
the Civil War was not primarily in
tended to free the Negro. That war
was intended to preserve the Union.
So, if this is called debt, it most
certainly was not incurred by the
Negro. And besides, he, too, fought
| in that war, having 178,975 soldiers
in battle, and a larger number doing
labor. Maybe this installment of the
l"debt" was not credited.
But let us concede for sake of ar
gument that it was debt we should
pay. If such were reduced to cash
money and evidenced by promissory
notes, we ask was their price SO high
that it required $50 years Of slavery
and SO years Of conditional freedom
to discharge such a debt? If such
a "bilr' were cash. obligation and
reduced to notes, it would have
passed the statutes Of limitation ex-
actly 305 years ago. For, according
Ito the law which our brethren made