The monitor., 1928-06-29
SOUTH TO STAY
"SOLID" SAYS A
NEGRO LEADER
VIII Vote for Smith, or Amy Other
Democrat, DIR. w. E. B. Du
Bois Believes.
!GoEs TO RACE CONVENTION
(From The World-Heraldl J

(From The World Herald)
"The solid south will vote for Al
Smith--or any other democrat NOM
mated. Of this l am as confident as
l am sitting here" declared DIR. w.
E. B. Du Bois of New York, editor
of "The Crisis" and said by many to
have accomplished more than any
man of his race in the forcing of
recognition of the intellectual power
of the Negro.
DR.. Du Bois was one of so men and
women travelling in three special cars
that passed through Omaha Saturday
afternoon en- route to the nineteenth
annual conference of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People to be held in Los
Angeles, June 27 through July 3.
Also of the party was James We'll
don Johnson, writer, musician, COM
poser of national note, and secretary
of the association, who served as US.
consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua;
William Pickens, field secretary and
colored orator, and Charles Waddell
Chestnut, of Cleveland, novelist and
short story writer who is to receive
the fourteenth annual award of the
Spingarn medal, given for the high
est achievement of an American Ne
gro. 1t is to be given him for his
pioneer work as literary artist de-
picting the lift and struggle of Amer
leans of Negro descent and for his
long and useful career as a scholar,
worker and freeman of one of Amer
ica's greatest cities" Dr. Du Bois
and James Weldon johnson have been
awarded the medal in previous years.
| No Chance for New Party
Others included Harry E. Davis,
civil service commissioner of Cleve-
land, and Arthur B. Spingarn of New
York, chairman of the national or
ganization's legal committee and both
members of it's board of directors.
"There is no possibility of third
party today, no matter how some may
consider the crying need" continued
DIR. Du Bois. "The disfranchisement
of the white man as well as the Ne
gro, in the south, and even today in
the north, makes it impossible. The
powerful influences that dominate
the voting power of the individual in
both parties are at work. If they
don't vote the way the wind blows
they don't vote at all!
''Smith will be nominated, or his
party will fail The people of the
south are not going to make the to-do
that is looked for. They will act 81
lently, vote for Smith if he is nom
mated, and if by any chance he is not,
for the democrat that is. A great in
crease in population in the south has
been marked by no increase in voting
power. AS for the Negro of the
south, take Louisiana for example,
where today actual figures show that
but eight hundred Negroes are regis
tered out of a Negro population of
three-quarters of a million"
| Negroes Favor Smith
To DR.. Du Bois' remarks James
Weldon Johnson nodded second and
said: "The south is dominated by
Representatives of it's wealth, the
average white, like the Negro, as a
matter of personal welfare, follows
the dictates of party domination"
Both say there will never be
change, until real democracy is
realized and an appeal made to the
intelligence of all the people"
There is a great deal of sympathy
for Smith throughout the land on the
part of the colored people, members
of the party declared.
| Politics, anti-lynching laws, segre-
lgation and such will be discussed at
the coming convention in Los An
geles. The opening convention ses-
sion will be addressed by DR.. Du Bois
whose topic will be "The Presidential
Election, Black Votes and Democracy
in the United States" Some five
hundred persons from all parts of the
country will be in attendance there,
(Continued on Page Three)