Evening star., 1936-06-23

casion for insur-
gency from the
South. There Is
| far more reason
| for the South
and the Southern Marx Sullivan.
Democrats to be appalled, by what this
| convention is about to do to them.
This convention Is going to COM
plete what the New Deal in Con-
gress has already begun-put the
Democratic party on record as in
tending to wipe out substantially
everything the Southern democracy
knows and cherishes as States
rights" The New Deal is embarked
on program of which the basic
principle is Capitalization Of power
at Washington. The New Deals
N. r. A. gave to Washington q con-
troll, detailed, minute and complete,
over every aspect of business and in
dustry. The New Deals triple A
gave to Washington the power to
| tell Georgia farmer how much cot
ton he might raise, a Virginia farmer
how much tobacco North Carolina
farmer how many potatoes. The New
Deal subjected every person In the
South to inspection and punitive
action by officials getting their au-
| thority from Washington.
Rule Guard to Be Scrapped.
In this convention also. the South
is to be deprived of a safeguard which
for a century has given the South
ability to protect its principle Of
States rights and its other local po-
Sitions about national affairs. For 104
years an unbroken rule of the Demo-
cratic party has decreed that presi-
Dental candidate can be named only
by two-thirds Of convention. That
meant that one-third of a convention
could veto nomination. That meant
that the Southern States, acting as
unit in convention, could prevent
the nomination of any presidential
candidate deemed by the South to
be unfriendly to its particular views
and interests.
What are the particular views and
interests that the South has passion
ately wished to protect? Why has the
South always priced States rights and
always insisted on their preservation?
Why has the South, ever since the
Civil War, always voted on the
Democratic ticket, practically solidly?
And why has the South fought
jealousy to maintain a rule which
gave the South power to prevent
Democratic presidential nominations?
What motive has been behind this
long and determined insistence by
the South on a point Of view peculiar
to itself?
Colored Vote Factor.
Much of the point of view peculiar
to the South arose from what was
once called peculiar institution
a political ephemism for slavery. What
the South has wished to insure by
States rights and by the two-thirds
rule in Democratic conventions was
that the local affairs of the South
should be determined by white voters.
Ever since the Civil War the Demo-
cratic party has stood for white DOM
ination, for the minimizing of COL
ored voting, for the rights of the
States to have their own election laws.
The South has always refused to vote
the Republican ticket because the
South felt that the Republican party
stood for Negro voting and Negro
participation in public affairs in pro-
portion to the Negroes share Of the
population. This was unthinkable to
some whole Southern States, and to
many Southern communities where
Negroes outnumber whites. Such COM
munities relied upon the Democratic
party and upon the South's own power
within the Democratic party to pro-
tect it from participation by Negroes
in voting and office-holding in pro-
portion to the numbers of the race.
And this, too. this reliance, the
South is about to lose in this con-
vention. In the welter of revolu-
tionary changes taking place, the
least noticed, yet one of the most i'm
portant, is the change in the Demo-
cratic party's policy about Negro vot-
ing, Negro office holding and Negro
participation in public affairs.
Campaign for Colored Vote.
The party, under the leadership OF
Chairman Farley, Senator Guffey and
other Northern and city leaders. set
out two years ago to draw the Negro
vote as a mass from the Republican
party to the Democratic. They seem
to have succeeded to some degree.
There are signs that this year, for the
first time since the Negro voted, he
may vote in large numbers with the
Democratic party.
Farley and Morgan addressed the
National Colored Democratic Associa-
ton Sunday at meeting called to
synchronize with the Democratic
National Convention. Morgan quoted
q colored Democratic member Of |
Congress from Chicago as saying ''Mr.
Roosevelt has appointed more Negroes
to responsible Government positions
than the last three Republican ad-
ministrations taken together"
In Pennsylvania, the Democratic
State administration has under way |
a conspicuous campaign to get the
Negro vote of the State. Their policy |