Evening star., 1936-09-06
PARADOX
SEEN OVER NEGRO VOTE
Party Adopts One Attitude for North
and Entirely Different One for
South. Observer Declares.

where the choice Of office-holders
really takes place, is the Democratic
primary. So it becomes necessary for
the Democratic leaders of South Caro-
lima, for example, to prevent the
Negro from voting in the Democratic
primary. This is done by setting up
a standard for membership in the
Democratic party. This can be done,
for apparently the party is a nom
legal organization, like a club or fra
ternity. The rule practiced by the
Democratic organization in South
Carolina has been sent me by a
reader. I have not had opportunity
to verify it at the source, but am
told by a person familiar with the
condition that the rule is as here
quoted, and that it has been in exist
ence a long time. The rule reads:
Every Negro q. .. offering to vote
in primary, must produce a written,
statement of 10 reputable white men,
who shall swear that they know of
their own knowledge that the voter
voted for Gen. Hampton in 1876 and
has voted the Democratic ticket con-
tinuously since"
Now Gen. Wade Hampton was a
Confederate officer who ran as Demo-
cratic candidate for Governor of
South Carolina the year when the
Democrats turned the Republican
carpet baggers out of office. A colored
man who voted for Gen. Hampton in
1876 must have been as rare as a fox
In dog pound. If there were any
at all they must be dead by this time.
South's Technique.
The fact is. and always has been,
that in the South the Democrats do
not propose that the Negro shall vote.
In this purpose they have worked out
technique which is within the Con-
stitution, but which effectively keeps
all but a handful Of Negroes away
from the polls. About the political
morality of this, or the expediency
Of it, I say nothing here. 1t is an
old question and an unhappy one,
1t becomes acute in proportion to the
density Of Negro population. Where
Negroes are relatively few in num-
bers no one cares whether they vote
or not-they are welcome at the polls
and they are occasionally elected or
appointed to Office without commo-
ton or comment. But where the Ne
groes have half the population, as in
Mississippi and some other Southern
communities. and where, therefore,
they might conceivably elect complete
sets of Negro Office -holders-in such
localities the race question" takes
the form expressed as threat of Ne
gro domination" and becomes acute.
However it be about that, there
can be no dispute about the hypocrisy
Of what Chairman Farley and the
other Democratic leaders are doing
about the Negro in the North. They
are urging him to 60 to the polls and
vote Democratic; and they are tell
| ing him that he shall hold Office in
proportion to his numbers. BY appli-
cation they are leading the Negro to
believe that what they do for him
in the North they will also do for
him in the South. The Negro Is
being led to believe that the Demo-
Gratis in control of Congress will by
congressional action insure to the Ne.
gro the privilege of voting in the
South as in the North. And that
raises one of the most explosive is-
sues in American history.
Attitude Toward Republicans.
After the Civil War the Repub-
licans tried to have the Negroes vote
in the South. tried to bring it about
by force of arms. This action the
South remembers, and the memory
is the chief reason the South has
always opposed the Republican par
ley, always been Democratic. The
South has always thought of the Re-
publican party as one which would
enforce Negro voting in the South.
The Republicans have not actually
attempted 1t since Senator Lodges
so-called force bill" led to immense
commotion in Congress during the
early 1905. But the South has always
continued to think Of the Republicans
as associated with advocacy of Negro
voting in the South. The South has
always thought of the Democrats as
the party that opposes Negro particpa-
ton in politics. And for that reason,
together with the associated issue Of
States rights" the South has all
ways supported the Democratic party.
With a principal motive of being pro-
tected against Negro voting, six South
ern States have gone Democratic in
every election since the "carpet-bag
ger" days following the Civil War,
and four more have gone Democratic
in every election but one
Maybe it's best to try to see It as
humorous. One can imagine some
hilarious situations Suppose Demo-
cratic super ghost writer Michaelson
should write a speech for Chairman
Farley to deliver to colored Demo-
cratic rally in Pennsylvania-and sup
pose Mr.. Farley should get the wrong
envelope and read the speech to a
South Carolina audience! I suspect
genial Jim would depart from that
State with a speed that would be hard
on his feet.
| Paradox Is Seen.
And If the Northern Negroes have
sense of humor, which all Negroes
do, they ought to get up a great col
ored Democratic rally in Pennsylvania
and send special request to Chair
man Farley that he assign as speakers
those distinguished Democratic SPELL
binders, Senator James Byrnes OF
South Carolina, and Senator Pat Har-
rison of Mississippi. The two Sena-
tors could get away with 1t, for they
are themselves humorous and also
adroit. But If their speeches should
ever be read back home in their re-
spective States, the results would no,
be funny. At least, not funny to the
Senators, though the rest of us might
get q smile from 1t.
I do not know just how the donkey
as the national Democratic symbol
poses himself on the map Of tht
United States. do not know whethel
his mouth brays over the Great Lake