Evening star., 1936-10-21

granted by the
Republicans, have been assiduously
cultivated by the New Deal for three
years, that the Negro press Is pre-
ponderantly pro-Roosevelt and that
the Republican leaders in the pivotal
States are waking up to the situation
and trying desperately to recapture
their lost allies.
When the Negro vote is discussed,
It is hardly separable from the So
called relief" vote in many States.
In fact, the New Dealers have been
very generous with 'relief" jobs.
After election this will most certainly
be trimmed down. The Negroes will
then have to look to private employ
ment.
MAY Undermine Initiative.
Will they encounter hostility when
they 60 looking for work' If the
outcroppings Of radicalism from the
Negro leaders continue, the impress
sion will be developed that the Negro
Is aligning himself with those ele-
ments in America which seek to un-
dermine the very system OF private
initiative from which employment
must come when relief" ends.
One leader-Robert L. Vann. editor
and publisher of the Pittsburgh Cour-
Ter, largest Negro weekly in the coun-
trv-told me he fully expected the
Negroes to join third party move
ment IN 1910 with other Progress
eives," from which, in this instance,
I infer ne meant radicals" 1t Is
TO be noted that Negro is running
for Vice President on the Communist
ticket this year.
During this campaign Vann, who
used to be q special assistant to At
torney General Cummings. is the
rieht-hand man of Chairman Farley
and Is in charge of all Negro activi-
ties in Pennsylvania for Mr.. Roose-
welt. Vann told me that the Negroes
had split $3.50 in the 1882 election.
but that this year they would be IS
per cent for Roosevelt. He did not
expect either Michigan or Ohio to go
for Mr.. Roosevelt, but he thought
most Of the other States in which the
Negro vote was factor would be
found on the Roosevelt side.
Negro Registrations.
He gave me the figures Of regis
tered voters among the Negroes as
follows:
Pennsylvania, 1000: Illinois, 21s,-
600; Ohio, zoo, 900; Michigan, 134 900;
Missouri, 10000: Indiana, $4,000;
West Virginia, $1,000; New York, 287,-
600: New Jersey, 41.000; Maryland.
165, 900.
There's a total of $4,000 Negro
votes registered, and they could easily
become the balance Of power in some
of these States in a close election.
Jim Farley has been busy for some
time lining up Negro support. Here
is how Vann says the Negro press of
the country is divided:
Supporting Roosevelt - Pittsburgh
(PaD Courier, circulation 174,000;
Afro-American, 10000; New York
journal and Guide, $4,000; Amsterdam
News. 10000: Philadelphia Independ-
ent. $4,000; total, $4,000.
Supporting Landon-Chicago De-
fender, circulation $4,000; St. Louis
Argus, $4,000; Kansas City Call, l6,-
600; total, $1,000.
Now, of the 177,000 Negro votes in
Pennsylvania, two-thirds are concen-
trated in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia,
and that's where the New Deal leaders
are counting heavily on their gains to
carry the State for Roosevelt.
$4,000 Switch Involved.
II, as Vann claims, however, the
Negro vote was split evenly in 1882
and now has gone up to rs per cent,
1t means q block Of $4,000 votes that
must be subtracted from the Repub-
lican side. If two-thirds are in Pitts
burgh and Philadelphia, 1t means that
about $4,000 votes must be added to
New Deal totals in the two big cities
This can hardly be enough to swell
the Allegheny County vote to a u.s.
900 majority or to cut the Philadel-
phia Republican vote down to the
splitting even point, both Of which
are counted on by the New Deal man
ayers.
I think, moreover, that the IS to
Is division. is rather optimistic. The
Negro preachers, most of whom are
Republican because they do not trust
the Southern-dominated democracy
in Congress to help their brethren, are
doing lot Of speech-making on the
dangers Of throwing overheard the Re-
publican party that has befriended
them ever since the Civil War.
Incidentally, in all the border
States where I have been I have noted
. deep-seated resentment among
Southern Democrats over the fact that
the Northern, New Dealers have played
up to the Negro vote On this point
] asked Vann a question:
do you expect the Southern Demo-
erats in Congress to help you pass
anti-lynching legislation"
Sees Eventual Victory.
IT believe" he replied, that the
Democratic leaders of the South are
with us, but they cannot approve
anti-lynching legislation yet because
the poor white trash down there
won't let them. But 1t will come.
Look at the way the Negroes are reg
istering In Alabama, Florida, Vir-
ginia, North Carolina and Tennessee"
Vann thought that eventually the
power that the political Negroes ac-
ouired in the North would enable them
to compel Southern Democratic lead
ers to change their attitude toward
legislation beneficial to the Negroes
and toward the extension of the voting
privilege.
I asked Vann whether he thought
that the Republican party, If aban-
doned by the Negroes in the North,
might seek to make q new alignment
itself in the South. He said he wasn't
afraid of such development.
can't help feeling, after a survey
Of the political elements that sur
round the Negro's situation in Amer
lea that, when he turns away from