Evening star., 1948-07-24
Battle for Negro Vote
Could Throw Election
Into the House
gollots in Ten Stotes,
If SoIidified. Could Be
Decisive in Campaign
By Frank X. Kent

tacks on Mr. Truman from the So
called Democratic liberals" exceed
In savagery both those Of the Re-
publicans and the Southern Demo-
Gratis, they are not Of comparable
Importance. Mostly, they come
from men whose forecasts Of the
convention action were ridiculous
and who have now reached the
level where they violently denounce
Mr.. Truman for waiting in a con-
vention hall room until after his
nomination instead of waiting in
hotel room as did Mr.. Dewey.
While these gentlemen are out
ragged over the alleged lack of dig
nifty and indignant because Mr.. Tru-
man announced to q partisan con-
vention his call for a special session,
which they brand as cheap poll
TICS" strangely enough they offer
no criticism Of Truman policies,
foreign or domestic, though GER
tainly there is plenty of reason for
criticism Of the latter. To repeat
bitter as these attacks are, they are
relatively Intellectual because they
seem inspired largely by pioue and
prejudice. The attack that really
hurts comes from the South, where
policy and principle are both in
volved, and which, unless some way
can be found to lessen resentment,
threatens loss to the Truman ticket
OF several Southern States. This
PROBABLY means the overwhelming
election OF Gov. Dewey or it might
mean the throwing of the election
into the House OF Representatives.
inis Is 80 serious that the facts
ought to be fully faced. The basic
one Is that this is q struggle for
the Negro vote in more than ten
Northern and border States where.
II solidthed, it is sufficiently large
10 the decisive. The means by which
this struggle reached its present
acute form deserve repetition.
Guffey Conceived idea.
Prior to 1896, there was no COM
petltlon Tor the Negro vote. It was
accepted as an unshakable Republi-
can asset. 1t was ex-senator Guffey.
who. during Mr.. Roosevelt's first
term, conveived the idea that. with
White House support, Pennsylva-
MAS big Negro vote Q62,00O in
Philadelphia alone) could be made
democratic. He sold this idea to
chairman James A. Farley. The
astute Mr.. Farley reasoned that If
1t could be done in PENNSYLVANIA It
could be done in other pivotal
States. The Messrs. Farley and CUT
fey took their scheme to the White
House. President Roosevelt was en-
thusiastic, promised wholehearted
cooperation.
AS q result, these unpublicized
things swiftly happened: "a a Ne
gro editor from Pittsburgh was ap-
pointed an assistant attorney gen.
eral-the highest public ofice up
to then any Negro had held; 90 a
far larger amount of Federal
patronage in ten designated States
went out to Negroes than any
Republican administration ever
dreamed of giving; 90 Harry Hop
kins, as head of the WPA, CO.
operated so heartily that the pro-
portion of Negroes on the relief
rolls in these States scared to in
credible heights; az a large number
of Negro preachers, teachers, dea-
cons and lawyers, paid by the Demo-
cratic National Committee, went out
among the Negroes in these States
as missionaries to spread the New
Deal gospel that Roosevelt was the
Negro's best friend; (5) many thou
sands of a striking picture of Mrs.
Roosevelt taken in a Negro group
at Negro college were distributed
among the Negroes in these States.
There was no concern for the Negro
involved in this campaign either
upon the part Of Mr.. Roosevelt
or the others. It was a coldly CAL
culated effort to corral the Negro
vote-and nothing else. And it was
amazingly successful.
In consequence of all this, Senator
Guffey was proved right. To the
CONSERVATION of the Republicans
In 1886 more than 80 per cent of
their "unshakable" party asset in
10 states was transferred to the
Democrats, where it remained
through 1910 and 1914. It was felt
very smooth work, indeed, to cap
ture this great Negro vote In the
North and at the same time hold
the solid South where the doctrine
OF white supremacy is most deeply
cherished. At the time there were
some who warned that this game
of playing both ends against the
middle was dangerous, could not
be continued indefinitely. During
the Roosevelt regime it was easy
enough, because-first, the de-
mands of the Negroes were not
SO strongly pressed; second, the
Democratic Senate majority could
be depended upon to block any
obnoxious legislation. In those
days, too, the South more or less
acquiesced in the situation. But
those days are gone.
Consequence of Sickness.
Firmly committed to the Roose-
velt policies and pressed hard by
Negro and labor politicians, Mr..
Truman found himself forced to be
more specific in support of anti
discrimination proposals. And, the
South, faced with a Republican
Senate majority, lost its sense of
security and has achieved belated
but understandable degree of ap-
prehension and indignation. This
is the inevitable consequence of the
short-sighted sickness of trying to
hold together two utterly irrecon-
cilable groups. The effort involved
. lack of sincerity toward both. 1t
should have been clear to those
who promoted this theft of the
great Republican asset of a solid
Negro vote that it was bound to
destroy the great Democratic asset
of solid South.
The extraordinary extent to which
the Democrats now depend on the
Negro vote is shown by the new
book, Balance of Power" by H. L..
Moon, whose contention, substanti-
ated by figures, Is that in rs con-
gressional districts in Is Northern
and border States, the Negro vote
can throw an election either way.