Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1887 — Negro Suffrage as an Issue. [ARTICLE]

Negro Suffrage as an Issue.

The Sherman-Foraker racket in Ohio is attracting so much atte ition among the collar-button republicans or tl e east that it is not going out of the way to say that these two lively partisans have struck the key-note of the next republican campaign. The remarks of these men are taken up by the Philadelphia Bulletin, which, in a general way is a very mild newspaper. Referring to the votes of the negro at the south, the Bulletin remarks that “by virtue of the existence of these votes, the democrats hold thirty-eight seats in the electoral college, and about twentyfour seats in congress.” To this sad announcement the Bulletin adds this heart-rending reflection: “No thoughtful man can contemplate this vast po ver which southern politicians possess without concern. It will bo one of the most interesting questions of the future how the south oan be compelled to abandon this advantage, and how this inert, ignorant and helpless population can ba made an active, intelligent and untrammelled foi ce in exercising the right of franchise.”

It is a pity that the republicans should be compelled to chew this bitter cud,. but chew it they must. Rampant republicans like the editor of the Bulletin should have thought of these things before. We submit that it is a little late in the day for republican partisans to be inquiring in public how the “inert, helpless and ignorant” negro voters “can be made an active, intelligent and untrammelled force in exercising the right of franchise. This momentous question sho’d hayp been asked when the proposition to confer the privilege on the negro was debatable. The negroes have the privilege of the ballot, and, in the south, they are not exercising it in the interest of the Republican party. This is where the shoe pinches. This is where the trouble arises.

What is the remedy? Well, it is perfectly plain, but only a few blunt Republicans dare to mention it. There is Ingalls, for instance» Ingalls doesn’t hesitate to say that “negro suffrage is a delusion and a snare,” and he is bold* enough to say “the privilege should be takon away from them.” But to what end? Only that the Republican party may thus cripple the Solid South. Very well; we admire the frankness of Mr. Ingalls, but it is too late to turn back now. We are in favor of negro suffrage, not because the race is prepared for it, but because it gives thj Democratic party of the south additional power. We are inclined to be as frank in this matter as Senator Ingalls is.—Atlanto Constitution.

They grasp the situation in the far-ofi State of Oregon. The Courier says: “The railroad companies of Pennsylvania o>n the coal mines and the legislature of Pennsylvania. The existence of of this combination explains the hellish oppression which is crushing civilization out of the coal miner, his wife and children. Do send missionaries to the Republican State of Pennsylvania! .It’s a godless country, ruled by bulldozers.”