Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1908 — TRYING TO HOODWINK NEGROES [ARTICLE]

TRYING TO HOODWINK NEGROES

Democrats Pursuing Their Usual Double Faced Policy. Upholding Disfranchisement In the' South While Forming Colored ; Bryan Clubs in West >■ (From the Baltimore Sun, Dem.) General Winfield S. Hancock, who was the Democratic nominee for President In 1880, declared the tariff was principally a “local question’’—that e ls to say, a Pennsylvania Democrat might be a protectionist for protection’s sake, while %• Democrat in Georjgla or In lowa might hold fast to the doctrine of a tariff for revenue only. The Massachusetts Democrat might be a free trader without reservation of any kind, while the West Virginia Democrat might be. a free trader only with respect to commodities which were not produced by his own State.. General Hancock’s pronouncement was considered an ingenious evasion of the tariff issue, but It .did not produce harmony Iln.the Democratlc party, and the general was defeated. Twenty-eight years have passed since General Hancock defined the tariff as a local question npoft which the Democrats of each State were free to act with regard chiefly to local interests. The principle which he then formulated seems to have been adopted by Democrats In the West In respect to the relation of the Democratic party to the negro. Last week the West Virginia Democratic convention embodied [ in its platform planks demanding certain qualifications for voters, designed to disfranchise many negroes. Their platform also contains a declaration, in favor of separate coaches for white and negro passengers on railroads. The West Virginia Democrats not only refuse to hold out the olive branch to the negro and Invite him Into their fold, but they are determined to limit his political activity by a disfranchising law and to bring him under the operation of a “Jim Crow” law when he travels on the railroads of that State.

What ar® the Promises?

Out In Nebraska and la Kansas the Democratic campaign managers are organizing negro voters Into Bryan clubs. In Ohio no effort will be spared to secure the support of the negro voters for the Democratic national ticket What pledges hare been given and what Inducements have been offered does 'not appear. But it is a fair inference that the managers have promised to do “something for the negro,” perhaps to rtcognlze him in th® distribution of offices, if Mr, Bryan should be elected, and also to take such action as the negroes may demand In respect to the reinstatement of the negro battalion dismissed from the army by President Roosevelt for the attack on Brownsville. Last week when the West Virginia Democrats were declaring for a disfranchisement law and for a “Jim Crow” law, th® Democratic convention In the Twelfth Congressional district of Ohio adopted a platform favoring “the enactment of laws which shall accord to all men accused of wrongdoing, whether soldiers or civilians, a fair and impartial trial and an opportunity to be heart] before conviction or punishment” This apparently refers to the Brownsville Incident. It may also have a broader meaning and a more extended application and may be susceptible of an interpretation which will make Southern Democrats open their eyes with amazement and possibly with apprehension.

Race Question “Local Issue?” , 'phere seems to b® no ground tor reasonable doubt that the Democratic campaign managers In the West, In tbe effort to secure negro support tor their national ticket, are acting upon the principle that the race question Is only a "local issne.” It Is evident that the South does not approve this plan of campaign, 4>ut Is powerless to check It. The Democracy of the South is In full accord with the position taken by the West Virginia Democrats last week. And yet it is assumed by those who are trying to get negroes to support Mr. Bryan that the South will act in hearty eo-operatlon with the Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas and Illinois Democrats, who are welcoming the negro Into free fellowship In the Democratic party and probably promising to annul th® decision of President Roosevelt In the Brownsville matter. The theory of Western Democrats that the race problem Is merely a local issue Is calculate to give the South much concern. Many Democrats in that section may question whether It Is worth while to elect a Democratic president who may open wide the door of political opportunity to the negro.