some
of them still believe or profess to believe, that southern Democrats
were and are honest and sincere in the declaration that the presence of
the colored men in the Republican party prevented southern white men
from coming into it. "Draw the race line against the colored
man,--organize a white Republican party,--and you will find that
thousands of white men who now act with the Democratic party will join
the Republicans." Some white Republicans believed that the men by whom
these declarations were made were honest and sincere,--and it may be
that some of them were,--but it appears not to have occurred to them
that if the votes of the colored men were suppressed the minority white
vote, unaided and unprotected, would be powerless to prevent the
application of methods which would nullify any organized effort on their
part. In other words, nothing short of an effective national law, to
protect the weak against the strong and the minority of the whites
against the aggressive assaults of the majority of that race, would
enable the minority of the whites to make their power and influence
effective and potential; and even then it could be effectively done only
in cooeperation with the blacks. Then again, they seemed to have lost
sight of the fact,--or perhaps they did not know it to be a fact,--that
many leading southern Democrats are insincere in their declarations upon
the so-called race question. They keep that question before the public
for political and party reasons only, because they find it to be the
most effective weapon they can use to hold the white men in political
subjection. The effort, therefore, to build up a "white" Republican
party at the South has had a tendency, under existing circumstances, to
discourage a strong Republican organization in that section. But, even
if it were possible for such an organization to have a potential
existence, it could not be otherwise than ephemeral, because it would be
wholly out of harmony with the fundamental principles and doctrines of
the national organization whose name it had appropriated. It would be in
point of fact a misnomer and, therefore, wholly out of place as one of
the branches of the national organization which stands for, defends, and
advocates the civil and political equality of all American citizens,
without regard to race, color, nationality, or religion. Any
organization, therefore, claiming to be a branch of the Republican
party, but which had repudia