or all practical purposes, there are two
political parties in the South,--a black man's party and a white man's
party. In saying this, I do not mean that all white men are Democrats;
for there are some white men in the South of the highest character who
are Republicans, and there are a few Negroes in the South of the
highest character who are Democrats. It is the general understanding
that all white men are Democrats or the equivalent, and that all black
men are Republicans. So long as the colour line is the dividing line
in politics, so long will there be trouble.

The white man feels that he owns most of the property, furnishes the
Negro most of his employment, thinks he pays most of the taxes, and
has had years of experience in government. There is no mistaking the
fact that the feeling which has heretofore governed the Negro--that,
to be manly and stand by his race, he must oppose the Southern white
man with his vote--has had much to do with intensifying the opposition
of the Southern white man to him.

The Southern white man says that it is unreasonable for the Negro to
come to him, in a large measure, for his clothes, board, shelter, and
education, and for his politics to go to men a thousand miles away. He
very properly argues that, when the Negro votes, he should try to
consult the interests of his employer, just as the Pennsylvania
employee tries to vote for the interests of his employer. Further,
that much of the education which has been given the Negro has been
defective, in not preparing him to love labour and to earn his living
at some special industry, and has, in too many cases, resulted in
tempting him to live by his wits as a political creature or by
trusting to his "influence" as a political time-server.

Then, there is no mistaking the fact, that much opposition to the
Negro in politics is due to the circumstance that the Southern white
man has not become accustomed to seeing the Negro exercise political
power either as a voter or as an office-holder. Again, we want to bear
it in mind that the South has not yet reached the point where there is
that strict regard for the enforcement of the law against either black
or white men that there is in many of our Northern and Western States.
This laxity in the enforcement of the laws in general, and especially
of criminal laws, makes such outbreaks as those in North Carolina and
South Carolina of easy occurrence.

Then there is one other consideration whic