THE RACE PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES. 319 



But to be more specific for 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 Demo- 

 crats, for there are some white men in the South of the highest char- 

 acter who are Republicans, and there are a few negroes in the South 

 of the highest character who are Democrats. It is the general un- 

 derstanding that all white men are Democrats, or the equivalent, 

 and that all black men are Republicans. So long as the color 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, that he pays most of the taxes, 

 and, besides, has had years of experience in government. There is 

 no mistaking the fact that the feeling which, in some way, has 

 heretofore taken possession of 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 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. The Southern Avhite man argues that when the negro 

 votes he should in a larger measure try to consult the interests 

 of his employer, just as the Pennsylvania employee tries to vote for 

 the interests of his employer. 



The Southern white man argues, further, that much of the 

 education which has been given the negro has been defective in 

 not preparing him to love labor 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 " influ- 

 ence " as a political timeserver. 



Then there is no mistaking the fact that much opposition to the 

 negro in politics is due to the circumstance that the Southern w^hite 

 man has not got accustomed to seeing the negro exercise political 

 power, either as a voter or as an officeholder. 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 

 ISTorthern 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 which must not be over- 

 looked: it is the common opinion of almost every black man and 

 almost every white man that nearly everybody who has had anything 

 to do with the making of laws bearing upon the protection of the 



