PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 231, 23 June 1908, Page 8

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

NEGRO AND LABOUR VOTES,

Mr. Taft is still fivourite for the Republican nomination to the American Presidency, but ho will, says Mr. • Maurice Low, the. Washington correspondent of the "National Review," have, *if nominated, to face the hostility of tivo important elements of'the electorate. One of them is organised labour; which lias a personal grievance against him, and a general feeling of resentmont against tho Republican party. . Tho labour chiefs havo . already threatened tho Republican leaders with a solid adverse vote, unless unions aro exempted from the anti-trust provisions of the Sherman Act. Under a judgment, of tho Supremo Court of the United States labour combinations havo beem. declared liable tothe same law as combinations, of capitalists. Th.o Sherman Act made a combination in restraint of trado a felony and, as unions are amenable t-o it, they incur heavy penaltics if they seek to boycott an employer, or conspire to injure his business in any way. Organised labour desires .to havo one law. for tho employer and another for tho workman. It would enforce the Act against companies, " combines," and' corporations, but leave unions' froe to do as they pleased. A Bill to' that end has been drafted, and the Republican party, which is now in power, has been ordered to .support it, or bear the consequences of labour hostility. Neither Mr. Taft nor his party can satisfy the demand. To do so would not' only bo to sacrifico the convictions of the party leaders/ but _to- offend a very largo and influential section of the Republican voters. Tho other element which is bitterly opposed to Mr: Taft is the negro. Hitherto it has been an understood tiling that tho ooloured vote wont for the Republicans, because they were tho political heirs of tho men who freed the slaves. In tho, south the whites domiuato tho olections, preventing the nogroes from voting and returning a solid Democratic delegation, but tho negro Vote is strong in the north. -There are 60 Republicans in the Present House of Representatives who hold their seats' by majorities smaller than the coloured vote in their respective districts. , Had tho. negroes in those districts voted Domocratic, tho House would now bo Democratic instead of Republican. At the coming Presidential election tho negroes, by casting a substantially solid , vote, can decido tho issue. They unquestionably hold tho balanco of power in six States carried by Mr. lloosovelt four years ago —Indiana,. "West Virginia, Kansas, Now Jersoy,. Delaware, and Ohio. If tho negroes in those States verted Domocratic, the Democratic candidate, with his certain votes«in the South, would be within six or a majority in tho electoral college. Illinois Jias twentyseven votes'in the college, and there, though the liegroes have not actually the balance of power, they come so close to it that a mere handful of votes would turn the State ono way or the other. ' In Now York, too, tho nogroes cast a heavy vote in the cities, though they aro in a minority in the State. Thus it may bo seen how enormous may he the influence of the coloured vote—a truly dan'gerous prospect for tho United States.

The negroes are enraged with Mr. Taft because, as'.'Secretary of War, he dismissed the men of the Twenty-fifth (black) Regiment after the affray at Brownsvillo. Sinns of their determination to fight him to the end, even if it mean-supporting their traditional foes, tho Democrats, are becoming more and more pronounced. The bishops of the African Methodist Church, in 'conference, adopted resolutions hostile to Mr. Taft, and -urg? ing all coloured men to vote against him if he wero nominated. A . "vigilance committeo" of northern negroes has been organised to defeat the nomination of any man who is objectionable to tho coloured voters. . In New York there was recently a mass meeting of coloured men. A telegram was read from Professor Dubois, of Atlantic University, a' leader of his race, in which ho said: "If Taft beats I'oraker and Hughes, negroes must vote for' Bryan. Avowed enemy better than false " friends." At once every negro in tho hall 'wa3 on his feet, cheering and shouting, "We will, we will." The negroes are : evidently beginning to feel their power, and resent tho old view of - their being a mere permanent annex to th& Republican party. This is one of the gravest developments in the.complicated racial politics of the United States, .j.