The Negro and the elective franchise. A series of papers and a sermon
John Stuart Mill · en
Now the white primary has not done all that was claimed for it. In the
first place it has not purified elections. Far from doing away with the
purchase and sale of votes, it has, by lowering the supply, relatively
increased the demand and brought up the price to a really fancy figure.
In the second place it has failed to do that for which it was ostensibly
introduced especially to do, namely; to put into office those men most
eminently fitted by ability and character to administer the office to
which they might be chosen. On the contrary, primary elections have been
questioned on the ground of fraud; and the mayor of one very prominent
Georgia city has been arrested for drunkenness. Then why is the primary
kept? Well, the "fixers" for instance, can more easily fix things. With
the Colored man’s vote eliminated, the work becomes simplified and even
though the amount of money spent illegally may now be more than the
total amount in the days when colored as well as white were in the
market yet those interested in "fixing" elections can now work with more
assurance; and promises may more easily be carried out in the matter of
delivering the goods.
For instance, I know of a city election where the voters in one ward
were so evenly divided and the candidates had calculated their strength
so accurately, that one candidate felt safe in buying three white votes
at the rate of one hundred ten dollars. Large corporations may now
operate easily in state and city; and some of the most flagrant cases of
political jobbery that have been charged against Reconstruction rule are
easily equalled by the bare-faced graft and bribery by which large
business interests win their way through the assistance of white voters.
What are the possibilities of white aspirants bolting the primary? It is
my impression that they are fewer than they were twenty years ago. Judge
Gartrell once ran independently against Alexander Stephens for Governor
and Judge Emory Speer in his younger days ran on an independent ticket;
but such a step on the part of a candidate means outlawry for life.
Speer was read into the Republican party, Thomas Watson into the
Populist; and since the exile of such giants, the small fry find it easy
to be good and not to lift their heads in rebellion, no matter what
rascality has compassed their defeat at the Primary. No. It is my
impression that the primary is more firmly established to-day than when
it was first started. White unity has become white slavery; and while
the yoke galls, the white aspirant prefers the yoke to extermination.