Political Status.

"The political situation is acute, too. When the negro in the South was defranchised, large groups of whites were disfranchised too and through judicious manipulation of the one party system this white majority has not received its emancipation. These people feel the pressure of negro competition in industry, etc., the most, and by manipulation they are made to keep their distress in the background, because the anti-native sentiment is exploited to the full in negro-baiting during campaigning; and it is in the Interest of Senators to [unclear: more] the economic distress of these peoples. Of course, the negro franchise is fairly recent—just of the last 10 years—and the necessary qualifications are the ability to read and write. In [unclear: the] South the negro is not [unclear: represented in] the legislatures, but in the North we have men in the House of Representatives, and even in some Government work. But the Southern negro vote is sometimes used In municipal elections of a nonpartisan nature, and in Presidential elections."

"Have the negroes any leaning in their voting?"

"At one time there was a leaning to Republican—that was because the Republican Lincoln freed the negroes—but now they vote any way. In the North things are much better several States even hold the balance of power and have used it in their own Interests. For instance take Mississippi, where 57 per cent, of the voters are coloured."