Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-08-01

lCOaMUNICATKDJ
BOW WILL SHELBY COUNTY VOTES

]
To-day, there are not as many people
in Memphis by five thousand, as there
We're one year ago. The oldest OF oul
citizens never saw so many stores and
= dwellings for rent, In May, June and
Z 9Tly, as can now be found all through
tbStown. Last year, upwards of sixty
0 million bricks were put up In buildings
and stores and houses found tenants, al
0 high prices, as fast as they could be pre-
pared. TIE future was promising, for
: none thAught fanatlcism and cor
e rurtion wcIld 60 as far as they
have gone, and therefore none
e saw the "shaGow on the wall which
D Acknowledgement and other baneful radi-
+. cal legislation nave brought upon this
S city. Then, landlords did not have u
r hunt for tenants; and lot owners did Z !,
have to sell their property at one-halfs +
t value. The future was full of hope. How
{ is it now? The words /" for rent" or
g for sale y tell the story, aud any street
} in our city furnishes the proof. Louis
{ vile, under the guardianship Of laws
made by and for her OtUl citizens, has
! nearly doubled her population within the
! past five years, while Memphis is going
dorm hill. II is pleasant to see tor rents
when business is active, but is it bet
ter to have low rents and no business,
] kl1du LlikA ItnLH auu GGLANE AIdub w III
a city prosper more when rents are low
because one-fourth Of the houses are
empty, than when rents are high and
business fiOurishing? All classes admit
the blight that rests on trade here, and
none but fools or knaves deny that the
baneful legislation of radical rulers drives
away all cOufidence and all hope. What
sane man is coming to Memphis when
even the corrupt Beaumont finds il nee
essary TO call on the citizens Of the town
to aid him in preventing q riot On the
day Of election? What is it that has in
duced him to apprehend q riot? The
conservatives have had no power to pass
laws arraying one class against another.
THeyhave had no hand in that legislation
which robs the white man Of the right
TO vote, and gives it 10 the negro. They
have passed no laws which nine-tenths
of our best people openly denounce, day
and night, as oUtrages upon the rights Of
the only people whose taxes support the
state and feed its corrupt radical officials.
They have never proclaimed that &" tax
alton without representation is just. II
cur people have been thus outraged if
/ they are excited; il even such a dog as
/ Beaumont thinks they may possibly have
some cause for excitement, who is re
sponsible for this "feverish anxiety ," |
People do not often complain o. laws /
/ that are just and general in their bear
/ ing. If radical laws have none Of these I
/ elements, who j. to blame? Their effects, .
I their curse, their blight are strongly /.
( presented throughout our city. They
reach all callings-all classes. Are they .
| to continue? Yes; and they will grow /
worse until we can change our law
makers. We are talking and thinking I
too much about the governor and con- {
/ gressmen. What honor, now, in being .
a member Of congress? If we elect con- I
seTvative members, they will not be al .
lowed to take their seats; and radical .
members could do us no more harm than
the present majority in congress will do.
Our first duty is TO get control Of our legis
lature and H5eTqte ourselves. That done,
we can let congress and Thad. Stevens
go to the devil, or any other place. We
cannot correct that great evil without the
aid Of a corrected northern opinion; and
when that opinion shall be changed, we
shall be prepared to cooperate with it to
overthrow the national evil. N0l0 our
duty is with this infamous state evil;
aud we must leave no stone unturned to
extirpate it. As said before, the political
complexion of the next legislature may
depend on the members Shelby county
shall eject, and as Tadicalism is running
and blasting every interest in Memphis,
every man whose prosperity depends
upon the future OF our city, should bestir
himself TO overthrow a despOtism which
fears its Odious measures cannot be en-
forced except by the bayonet placed in
the hands of citizens who have no inter-
est in the state. Seven thousand negroes
have registered in Memphis. Shall these
be allowed to vote away our rights and
liberties As a general rule, there are
eight inhabitants to every male over
twenty one years of age. That has been
the average during ell the presidential
and state elections. Then, if there are
seven thousand negroes registered in
Memphis, there should be lifty-siX thoUs- {
and negroes in the county. Even sup
posing there are but seven inhabitants to
every voter there should be fOrty-nine /
thousand negroes to furnish seven thOus-
and voters. All know this is not so. In
1860, there were but seventeen thousand
negroes in the county, according to the (
census reports, and there are not thirty {
thousand now. They have increased in I
Memphis, but decreased in the county !
and while there may be fifteen thousand Z
in Memphis there are not ten thousand :
outside of it. Thirty thousand is a large
figure for the whole county, and twenty
thousand for the town. Nc one estimates
our city population now at more than
sixty thousand and the negroes do not
furnish One-fOurth of il. If the negroes {
number thirty thousand in the county, {
they can register one-eighth or one
seventh of that-say four thousand q
voters. They hare registered seven
thousand. Here, then, is a fraudulent T
vote Of three thousand. That vote, of c
course, comes from negroes lgho do not
live 10 this state, and they may elsot rad {
icals n The neTt legislature. Shall these
dogs be diiOJgcd TO vote away our liber- (
ties l am glad to know there are lists '
in the hands of our friends, having on
them the names OF many negroes from ]
Mississippi and Arkansas, who have OBJ C
tanned their papers from that corrupt v
soul for Office or gold. These negroes j
may as well learn, first as last, that they 4
are k8OJgH; and if they dare TO UOte upOl
the rights of the white men of this state, S
then lCW do so at their peril Let them v
aud their white allies dare attempt 70
5eize the polls. That game has never u
vet been attempted here, and it will be r
exceedingly dangerous to play il ROiO
Beaumont and Barbour Lewis aud that b
filthy crew may see the beginning, il such a
an outrage be attempted, out no one will a
be rash enough TO say they VIII see tEe i
md Of the trouble they have been so q
preparing for our people
Turing the past twelve months. II they q
.hiuk proper to open the ball, they will n
loon conclude, that h-ll would be a cool o.
place for them. 10 the meantime as Il
he APPEAL suggests, let every man be a
'eady to answer any call our excellent o.
heriff, Winters, may make on him as Il
Of the peace. In our midst
ire thousands Of ex-rebels," who faced
leath on a hundred battlefelds, while al
uch hounds as Beaumont and Barbour "
lewis and little Richard and RUel HOugh II
we're moving out plumber and prey
These men are now our best cit
zens, hard at work to re- l
eem their fortunes, and avoiding all
auses for collision. But they know that
be best way to preserUe peace is to let ty
hese radical dogs, white and black, RI
now that they can aud JCjH prevent any VI
utbTeak which their evil brains may W
ave concOoted, and that they will nj
ack the sheriff Of the county
q all Eq1gttA efforts to prevent ci
utrage, and preserve what little liberty "a
,e yet have left The radicals will in 10
ite the negroes to serious outrages on the
az of aIaation TTe3g desire N ,.;oF h1t