Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-08-26
The Mooted Question.


The Democratic Clubs of Edgefeld District are !
now, more seriously than ever before, mooting the
question whether or not we shall continue to give
employment to negroes who vote against us. We
have thought, for a time, that it were better to
let this question rest until nfter the Presidential
election, but our opinion is changed. We need
at present moro bold, fearless, unHinchng defence
of truth, of justice, and of our rights, and less
ahaky, weak-kneed policy. The negroes in our
section of country are, and have been ever since
tho emancipation, more blind, unreasonable, and
stif-neckod in their intense and unanimous Radi-
caliHm, than in any other part of the South. We
speak advisedly, for we are in the daily habit of
reading papers from all parts of the South, and
in no elections that we can call to mind, have the
negroes been so unanimously and wantonly ar-
rayed against the whites as in Edgefcld District.
Had we been less tolerant of all this in the ast,
perhaps it wero better with US now. Conse-
quently, We believe it to be time to cease beating
about the bush and como out fat. footed.
If the doctrine of not giving employment to
negroes who vote against us be carried out in
practice throughout the South, it cannot bo long
before the negroes will be compelled to see that
their true interest lies in being faithful to the
people of the South, instead of aiding, by their
votes, to bring ruin upon US and our country.
While it may be respectable excuse for the nc
groes to say that their ignorance and prejudccs
have been imposed upon by wicked and design
ing men, it is but poor consolation to us who ore
being degraded and ruined by this very means.
And why, pray, do the negroes act so much more
inimicaly with us than in Mississippi, in many
parts of Georgia, and elsswherc7 Are they moro
ignorant? Have they cause to be more bitterly
prejudiced against the whites Certainly not?
Are Radicals here moro cunning and unscrupu-
lous? In Mississippi lately, Democracy has .ri-
umphed most signally, and the result has been
achieved by the aid of the negro vote.
The cause is apparent. The laborer he's tcen
made to feel that he cannot make war upon the
capital from which he derives his support; that
in separating himself from his white friends, he
is quarreling with his meat and bread. A like
policy would achieve the same result here.
This is the way, and perhaps the only way,
left US to convince the negroes, in spite of the
attempts to deceive them SO perseveringly made
by the Radicals, that their own welfare is ideni-
cal with the welfare Of the white people Of the
South, and that they cannot join our enemies to
effect our ruin without running themselves Long
experience has proved beyond all doubt that
nothing We can say to the negroes will detach
thom from their radical leaders. They are made
to believe there is natural antagonism of inter-
est between themselves and us, that tho Radicals
ject is to bring them back to their former bond
age. And wo have no way to counteract these
influences but by making the negroes feel that
our friendship is worth having. And the only
way to do this is to treat them friends, and re-
,Oard them ,Ohen by their votes they show Mei,
friendship to,cards us. And, on tho other hand
when they persist in treating US as their enemies
by voting against US, we should treat them &c.
cordingly. They should be made to know that we
will distinguish between our friends and our enc
mics, and that we will Systematically reward, en-
courage and patronize the former and withhold
NIL patronage from the latter.
Heretofore, we have not paid sufficient atten
to this important matter. Its probably true thai
we have scarcely colored man in hundred
among US who has not joined our enemies ant
done all in his power to effect our utter ruin. Bu
if there are 80 few of the freedmen who have en-.
titled themselve, to our kindness and patronage
why do we not confne our patronage to those few
and to white loborers who, if sought for, may be
found in greater numbers than we would at first
imagine. It is full time for US to begin to draw
well-defned limo of distinction between ou,
friends and our enemies. This is about the only
alternative that is left Us to defend ourselves
against the radical crusade, by which it is pro.
posed to perpetuatc our subjugation. It may in.
deed be said of the ignorant negroes, that they
know not what they do. But if this be true il
most cases, as it probably is, it certainly does moi
follow that we should not take the only means
we havo of making them understand what they do
by muking them feel the consequences Of theil
own acts. 1t is true kindness to the negro tt
teach him this lesson by showing him the differ
ence between our treatment of those who ore oui
friends and those who are our enemies; unt
more especially as he can be taught his true in.
tereat in no other way.
But surely nothing can be more suicidal as re-
CARDS our own present and future welfare, thar
for US to continue to give the same patronage ant
support to those who are doing all they car
against US, as to those who are working with u:
and for US.