The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-04-12
Political Traets-No. s.

Political Tracts-No. 8,
I desire to ask my colored friends
few simple questions, and to give q
few simple answers, which neither
you, or "any other man." can prove
false:
First. Who are your radical Office
seekers?
Answer. They are first, vagrant
colored men, mostly without employ
ment, with no honest pursuits, no
honest labor, who hope to get Office,
that they may enjoy the bounteous
proceeds thereof, and suck plentiful
ly of Government pap. And second
ly, they are renegade white men-
some native, but mostly from other
States, with like object. but meaner
n'otires. They are not trusted by
decent men of their own color, and
are hypocrites to you. AS sure rs God
is i'll Heaven, they will betray you.
should the worse that is apprehend-
ed, come to pass. If your white
friends from the North, now here in
your midst, are such true friends to
you, why, in Heaven name, did they
not remain at their homes and work
for the Improvement of their colored
friends there? Are the colored men
of the North, as a class, better of
than you herep Not bit of it. You
knO,c they are not. Then why, we
repeat why, did not these excellent
friends stay there to improve and
ameliorate the condition, and put
political power into the honds of
their beloved colored friends mt their
very doors? 1t is easy, my friends,
to see why they did not. They are
mere adventurers-simp]y, solely,
purely that-nobody at home, striv-
ing to be somebody here. Do they
come here as honest citizens, seeking
honest employments, investing their
money in our deprecated property,
and striving to improve our depress-
ed affairs? No indeed. They come
as of1ice-seekers and holders; they
care not one iota for the true inter
ests of the State; they are not identi-
fed with it it in any manner, shape
or form; their homes, their interests,
their all, is elsewhere. They want here
what they can't get at home-office
simply-that and nothing more.
Second. How will it benefit you to
elect these radicals?
Answer. So far from benefiting
you, it will prove the most ruinous
step you ever took in your lives.
Now, candidly, colored men, how
can their election benefit you? Can
yon point to one single aoay in which
it will do SO? Will they make better
laws for you than the Democrats, the
owners of the property, the men who
are obliged to be deeply interested in
the country's welfare, of which you
arc part; the men who played with
you as boys, grew up with you as
men. and have not particle of i'll
feeling towards you. You are blinded,
you are fooled, when your demagogue
otiice-seekers make you believe that
the Democrats will pass laws iniuri-
ons to you. They will do no such
thing, for the one simple reason that
their oacn Interests are directly opposed
to any such legislation. The Demo
Gratis feel and know that as long as
you and them live together in peace,
your interests must be their interests
and their interests. must be yours.
You are the laboring element of the
country. Don't you see that as long
as you are happy, contented, free and
prosperous. your employers must be
so too? Do you suppose that the
Democrats are such fools, such mad
men, as to rob you of your rights,
when the very act would necessarily
rob t!.cai vi their own prosperity?
They will not, cannot, do it, my
friends. You must, ut least, give
them credit for some little sense.
Third-How will it injwe you to
elect these radicals?
Answer-It will injure you by
placing you in direct opposition to the