New-York tribune., 1868-05-21
THE DEMOCRACY on NEGRO VoTINC

THE DEMOCRACY on NEGRO V0TlNG.
There is one sentence in the order oil Gen
Candy, announcing the result OF the election III
South Carolina, which cannot fail to meet inc
cordial approval of every true Democrat. Inc
order provides that labOrers discharged lot
voting contrary to the interests OF Their en-
ployers "shall he maintained as objects ol
"publc charity by the levy of an additional
"poor-taxr Just before the election in COnnec
ticut the Democratic press made great outcry
upon the possibility that some Republican en-
poyer might induce his hands to vote the night
ticket. 1t does not appear that any one did
80. There is no law, we believe. outside oil
Democratic grogshops, that rightfully prevents
any man from trying to convince any other
man that such or such a candidate Is the
proper one but the Democratic leaders, ever
anxious to keep control of their iguorant raw
material, arc always jealous OF the uruption
of anything like intelligence among the people.
SO, when an election happens where they
count upon the blind following OF the mass OF
their party, they beat the gong IN advance, lest
some sharp enemy should capture the stray
lambs. and by so much lessen the go-it-blind
vote on which they depend. To this end they
invented the bottomless story that the manu-
facturers of wooden nutmegs had undertaken
to cOerce their hired help To vote for Jewell,
and for a time the air rang with lamentations
mixed with curses.
All this while the Democratic leaders in the
South were coaxng and threatening the humble
voters in that region to support the Rebel
tickets, or at least to refrain from voting at
all. Let the reader stop a moment aud try to
comprehend the ineifablc meanness of men
like Gov. Brown and John Forsyth, finding
an humble race just enfranchised, who feel
that the great event of their lives is to exer-
else the right of freemen by giving free votes
at the pOlls-(what man does not remember
with pride his own first vote 7)-for such men
TO endeavOr to prevent such votes from being
given, even by argument, is baseness of the
basest sort. But that was only the beginning
of their oilense. Finding that argumentative
opposition to negro voting at all would not
defeat Reconstruction, they tried cOerciOn-they
gave out that every negro who voted for the
new Constitutions should be not only dis
charged from work, but black record should
90 before him. so that he should get work
nowhere else; his family should be turned out
TO starve and when, in the agony of hunger,
they should kill pig to support life, the
brave and chivalrous white mans party would
complain to the Yankee military power, and
bring the starving nggers to punishment
That villainOus coercion did pretty well with
some but it seems there are darkies who have
independence, at the risk of consequences, and
80 thousands uDon thousands have come up
nobly TO the support of the new Constitutions,
and, by the sanctity of their first vote, ex-
pressed their loyalty to Liberty and the. Union
For this the decayed c0ttOn-lOrds of the fetter
and the lash deprive the freedmen Of work,
making the means of subsistence dependent
upon the political action of the labOrer. If he
votes for Treason and Slavery, lie is a good
boy, and may retain his place if Inc votes for
Loyalty and Liberty, he is niger thief, and
himself aud family are to be turned into the
street and branded through all the late Con-
federacy as dangerous characters. .. ....
There are not ten in hundred Democrats in
New York, or even in Connecticut, who do not
secretly applaud this action-not eighty in a
hundred who would not do the same under
similar circumstances. 1t is cardinal princ-
pie of the party-sO far as they have principle
to coerce any and all persons under their inhu-
/,
yet all the while they yell horribly against the
mere supposition that some Republican may
quietly suggest that lie should like to have his
employees vote for his side. In Connecticut,
where the employers arc chiefly Republicans, |
TO discharge o man for his vote is Infamous,
(and so far we agree y but in Alabama,
Georgia. South Carolina and other States, TO
discharge man for his vote, and not only
him, but drive his family
to starvation, is legitimate and mertorious
Democratic policy. We rejoice to learn that
Gen. Candy views the matter in a different
light and still more rejoice that he has called |
these heartless employers to practical account.
All over the South the Democratic newspapers |
and leaders have held forth this alternative
" You nggers, vote with us, and We will give
"you every advantage lots of work, good pay,
care in sickness apd 80 On. Vote against us,