The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-07-05
The Way to Win.


The political campaign has opened, the
Union Reform candidates are already in the
field, and the State may expect to behold,
between this and the end of October, as ex-
citing and as important canvass as ever
engaged the hopes and sympathies of peo-
ple. On the one side will be ranged the
enemies Of good government, the retainers
of the Ring, the venal politicians who have
added millions to the State debt and have
filled their own pockets while emptying the
pockets of their so-called fellow-citizens.
On the other side will stand the intelligence,
the worth, the honesty and the decency Of
South Carolina-all leagued together for the
one great purpose Of obtaining State Gov
ernment which shall make life and property
secure, and may be handed down, with becom-
ing pride and confidence, to the second and
third generation. There is no splitting OF
hairs. The whole canvass is square and
fair contest between Honesty and Dishones-
ty, Economy and Extravaganza, Public
Purity and Public Corruption. This is the
issue before the people of the State, and If
they, realizing and understanding how much
is at stake, work with energy and system,
the Union Reform party must be victorious,
and will give to South Carolina, next fall, o
State Government Of which all good men
whatever their class or their color-may he
reasonably and properly proud.
But the Union Reform party is still in an
inchoate condition. It has head, it has
name, but it Is not complete political
party whose concrete pressure can he ex-
creed simultaneously upon every part OF the
State. 1t counts its soldiers by tens OF
thousands, but they are not formally muster
ed into service. The Radical Ring, on the
contrary, has its oath-bound leagues in
every county, AS political organization
the Ring is in fighting trim-it is ready for
action. Now, good cause is not enough.
With on organization as thorough as that
of the Radical Ring, the Union Reform
party can carry the day; but apolitical rab-
BILE cannot hold its own against trained
and disciplined forces, the more especially
when the larger battalions and the better
discipline are both on the same side. The
Ring count upon the ignorance OF their ad-
herents; the Reformers count upon intelli-
gence and upon truth. And the one sure
way of exposing the rascalities and decep-
tions of the Ring, and OF proving the broad
generosity and enlarged ioerality OF the Re-
form movement, is by giving the Union
Reformers rallying point in every precinct
and every county in the State.
The formation OF Union Reform Clubs
will set discipline against discipline and or
ganization against organization. 1t will do
more than this. In each precinct the Re-
form Club will be the centre around which
may crystalline all the elements which give
force and life to the Reform party. And
the clubs will gain rapidly in strength.
When the standard-bearers Of the party
pass through the State, they will add hun
dreds of names to the roll Of the Reform
Clubs; every effort, every speech, every cam
paign document will widen their sphere and
increase their usefulness. And without Re-
form Clubs it will be very difficult to
carry on the campaign. When announce
ments are to be made for mass meetings, the
Reform Clubs should take the matter in
hand When speakers are appointed to can
vass district, the Reform Clubs in the dis
trict should spread the news abroad and
make preparations for their reception.
When documents are to be distributed, the
Reform Clubs must do the work. The
clubs, also, will have the duty of supervising
the voting, so that no illegal voters may
sneakingly cast their ballots for the Ring
In word, the Reform Clubs will bring the
State Executive Committee face to face with
the people The chain will be unbroken-
beginning with the small central body in
Columbia, and spreading out with increas-
ing strength and thickness into every corner
of the State, By means Of these clubs the
whole people will be Joined together; they
will feel the touch Of the elbow all along the
line.
We hope, then, that steps will at once be
taken for forming Reform Clubs in every