The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1870-11-16
The Vote.

4u0 vOC0s
According to the official report
OF the Board of State Canv assers.
as stated by q Columbia CORES.
pondent of the Daily News, the
total vote cast at tie State cleo.
sions of the 10Th ultimo, was 1874.
579. OF which the Radical candi
date for Governor received s4.475
votes, and tile Reform candidate
90, lO4 votes. At the constitution.
al elections of 1858 the total vote
was 97,S46. and at the election for
Governor 92,750, but in the Pres.
'dential election. two years ago.
the entire vote was 10S,153. The
vote rHst last month is, therefore.
20, ,426 votes in excess of the high.
est vote ever before cast in this
State. According to the census
taken last year, the total number
OF voters in the State was 148,716.
viz : o9,801 white, and sg,41b col
ored 80 that, assuming that every
vote was deposited by person
qualified to vote, and who had not
already voted, (Which is contrary
to both knowledge and Leliefl
there were 1000 voters who did
not 90 to the polls. Making al
lowamce for the repeating and bal.
lot-box stuffing, which the Radi.
calls are known to have practiced,
it Is probable that 10000 legal
votes were not brought out by the
stirring canvass of 1870. These
figures make one point clear, viz:
That the white strength, while
steadily increasing, is not yet fully
polled, and that the colored peo-
pie are not, as was suggested, dis.
posed to refrain from exercising
the privilege of the suffrage Sc
cured to them by the laws of this
State and of the United States
In future elections, therefore,
where the canvass is active and
thorough, The whites and blacks
will poll within ten or twelve per
cent. mt OF the full legal vote.
The entire number of votes cast
for Judge Carpenter, the Reform
candidate for Governor, was So
1o4. This is the highest vote ever
cast in the State in opposition to
ltadicalism. Against The cons,itu.
ton Of 1868 only 27,2sS votes
were polled, and In the same year
the Democratic vote was only As
23I. The anti Radicals have gain.
ed, therefore, in round numbers.
5000 votes since the elections held
two years ago. At that time the
lines were plainly drawn between
Radicalism and Democracy; the
Democrats offered the negroes
nothing more than a qualified sut.
frage; the Democratic platform
declared that the Reconstruction
acts, which were then the guaran
tees to the freedmen that thew
should be the political EQUALS of
the whites-were unconstitntioh.
al, revolutionary and void" With
all these drawbacks the Democrat.
ic party polled only 5000 votes
less than are polled in 1870 by the
Reform which makes no
political issue, which recognizes
the civil and political equality of
whites and blacks, and which de.
clares that the amendments incor.
porated into the State and Federal
constitutions, since the war, are
accomplished facts, having the
force and obligation of law. The
Reform party was supported by
the white people, as a body it was
led and defended by the ablest of
our younger statesmen, and by
the soldiers whom the State most
honors and trusts. The platform
OF the party gave the colored man
a guarantee of all his rights and
privileges colored men helped to
define that platform colored men
were candidates for office on the
county tickets; the two races
worked together, as it seemed,
with the one object of obtaining a
capable and trnsty representative
government for the State. The re.
suit is 8 gain of 5000 votes in the
year, while the Radical party, in
the same period, gains more than
10000 votes. The Radical vote
at the Presidential election in 1858
was 62,916; it now Is S4,475.
charleston Neps.