The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-17
Minority Representation-Its Effect In
this State.

Minority Representation-Its Effect In
this State.
There is no prospect of amending theCon-
stitution of the State Of South Carolina so as
to require q property, or educational, qualln-
cation OF all persons claiming the right TO
vote. The Fifteenth Constitutional Amend
ment does not stand in the way. Aproperty
test, or an educational test, is not a discrim-
ipation on account of race, color or previous
condition of servitude. But as the bulk OF
the poor and of the illiterate, in this State,
are negroes, the effect OF such a test would
be to deprive far more blacks than whites OF
the privilege Of the suffrage. No such test,
or qualification, could be engrafted upon the
Constitution, without the consent OF the
identical men whom the completed amend
ment would disfranchise. To ask the negro
majority to support such an amendment is
to ask them to put themselves in the minor
ity, and strip themselves Of whatever pro-
lection their numbers now give them. To
ask the Radical leaders to advocate such an
amendment, is to ask them to vacate oil
their fat offices and to give up all their profit
able control over the legislation Of the State.
Neither the voting rank and file, nor the
Radical dignitaries, pretend to be angels of
unselfshness. They have their full share Of
the weaknesses of humanity. How, then,
can the whites ask the colored people, with
good grace, to do what we, if the boot were
on the other leg, would never dream OF
dong?
Yet there is an evident need Of some con-
stitutionai check upon an irresponsible ma
iority. The sixty thousand whites require di-
rect representation; not merely because Of
their intelligence and comparative wealth, but
because minorities have rights, and because
no majority can be trusted to legislate, at all
times, with an eye to the welfare Of the minor
ity. This evil has been felt in every State in
the Union, and, because Of the exceptional
| ignorance and poverty Of the negroes, is felt
with terrible force in South Carolina. In
other words, there is no reason why 10000
colored voters should have 60, 900 white vo-
tiers wholly at their mercy. The 80, 600 are
entitled to q preponderance OF representa-
ton, but the go, 900 are entitled to represen-
tatior in the degree of their voting strength.
This is the principle of the representation OF
minsrities as engraited upon the constitution
of Republican Illinois, and as practiced, IN
der Democratic auspices, in Pennsylvania.
The plan Is as simple as the alphabet.
Where, as in Illinois, cumulative voting,
as 1t is called, is a feature Of the public law,
each voter at all elections is entitled to as
many votes az there are persons to be voted
for. These votes the voter may divide among
the candidates.. or cast them all for any one
candidate. Take Charleston County, as an
example of the operation OF this cumulative
voting in South Carolina. There are eigh-
teen members of the House OF Representa-
tives to be elected, and there are $4,000
Radical voters and 5000 Conservative voters.
It is evident that the Conservatives by cast
ing their votes, la, 900 in number, for seoen
candidates would give those candidates q
majority aud would elect them, while the
Radical voters, by concentrating their vote
upon eleUen candidates, could, in the same
way, elect those eleven. Both Conservatives
and Radicals would be represented in the
General Assembly in the ratio of $4,000 to
5000. And, under this system, the Radicals
would obtain their fair share of representa-
ton in the counties where they, instead of
the Conservatives, are largely in the minor
ity. The general effect would be that the
two parties would stand in the General As
sembly as 10000 to {, 1000. Putting down
the number OF members of the lower House
at one hundred and twenty, the plan OF
cumulative voting should give the Radicals
u members, and the Conservatives 4S men,
bers.
This, it seems to US, is the most certain
way of obtaining for the whites the voice
which is their due in conducting the affairs
OF the State. The principle has the approval
of the most thoughtful statesmen in the
country. It has the commentator, in this
State, of the leading Republican paper, and
Of many prominent members OF the Radical
party. No man is deprived OF the right to
vote. One voter has as many votes as the
other. No attempt is made to give capital
the power to crush labor, or to take the gov
ernmept from one race and class and give it
to another. All that is done is to give all
men representation in proportion to their
voting strength, in this way abolishing that
stupid and unjust principle which makes
majorities supreme, and allows l0l, 900 men
to dispose, as they will, of the lives and for
tunes of the SO, 900 who voted squarely
against them.
Shall not an attempt be made to introduce
in South Carolina, as q sure way Of saving
the State from anarchy and ruin, the blessed
principle of minority representation?
The New York SUN and the Broadway
e m K.
A. P, the Columbia correspondent OF the