The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-04-15
| portant subject ofthe harmonious government
of our conflicting elements.

OF our cOnn1ct1ng olemeQts
To nv mind the defects in the suggestions
of &Lanrensa lie in placing intelligence and
property in opposition to the numerical ma
iority. iusG where it should least have that
sem6lance. Why The capital OF the State
will have an embodied official veto OF the
State over an embodied official majority OF its
| voters, and capital and labor cannot success
fully cooperate when thus placed IN Oppose
| tIon. Capital must never be thrown In such. a
| position as 10 be In bold opposition to the
| masses of Democracy. Its workings. to De
| successful, must be noiseless and unnoticed,
and he who carries ont this programme Is The
best fnancier, and the best of Democrats, be-
cause he thu benefits the mass of people Win
out exciting their cupidity. and is steadily al,
ding to the thrift of his State. Doubtless,
may be more in fault than my friend "Lau-
rens,' but as our aim and interests are the
same. I present my views for ventilation and
the study ofothers, who seek. like ourselves
! a pure and stable government.
admit that the requirement Of q property
qualification to enjoy the franchise is the Sim
plest and most direct mode of giving stability
to our State government, confidence to capital,
and enterprise md prosperity to our commerce
nor Ransier asks, twill the blacks, the ajority
in this State vote to disfranchise themselves, ?
No. Task, will the general government ever re-
peal the amendment giving them the fran
chise >. Whoever so thinks follows an tgneS
.fatuuS.n The Democratic party is, 1t IS true, a
conservative one, and does not follow in the
wake Of political p~ropagandists, but its very
conservatism makes 1t so far progressive as 10
support this or any other amendment to the
constitution which has. note1aS rotens, been
engrafted upon and rooted into the very net
work of our government as law. These are
my convictions, because as q party they favor
fixed law and order, as opposed to the rapid
ly shifting and progressive changes OF Raai-
calism-a political principle that forms the
very life blood of their party. Again, the idea
of simple citizenship giving the privileges oil
the franchise has become so thoroughly I'M
bued into the people Of these United States
that, despite all State laws. we fud, especially
in large cities all over the Union, they vote
en- maSse, owning perhaps but the shirt
and pants upon their bodies. IL IS not, mere
fore, strange that the blacks of this State Will
be- tenacious of this right. Now. what con-
trolls The Northern votes? Capital it Is true,
but NOT as s'Laurens' would suggest. 1t is
n~oiseless and unnoticed, and consequently the
more effectual. Bread and wages make the
laborer vote with his employer, the capitalist,
all over the North. That Is the way Northern
capitalists and prope~ty-holders North cheek
the vote of the non.property-holders.
This growing tendency to ndiscrimlnate
voting Ia this country Is, however, assuming a
troublesome shape TO capitalists, and we ind
thinking men North casting about for a rem
edy. Senator Buckalew, OF Pennsylvania, IN
a speech some time back. presents a full and
clear theory Of the system OF cumulative
voting, while! - my mind, under the tone,
temper, spirit and political education not only
of the blacks Of this State, but Of the masses
of the people Of the whole country, comes
nearer q peaceful solution of this question Of
the franchise than any suggestion yet made.
We, the whites Of this State, possess The cap
ltal of the State, but from it's shape and nature
can not handle 1t the same as Northern cap
italists do theirs, to control the laborlng class,
the majority in this, as In every Northern
State, except that ours Is q black majority. II.
then, this subject is attracting the attention Of
thinking men and capitalists North, where
capital is plethoric, and the laborers Of their
own race, how much more important Is 1t,
that where In our State the capital is unWieldy
and not ~merchantable, and the majority Of
laborers of O different race, that our thinking
men should give the subject serious consider
alton, so as to avoid those Inevitable evils That
must turn the ballot into Pandora's box?
The general Idea is, that the minority as
well as the majority have a representation
pro rata, so that, where there is a slight diff
ference in numerical powers of politics, there
will be a corresponding slight one IN repre-
sentation Of interests. The pamphlet OF the
senator Is an able one: presents several practl-
cal modes o fcaPrylng out this system OF. cumu-
lative voting, and is, to my conception,
our only course to settle this question OF The
at this day. LUX.