Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-23
WHAT RADICAL RULE IN SOUTH
CATALINA MEANS


Gov. r. K. Scott and certain other off,
Gals of the State government of South
Carolina which bids fair to result In great
good to the people. The Governor has
become disguised with the unblushing
corruption of many of his political ssso-
ciates, and has put his foot down with
crushing effect upon all of their plumber
ing schemes. OF course he has not done
this with impunity. A howl of rage has
penetrated the Executive Chamber, and
the Governor meets with black looks,
and in few instances, with positive
insult from the thieving officials who
surround him" As specimen of the
swindling that has been carried on in
South Carolina, the Suns correspondent
furnishes the following:
esGov. Scott has during the last session
vetoed and in other ways defeated every
measure passed by the Legislature that
was not directly for the interest of the
people. Plundering bills-snd they were
passed by the lower House in large num-
bers-received his unqualified opposition.
The principal one of these, the Green
vile Railroad bill, which proposed to
issue two millions of State bonds for the
construction and repair of the Greenville
road, and which was one of the most bare
faced swindles ever attempted upon any
people, was killed wholly by his efforts,
and that, too, notwithstanding the fact
that the Governor himself is very largely
interested in the road. That swindling
scheme was fathered by Francis Moses,
Speaker of the House; Joe Crewes, from
Laurens, who was formerly negro
trader, but who now claims TO be the ne
groes' best friend; State Treasurer Parker,
Comptroller General Neagle, 81. ii. Kimp-
ton, the New York financial agent of
South Carolins; Tim Hurley, jolly Irish
man from New York, who represents
Charleston in the lower House; and last
of all, Gen. Dennis, of Norwich, Conn.,,
who sent in the little bill of $40, 600 for
supplying $25, 900 worth of furniture for
the State House"
The Legislature which has been manip-
ulated by the corruptionists to pass these
and other plundering bills, by which the
State has been robbed of millions, is COM
posed, in the maip, says the Charleston
Courier, of those who are of another
race, who pay no taxes, who contribute
nothing to the general support, who have
an idea that the more they Cypress the
vital people of the State, the greater the
service they are rendering TO the State
and Federal Government, who have
added millions TO the public debt for
their own enrichment, who are openly
bought and sold at every session, and who
in fact without any responsibility in
themselves, have brought the State to the
verge of absolute ruin. In the presence
of these truths, it is not surprising that
there should be occasional and forcible
appeals for the right and protests
against the wrong, and that oCcs-
sionally these protests should come
from Radicals. The corruption among
the Radical leaders has become so mon
strous as to disgust even Gov. Scott
chief among the carpet-baggeEs. He is
not the only Radical that has become
alarmed at the general Generalization
that characterizes the party in control of
the State. There is published in Charles
ton small weekly paper called the MIS-
SiOnary Record, which is edited by R.
Il. Cain, negro, who is a minister and
thorough Radical. He was a member
of the State Senate from Charleston coun-
ty, and the Charleston Courier says:
'sHe has been and is one of tie promi-
nent leaders in the Radical party in this
State. He is thoroughly eonversan: with
tie character and course of the legisla-
ton. This has passed under his obser-
vsiion and experience. And yet no words
of ours have been either stronger
or more pointed than the language
in which he proclaims, without
disguise, the presence and extent
of the mis-goVernment which is eating
out the very vitals of the Commonwealth,
depressing every industrial pursuit, and
grinding to the very dust every element
of right, and every semblsnce of consti-
tutiOnal liberty" The Missionary Re
cord well states that "the object of all
government should be to benefit the masses
and secure good government. How the
Radical party in South Carolina has an
swered these ends will be judged by the
following extracts from an editorial in q
late issue Of the Record:
"The Republican party in South Caro-
lima came into power in 1865, but did not
attain power and strength till after the
military had reconstructed the State
through the action of Congress. The
vote for members of a Constitutional
Convention was tie first time that the
majority of the inhabitants of this
State realized the existence of such
party.
''rhe white men who were in the party
represented the idea that they were the
only friends of the negro, and their ex-
prcssions of friendship, and their acts in
harmony with the United States authority,
gave them double power over the minds
Of people, so that Republicanism became
the 'sbibbolGth' of the whole people.
The principles were expOunded daily by
stump orators and famous leaders. The
acts Of the officers in obedience to their
orders, were regarded as the spontaneous
actions of individual kindness, SO that
when Gen. Candy turned over the Govern
mcnt TO Gov. Il. X. Scott, every white
man who had had positions in recOnstruc-
ton measures, or With the army, and was a
citizen, was indicted into the official arena,
and began TO play their part. There
was as yet no exhibition of the character
of the men who have played such an
important part in. our political rule as
now. There had not come to the surface
those cormorants, in political fields, de-
vouring every vcstige of honesty, specu-
lations had not developed the nature of
the men in power, nor had ignorance as
vet rose to the full stature of effective
envy. The degrading infamy of theee