The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-08-29
What Franklin j. has to Say.

ArouN uAO CoTCuptlOu WHICH uHVd Ueeu
made against him. We should rather
say, in answer to the oharges made in
the manifesto of Judge Orr. as President
of the '"trne Republican Convention"
and published by us yesterday. For
answer, the leader Of the regular"
rogues contents himself with "denounc-
ing the charges. in part and in whole,
false"
Though rnmors have been rife, as he
says. for some time past, and though, as
he might have added. the specific
charges have been made by numbers Of
Republican speakers, and by nearly
every newspaper in The State. implicat-
Jig him in heinous acts of fraud and
bribery, he has not felt called upon here
tofore to reply. This reticence he claims
to be Sin accordance with the rule of
conduct observed by men in public posi-
tion."
If the ''people of South Carolina" can
gulp that down, they can surely be trust
ed to swallow almost anything that mo-
dest mendaoity might suggest Aside
from this "slight misstatement," " hich
may perhaps be somewhat excusable
when one considers the urgent necessity
the writer was under to make some 30 rt
Of explanation of his long silence, we do
not see how Mr.. Moses has bettered his
cause any. A simple denial is no refu-
tation. A criminal is expected, as mat
ter Of course, to deny his guilt. Neither
does the challenge for Investigation
amount to anything. r'i.'I
The theory that man must be pre-.
sumed to be Innocent until he is proven
to be guilty. is 9; very correct and whole
some one when applied when and where
only it properly belonga-to criminals on
trial in court of justice. It does not
hold-though most Of the Radical fra
ternity would have i. SOTO candidates
for public Office. The reason of the diff.
ference is quite apparent: In the one
case, it is the pcphsed party who is to
suffer if q mistake is made, and. there
fore. to him is allowed the benefit Of all'
reasonable: doubts aStphig guilt. LIN the
other, the peopls sESrsshe party who will
suffer by mistake; and all doubts must
be decided in their favm.l Apyraasona-
BILE suspicion. Therefore, which. attaches
to any individual Offering himse)i before
the people as q candidate for an Office of
power and trust, should, and does, in
every intelligent tommnnityIthe world
over. turn the scales against hix.
In the oaseo FL. Moaes ys gre not
left eyen to reasonable suepioions alone.
which. in fact. attach toI every: !: indivi-
dual connected with tho EXECUTIVE and
Legislative departments OF the present
State Government; but He haYe. IL. seve-
raj instances as to him.. documentary
and other evidence. Of the strongest
character OF his misdseds and official in
fidelity. Ia the 6rdt plAce, his name
appears upon the books Of the Treasury
81 the reoipiepty!o OF $1l, 900 npon the
order OF r. * Scott. drawn about the
time OF SootRs threatened impeachment,
last wiItef, and -ehdsged, to the EARNED
force'' fund. which never had legal e4..
istenoe. ',o' -
A list of the nia1nes OF parties who,
with F. J. Moses, IT,, have drawn money
during the present Asc4l year from this
bogus fund, amounting to. upwards of
$4,000, has been published several
times in the PHasit,, and also in other
journals Of the State, Several persons,
whose names appeared in the black list,
have published ex explanations more or less
satisfactory. But Mooney and Moses
have not, nor have many others who
seem to have received the largest sums
OF money. No sane man could be ex-
pected to vote for Mooney; and, if not,
why for Moses? The one is not, the
other had better never been. or the
two, surely Mooney is the better man.
Again, We have the most reliable evil
dence that +. j. Moses, Jr., ohjselled the
State ont OF largo amounts Of money in
the transactions with the Roberts Arms