The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-10-12
win tho whites Rests tho Issue.


rent, every day, that the white people
hold the balance OF power in the pend.
ing State election. With us it is praoti-
oally left to say who shall be our next
Governor, and what shall be the charso-
ter of the incoming administration. We
have no absolute choice, but we can ex-
ercise. If we will, decisive preference
between the two Republican candidates
for the Governorship and their respect
i've tickets. We have great power, there
fore, in our hands, and very heavy re-
sponsibility resting upon us to exercise it
for the best interests of the State. Shall
we shirk this responsibility and neglect
to make the best use we can OF the power
with which We arc accidentally possessed?
Surely not. Our people cannot afford it.
There is too much at stake for us to re-
main idle in tho fight.
AS for Us. we have long favored what
we conceived to be common sense
policy. This policy is summed up in
the proposition that we should do the
best that circumstances will allow. Be-
cause we cannot get all that we wish, or
that we know to be right, is no excuse
for our quietly folding our hands and re-
fusing to take the best which is within
our grasp. Tomlinson is better man
than Mones, infinitely preferable in
every respect, and so are the men
throughout the entire Boilers ticket, as
compared to their opponents. It is
movement for reform, whether it be alto
gether satisfactory or not. It represents
protest against the crimes and corrup-
tion OF the past four years. All good
men ought to support it on that account
alone. The election of Moses and his
wing of the party is an endorsement Of
all the rascally schemes which have been
perpetrated by our State oficials. It is
D bounty to vice, and the granting q re-
ward to tho very men who have made
tho Government OF South Carolina "a
disgrace to the civilization OF the sge."
Where, when or how can the prostitu-
tion Of public trust to private gain be
checked, il the very men guilty OF it are
again honored with office?
We do not hope for thorough reform
in the State Government. even il the
Bolters' ticket is elected. We are conf
dent that great improvements will be
made, thai taxation will be largely re-
duoed, and the public institutions more
properly cared for. But be the result of
the present election what it may, the
great body of the General Assembly will
be as corrupt as its predecessors. Still,
the ice will be broken. The negroes
will be released in great measure from
the tyranny of the party lash. Public
officers will see that evil practices are
condemned by the people, and this will
prove the surest guaranty OF faithful
discharge OF their duties.
At the next election ne may hope to
do still better, until finally We may hope
to reach reasonable honesty and econo-
my in the conduct of State affairs.
Tammany was overthrown in the great
State of New York last year, after des-
perate struggle. The cry of reform was
raised, and the people Aooked to its
standard, and after the most complete
success, found their new rulers but little
better than the old. Yet will any one
say that no good was accomplished in
the defeat of the Tammany thieves?
The bare fact of change, and OF the
determination of the people not to sub-
NIT to the existing evil state Of things.
was healthfnl. The ball was set in mo-
tion, the revolution commenced, and it
will not end until the citizens of New
York secure a government with which
they can be measurably Satisfied. just
80 will be the case with us, if we can de-
feat the Irregular rogues" on Wednesday
next. Let us once break the power Of
party conventions. by showing that their
action is not irreversible, and we will
have forced the negro from thraldom
more enslaving than that Of bodily serv-
itude. and have made at the same time
q grand stride forward in the REDEEM n.