The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-09-04
nerly this item of expense for d ses-

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sion of the Legislature was not one
fiftieth, certainly not one-fortieth, Of
what it has been during the year
past. But to catalogue the abuses
existing in the executive and legisla-
tive branches cf the State Government,
would not only weary our patience
and sicken your hearts, but one whe
should attempt to characterize them
would beggar the English language
in looking for fit terms. You already
know them in gross. You can hardly
appreciate their enormity in detail
till you examine the facts and figures.
We ,allude to but q few Of them as
specimens of the kind of expenses
that have brought the credit of South
Carolina SO low that there is "none
so poor to do it reverence" and which
have made the Government of the
State so odious to the people of the
whole country. -
In this condition Of affairs, what is
the duty of the Republican party :?
These wrongs are no way the result
of the action of it's principles. They
arise from the ogrecd, and selfshness
Eand corruption of those who have
stolen the garb of Republicanism to
cloak their evil deeds, and who should
be cast out of the company Of honest
Republicans and honest men, as hav-
| ing degraded their high calling.
Our plain duty points to this;
our obvious interests deuand this !;
the interests Of party demand it !;
the interests of the State demand
| it; a decent regard for the opinions
of mankind demand it. We must
put forward for official position
those, and those only, who are
known as upright, true and un-
stained men, whose Republicanism
is as undoubted as their integrity
and their capacity to perform the
functions of the Offices for which
they are nominated. Within the
lines cf the Republican party our
work lies. There are honest hearts
and wise heads enough in that par.
ty to do. our work. Every good
citizen, whatever his party afilia-
tions may have been, owes it to
himself to work to purify and re-
generate our State Government !;
but the work especially belong to
us. We cannot abandon it to our
political advcrsaries, until we have
demonstrated our inability to do it
ourselves, -.
With this necessity upon us; in
an emergency more exigent than
has existed in the history of our
party in South Carolina; with the
eyes of the National Republican
party upon US, and expecting US to
rise to the demands of the occasion,
like honest men, the Convention
now in session in this city has
placed in nomination, as a candi-
date for Governor, the one man
whose official acts have brought
upon the State, and the positions
he has held, more disgrace than
has attached to any other offices of
the State Government.
Mr.. F. J. Moses, Jr., was the
person w ho, as Adjutant and In
spector General, made the contract
with the Roberts Arms Company.
We do not know that he received
any part Of the s114,000 which dis
appeared in its transit from the Of
fee of the Financial Agent of the
State of South Carolina, in New
York, to the Office of the Roberts
Arms Company; but we do know
that it disappeared. The Financial
Agents books show that it was
paid; the arms company's books
show that they did not receive it.
Mr.. F. J. Moses, Jr., was the per-
son who, as Speaker Of the House
Of Representatives, flooded the State
with a shower of "pay certificates, ;"
and swelled the expenses of that
House, for a single session, from
S145,000, (the highest possible fig
ure to which they could amount
legitimatcly, and this is based on
most extravagant calculations,) to
quite, or over, a million dollars.
And this palpable violation of law,
this direct filching from the Treas
ury, is neither denied by him nor
his friends, but is excused on the
ground that he disposed of large
amount of these certificates in favor
of the poor people who fled from
the prosecutions of the Ku Klux
Klan. Was candidate ever before
driven to straits like this? A false
certificate, a fraudulent and unlaw-
ful draft Of public money from the
public Treasury acknowledged, and
the act defended on the ground
that the money was disposed Of in
charity! Yet even this infamous
excuse is wanting, when we know
that not one per cent. of these un-
lawfully issued certificates was thus
disposed of, and when we daily OBJ
serve the style of living this candi'
date holds-a style beftting a pro
figate millionaire, but impossible
to an honest man, with the legiti-
mate income of Speaker Of the
House and an Adjutant and Inspec-
tor General. We do not attempt
to explain the entry Of $1,000
against the "a,med force" appro.
priation, paid to Mr.. F. j. Moses.
i Tr h1t tho known character Of the