The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-12-05
THE DARK SIDE!
TRTRUNE IEW OF AFFAIRS In
SOUTH CAROLINA.

r~mmediate Prospect Of Reform-NsW
schemes OF Plunder--APnthy OF inc
yyhttes-GraduaI Enlightenment OF
the Negroes.
Correspondence OF the New YORK Trioune.l
COLUMBIA, 8. c., November Is.
The new State Government goes Into ONCE
next week. The old officials, who have done
their best to ruin the State since they came
into mower in 1868, will retire with tneir
oa,ns. Thew are all rich, and most OF them
will probably go back TO their old'nomes ~
the North. They cam With little or no olner
nronerty besides their scantily-hlled carpet
bags. and they will return with diamonds sno
sns array, with money, stocks and bonds
with horses and carriages, and some Wild
large Investments In real estate. They ionno
the State with q debt OF ABOUT nVe mllllons,
hut with property in railroad stock and mort
Qages almost sufficient to pay her llaoliItles,
| 1Ihsy leave behind them as the frult Oh IneiE
few years of administration 8 aeoI oi nsai n
twenty millions, and they have sIrippea lne
state of almost everything she possessed. ex.
cent her publlc buildings and the lano upon
which thew staud. A few OF the most cunning
and rapactous of these plunderers iltenu ~
rrmain. and will epdeavur to manipula,e lne
new government. There Is Sill soinslllSR "
pick up, they think. me c:eult !, ~ oon no
soid and all her property hat could De DIS
nosed of mas been made way with. But Inc
taWnavrrs can still be bled. and a few ad-
di1ional millions can be wrung from them I'M
| der prelence OF paying the interest," on tne
fraudulent debt, or redeemlng the Gountless
bogus oblI= al that are anoas III ! aros snape
of Legislature pay certificates, revenue
There is a feeble hope In the public mind
| that The new government will be less corrupt
| man the DID,. This hope has little foundation
except the knowledge that nolalng could well
be worse than the outgoing administrator,
| and The billet that the Slate ls now 30 lmpoV-
erlshed that ilule Is LEFT to tempt tae cuplalty
of tine new rulers. The career OF the new Of
| fcials give them no claim to public conh-
| dance. There are not more than two UT three
m The lst whose regulations have not been
| badly tarnish-d by Lneir recent connection
| with public affairs. The new Governor signal
| lied his exit from the office oil speaker Oh the
| House last spring by depicting the treasury OF
fraudulent pay certificates, and the new trea-
| surer aided, while secretary o. State, IN tne
issn. OF The millions Of illegal bonds which
ar. adoat In New York. Others OF Inc lncomr
ing officials are charged with deilnquencles
somewhat less gross, perhaps, oue SERIOUS
| enough to make the people doubt lne SINGER
ity of their protessed intention TO lnaugurate
reform.
Now and then I find q man OF an unusually
hopeful turn of mind who thinks the State mas
passed through her worst trials, VINO mas
comfort In the fact that the new Governor
and attorney-general ara both South CARROLL
MANS, and who, upon the slightest fonnda-
ton, builds fine theories about their luture
conduct, arguing that they will have q strong
motive to honest action In their desire TO re-
gain the confidence OF their former friends.
I hope this reasoning may prove correcr out
| have little faith IN IL. In the course OF q
pretty thorough Inquiry Into the governments
of many Southern States since reconstruction
was accomplished, I have not found that
natives who ally themselves With carpet
pagers to plumber the people are any less
rapacious than their associates. There Is one
crumb of comfort, however, Wnlcn tnose VINO
hope for reform from the new administrator
Will dud If disappointedSlt VIII oe 80 s,r much n%n
household than by the hated strangers from
the North. The best informed people IN
Charleston and Columbia expect nothing good
rom the Moses administration. 1t cannot
sell any more bonds, 1t is true, but
IL can and will, they think, grim
the taxpayers more unmerciiully IMAM
hAa Inc SCOtG ROE6TuIuSAIs 40 lOhS oo "
and his associates could hypothecale or Sell q
| million or 30 of State securities IN New YORK
| whenever they wanted money, they had no
| need of increasing the rate OF taxation. That
| recourse being exhausted, and the property
| oil the State in railroad stock and mortgages
| being all uade way with, nothing IL lelt lot
| the new officials but to put on the taxes just
| as heavily as can be borne. i; the people are
| restive under their grievous burdens. It Will
| be easy for the officials to raise the old cry OF
| Ku-Klux, aud invite the aid OF the national
government. As near as can % Learned
| The financial scheme or the new udmln1stra-
| tIon will be as follows: Two million dollars
| will be raised BY taxation for regular State
| purposes, and $500, 900 additional Tor the pre-
| tended purpose Of paying q years. Interest on
the debt; this will make So, SOC, 900. One mil
| lion dollars is ample for all The Legitimate ex-
peuses of The government The interest will
not be paid. and there will thus remain a SUR
plus OF 81. SEQ, 600 Tor "pront." A large part
OF this will probably BIZ absorbed In paying
Moses's outstanding pay certihcates' and other
fraudulent claims against the treasury, winch
are held by q few spectators, closrly con.
npcted with both the old and the new admin.
istrations. II this view Of the probable course
| of Governor Moses and his friends ls unchari.
table, It certainly Ia not unreasonable. They
have given the public no cause to expect any
thing better from them.
%sUPINENEss OF THE WHITE PEOPLE.
I do not hesitate to say that much Of the
/ evil which has fallen upon south Carolina
since 1868 might have been averled II the IN.
t.lligent white people had sho wn courage and
public spirit. They exhibited, instead, q de.
gree of suplneness all the more surprising
when one remembers their old character for
ImpetIous and chivalrlc bravery. Only IN q
few of the upper counties has there been
any organized protest against robbery and
| misgovernment, and there It took the oar6ar'
Qua form of masked maraudiDR bands tnat
visited vengeance upon the poor, defence
Ies,. Ignorant blacks, while The rogueS ID
| office went unframed. If the ku-klu1 mad
marched to Columbia and punished, IN Vigl-
lance committee fashion, the officials VINO
we're known N be thieves, public sentiment
would not have condemned the action VILE
much severity. They were Too coWardly 10
do this, and no wonder; no man could De
courageous while mufded In q hood and gown,
Enthusiastically tricked 10 look like the popular
representations OF the devil. Ku-Kinx crimes
In a few counties send utter detection and
lIstlessness in all the others-this Is the
picture the whites OF the South have pre-
sented. The Ku-Klux Is now q thing
of the past and will never he revived, but The
unmanly apathy still prevails. II elected The
Moses ticket in October, defeating The Reform
party, which, while 1t numbered amung lts
supporters q few unworthy men, presented 8
ticket infnlteIy preferable to that OF the regu
lar Republicans. The whites had u lair chance
to save themselves, and they would not avail
themselves of it. A few actually voted Tor 9
confessed ulunderer because he Was q South
Carolinian rather Lnah for q Northern man Of