The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-05-23
1nfor.nal Resl..rauon OF Voters.


Importance OF suffrage It's value can.
not be overstated. 1T is, the freeman'e
strength. as it is his right and privi!
lege. It should be cherished as the
apple of tie eye.f No adverse oifcum!!
stances should ever make us indiffer.
ent to its exercise. There is practical.
IL no great difference betwixt the man
who is debarred its use, and ono who
voluntarily relinquishes it. Have we
been true to the great d~ty of maiu.
tanning it in South Carolina? It is
feared that we have not. We have in
too many instances succumbed to the
circumstances which surround us. We
have 'illogically concluded that it was
lot worth while to exercise right
which appeared to bring no good ro-
suit. Many voters in South Carolina
have persistentiy kept away from the
polls for the last half dozen years, the
dark age of our history. But it WAS
wrong to do go. We abandon safe
ground whenever wo deliberately
forego u duty. It is the duty of free
men to voto, whether voting seem to
be useless or not. It is not safe 10
conclude that anything is useless
which it behooves us-to do. The hus.
bandman sows his seed, having rea-
sonable hopo from his endeavors, but
not knowing what blight may overtake
his crops. We venture upon all the
fields of employment, we ehgage in al!
enterprises, without having any abso-
lutte certainty as to what may be the
issue. It is enough to know that we
arc born for activity, that life is full of
duties, and that to abdicata them is TO
cease to act tho part of men.
We are satisfied tha. the disparity
between the oolored and white vote in
South Carolina is not as great as it
was. We are satisfied, again, that in
hnenoes arc at work to detach portion
Of the colored vote from the Radical
party. Changes arc going on, which,
if duly noted, would prove encourng-
ing to our hopes, that some light is
breaking into the dark and prejudiced
minds of those who huve been made
victims of their own ignorance and
others cunning and dupl,city. A re-
gistration should have been ordered by
the last Legislature. Our Conservative
ought to hive secured this
much from it, and might have done it.
The matter was alluded TO once or
twice. Leading Radicals took pains to
persuade the colored members that it
would never do, that it would place the
political. power in the hands of the
Democrats. But this opposition might
have been overcome. Is;s incumbent
on the Legislature. in the language of
the Constitution, ''to provide, from
time to time, for the registration of all
electors" Aud The duty and necessity
OF itmight have been pressed home
upon it. Something was lost to the
cause of good government in the fail
ure to secure it. But it may be
partially repaired. Conservatives and
decent Republicans should turn
their attention to this matter. Iu
every County, Intelligent citizens
ought to note the changes which are
going on. Some ono in every election
precinct should make list Of the
qualified voters, and the vote of each
County thus be npproximated or
ascertuined. We throw ont this hint
for an informal registration. 1t will
be needed. It will do good. It will
show that tho power Of mere numbers
and brute force is yielding slowly to
that of Intelligence and character. it
will show, too, that those elem cnts
which mike one race dominant over
another, are asserting their sway even
here, where so many artificial arrange
ments exist to impair their native
force.
IMPORTANT. II True IF tho figures
GO are divided by the cotton crop in
millions of bnles, the result will give
the average price per pound at the
nearest market. Thus, the crop raised