The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-02-12
4sl,ser:tations lin the South.

had which scatter plaster Wltn great eVenness
and rapidity. ...' '.n...
5ngt;tri observations In tile South.
| Ii. a late article we treated of the condition
and prospects of the colored people OF the
South, giving with some emphasis facts in thell
favor, but reminding the reader that these facts
[ needed qualification, and that we should speak
with equal frankness of the counter-facts. ~, =.
One Of these is their indispesition to work
with anything like Northern diligence and per-
sistence. This is an undeniable evil among
the freedmen. If it is not universal, yet it is
general Of course you will find examples OF
thorough industry and frugality, especially
where prudent and liberal employers direct
their work, but such cases are not the rule, they
are the exceptions, and SO exceptional as really
to be anomalous. The further you go South
ward the more does this sans souci way of life
prevail. The contingencies of sickness or old
age are piously left to the care of Providence
| to Give from hand to mouth is the general
economical philosophy of the freedman. and
this is unfortunately too practicable q phioso-
| ply in the more Southern latitudes. An occa-
sona1 sob" Of work will yield him enough to
idreness. Nothing demands more urgently the
this prevalent and growing evil. There can be
no real advancement of the colored race with
out its correction. Work, regular and thor
ough, like that of Northern artizans and far
mers, is indispensable, not only for the recov-
cry Of the South but especially for, the future
security of the whole black population. Al
ready plans are discussed, in many Southern
States, for the importation Of foreign white
laborers. IF the colored laborers should finally
be thus superseded, it will be chiefly their own
fault. They will then sink into a. pariah class,
or be self-compelled to retreat, gradually, far
ther Southwark and Westward, till they are
cast among the New Mexicans, Mexicans and
Central Americans. Some Of their best friends
begin TO fear such a fate for them. Some think
they see already an unconscious tendency to
such migration, -~.... ,s s..,G,
Another great evil, growing, perhaps, out of
the above fact, is the disposition of the freed
men to desert their old country homes for the
great cities This is obvious in all the cities of
the South, especially those of the ,seaboard;;
They are becoming crowded with suburban and
poverty stricken blacks, far beyond their de-
mands for labor. The adjacent country thus
suffers by desertion, while the cities suffer by
pauperism, and all the attendant evils of q srl-
perhuous, unemployed, or but partially en-
ployed, population. The white friends of
the freedmen everywhere earnestly but in
efectually demonstrate against the impolitlc
course. ....-. .eo.-
A lamentable evil among the colored people
is the facility with which they allow themselves
to be led by political demagogues, especially by
the so-called Carpet -baggers." The. fact that
these men represent, in certain way: North
ern political sentiment, should not blind us IT,
the egregious vices. Of their character and poll
cy. The fact that they stand out, among, the
eolored masses, in contrast with the old "das-
ters," whose excessive CONSERVATISM" might
endanger tie rights and Improvement of the
freedmen, should not disguise to us the appall-
ing corrupti6ns and financial ruin with which
they are devastating whole States, and thereby
fores:alling, annihilating, the best prospects of
their colored population. South Carolina is
absolutely ruined; no statesman on earth, no
angel in heaven; can suggest solution Of her
financial problem; none seems possible but the
great crime of "repudiation." And this means
simply moral ruin added to financial ruin. It
il paltry logic to say that South Carolina, as
Che old leader of disloyalty, deserves this ruin
What of the hosts Of her black population in
that case?t She is, substantially, a Common
wealth of freedmen; they are her dominant
majority. Her ruin is their ruin. By their
needless concession to the carpet-baggers"
they and their children, for indefinite time, are
submerged, with their far less numerous white
neighbors; inAa public wreck which is hardly
paraHeled in the history of civilized govern
ments We would not here touch upon politi-
cal ground foreign to our sphere; our readers
know well that our political sympathies are on
the side of the colored race and all men who
legitinately labor for their welfare in the South.
But we know what we affirm when we say that
the "carpet-bag" politicians are unscrupulo ulohsly
running the cause which they pretend to up
hold! Not few of them are men who were
furious secessionists till their cunning detected
the coming fate Of the Confederacy, when they
changed their politics in time to secure the
patronage Of the Government and the favor OF
the freedmen The latter now have the con-
troll of several States at the balot-box, and in
every one of such States their leaders have
been driving them to destruction. Official and
political corruption are rampant The freed
men are cajoled the leaders are enriched and
the States wrecked Northern politicians should
understand these facts; the Government at
Washington should ponder them gravely. The
dominant party of the North can never WELD
a permanent influence in the South till it gets
rid of the shameful prestige of the men who
have for some years pretended to represent it
among the freedmen, while running whole States
and enriching themselves by the spoils.
Meanwhile, there are scattered over these
abused States true and incorruptible mem
men who went thither with our armies, or soon
after, led by Christian or philanthropic mo-
Ives to labor for the freedmen; but they are
he!nless against the political leaders and their
cliaues. Their moral integrity is their proscrip-
tion.
But let US hope that their day may yet
come. It seems to be coming in Florida, at
least Could the corrupt cliques be extermlna-
ted, root and branch, the freedmen would have
new emancipation, only second in Importance
to the 6rst.-Nr Y Methodist. ..
A good-natured spinster. used to boast
that she always had two good 6eGnS. They