The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1874-05-19
COLUMBIA. s. c..
Tuesday Morning. May 10. 1874.
The State 0overnmsnt Selling Out the
People.


People.
The Radical State Government of
South Carolina is this week engaged,
in every County. in selling the real
estate Ut its citizens, who are delin-
quent in paying the taxes, assessments
and penalties charged thereon. It is
;ndescribahly Sad to read the long
lists Of those who are suocumbing to
the hard fate, which, in this hideous
form, has overtaken them. They are,
for the most part, the names Of the
poor who have not known how to cope
with the difficulties which beset them.
They have land, which. it may be,
they are unable to cultivate or get
cultivated pro6tably. In certain locali-
ties, men cannot procure labor that is
to be relied upon, upon any satisfac-
tory terms. In others, it is of
character to harass and vex, rather
than to aid and comfort. The deranee-
ment of the labor system thus ope.
rates very unfavorably upon those de.
pendent upon its efficiency. But the
evil falls even more heavily upon still
humber class of people. the white and
black men who themselves handle the
hoe or hold the plow handles. The
hard toiler, work as he may, caunot
make both ends meet. Such O large
proportion of the fruits of his labor
must go to support q thievish govern
ment and to buy fast horses, glittering
diamonds. gold watches, costly furni-
ture and houses. and dainty food and
elegant liquors for officials to enjoy,
r.dat he has not enough left to furnish
his family the plainest support and
':lothing. He is kept ground down in
the dHst. He is in more degraded
and comfortless condition than ever
were slaves. At last his bit of land,
: over which he has tugged and sweatel,
) is'tc>he brought under the hammer by
We State which oppresses rather than
protects its sons. The confscation
which is going on spares no age, sex,
condition or color. Of GOO tracts OF
land now reported for tax sales in two
townships in Beaufort County, only
about fifty are the property of white
men. Taxes and the proaigacy which
has made them so high and burden
some, make no Determinations.
The Government has become an en-
gine of intolerable oppression. It is
rapidly passing from the state OF in
fanny to that of tyranny and Outrage.
The confscation OF property has prac-
tically begun. Men are to be despoiled
of the homes which their own or their
fathers honest efforts won for them,
and in which are bound up the tender.
est associations of life. It is sad, as
wesaid, to read the lists of delinquent
property of its citizens, which the
State this week places on the market
for cash, and proposes to alionate
from it's rightful owners. All over
South Carolina, men will gather in
knots as the Auditors cry this pro-
perty, and moarnfully talk in sub
dued tones Of the condition to which
they have been brought. As the
homestead, which has been the scene
OF their Joys and sorrows. passes out
-ol their hands, the tear will start and
the bosom swell. The freeholder,
from condition of some comfort and
Independence, passes to one he never
know before; he becomes homeless.
houseless and wretched. Ia it not
more than sad? Is it not provoking?
Are men with good red blood in their
veins to patiently submit to such
ignoble destiny? Will they kiss the
rod which smites them? They act, in.
deed. in many instances. as il they felt
themselves in the coils of fate, which
it were frnitless to resist. But they
are not powerless. and should not give
up their manhood. They haye only
to be men and to keep united, to burst
the paltry withes which bind them.
Why shall the property holders OF
South Carolina, who have more cause
than 0nv otbaro IN fLo fooo oe H.