Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-14
THE sOUTH CARoLINA FRAUDS.

The delegation sent 20 washington
by the "biaek and tan" authorities Of
South Carolina to deny the charges of
misrule and extortion made by the
Taxpayers Convention of that State,
succeeded very easily in satisfying
Grant hat the ring robbers who hold
high carnival in South Carolina are
mar~Eellously proper persons to govern
the State The manner and thefacility
with which they convinced Grant upon
the point of their mission, shows how
ready he is to believe a lie and take
sides against the native white people
of the South. The Washington CORES
pendent of the Nesc York Tribune points
out the character of their misrepresen-
tations as wei as the motives which
prompt this delegation as follows:
''They avoided all mention of the
many specific charges of fraud; such
as the issue and subsequent Reputation
of $4,000, 600 Of fraudulent bonds; the
Land Commission swindle; the Moses
tax certificate steal the robbery of
the States interest In the Greenvile
and Columbia and Blue Ridge Rail
roads; and put in a sweeping denial to
the general charge of corruption and
misrule. They sought to an3wer the
allegation of excessive taxation by
comparing the rate of the State levy
with that in other States, concealing of
course, the fact that the valuation in
South Carolina is three or four times
as high as in the States with which
they made their comparison. In al
swert to the charge of e~xtravagant ex-
penditures, they produced a statement
showing that it costs less per capita to
govern the people Of the State now
than before the war, which statement
is figured out by excluding the whole
body ofblacks from the ante-bellum cal
culation, and including them to get the
present ratio per capita of the popula-
ton, as If the negroes cost no more TO
govern when they were slaves than so
many sheep.
lhe delegation carries very little
moral weight with it. Two or three
of its members are CONSPICUOUS corrup-
tionists who have enriched themselves
at the expense of the State since recon-
Struction. One was expelled from the
House in the forty-first Congress for
selling a cadetship; two more were
members of the financial board that
put 100000 of fraudulent bonds
upon the New York stock market.
Without exception, every man of them
Is personally interested IN the perpetu-
alton of the present corrupt regime in
South Carolina. 1t is shameless
effrontery for them to come to Wash
Ington to deny facts that are well
known to every intelligent citizen of
their State, and TO talk to Congress
and the President about their yirtuous
intentions"
The Tribune says editorially:. 1.-THE
men who thus seek to belittle the mis-
sion of the taxpayers delegation are
led by r. F. Whittemore, a c~arpet-bag-
ger who was expelled from Congress
for selling a cadetship. If anything
more were needed to fix the character
of these men, it may be added that the
rank and file of them belong or have
belonged to the State government of
South Caroina-a government which
has been made up of the worst thieves
and plunderers that ever infested any
community. Congress may not be able
to 30 much for South Carolina; but the
appearance there of such a band of ma
rauders as those who protest against
reform is a piece of brazen impudence
and UNPARALLELED effrontery.r