Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-06-05
ORGAxIzArIoN BY CouNTIEs.


future Of the State by counties will be
determined. Many of these local Of
fees are for a term of four years.
length of time pregnant with many
and important changes. For this
reason the incumbents should be chosen
from our best men-such as may be
relied on In the new and dangerous
complications, coming to every mans
threshold, which desperate party may
precipitate on US inits dying struggles.
The present quarrel between white and
black Republicans viii be patched up,
if the civil rights bill fail, just as the
row between carpet-baggers and ma
tlvcs, and the Stokes-Senter squabble,
were settled. Indeed we are not sure
butthepassageof the pending bill would
force the bulk of East Tennesseeans
even, back into theparty traces, Brown
low to the contrary Notwithstanding.
for there is nothing to be gained by
Disgusting the well-known fact that the
"old man eloquent" has but little infiu.
ence in the party. Maynard is the real
Tycoon, and it is to be noted that he
has not opened his mouth against "the
sum of villainies and quintessence of
denominations"
Whether the bill pass or not, and
whether the white and black Radicals
separate or not, makes very little prac-
teal difference in the political problem
of Middle and West Tennessee. In
these sections the Radical vote is
pretty much made up of negroes, with
a sprinkling of white Federal Office
holders and hangers-on, who expect
Office. We have about the same num-
bers to meet, and the policy of scrub
races dividing our vote between two or
ten candidates, would be as dan
gerous as ever. In Shelby county, for
instance, the voting census is 10000
blacks to II, 0G0 whites. The result of
dividing the white vote, even if it were
all cast for Democratic nominees, is
obvious. In Davidson county the ex-
act figures of tbelast census are: whites
9,227; negroes, SSH. The candidate
who masses the black vote, with a scat
tering of white friends, is pretty GER
tain to win, if we run two candidates
against him. The present state of
feeling renders more certain than be-
fore the massing of the negroes, and
we are unhapplly cursed with aspirants
who would pander to them for the sake
of Office.
On the other hand, a division of
whites and blacks Will hardly weaken
the effective strength of Radicalism in
a single county of East Tennessee.
Take Knox county, which has far
larger proportion of negro voters than
the average of that section 1t
counts only S74 negroes in a
poll of 5,2l9. But the vote for Free
man and Brown shows a Radical
majority of 1850, which can defy the
detection of S74 negroes. So, sum-
ming up the first two congressional dis
tricts, we find Al 800 white voters to
1928 blacks. But the last election
brought out a Radical majority of
9,76l-more than double the entire ne
gro census. Hamilton county is per-
haps the only one in which negro bolt
would seriously impair the Republican
stregth. Hamilton, however, is al
ready ours, having given Democratic
majority of Al in 1872.
From these figures it is obvious that
In no section of the State would the
permanent division of white and black
Radicals give US any practical advan-
tage, or Justify any relaxation In our
efforts to secure success. In those
counties which have not taken action
the work of cooperative organization
for the selection and election of proper
candidates cannot be begun too soon.
In choosing delegates to conven-
tons, it may be well to exclude
the known partisans of one or another
assistant; at the same time, able men
should be selected, and those familiar
with the workings of such bodies are
desirable, where their integrity is I'M
questioned and they have no axes to
grind. There is duty pressing on
the people to act in these matters, be-
cause the howl about packed conven-
tons" party lash,' "close corpora
tions," ''ring-leaders," etc, has led
many able men of the purest intentions
to shrink from taking the initiative in
the necessary work.
Elsewhere we publish the proceed
ings of the Giles County Convention,
WHICH WIS IeIudTkdDIc lOT lUS 1ull at
tendance and promising results. The
Pulaski Citizen says:
1t was a harmonious and enthusi-
astic meeting of delegates, chosen from
the people and by the people. In fact,
we have heard 1t repeatedly remarked
that 1t was the most harmonious body
that ever assembled in Pulaski.
Fears had been entertained that the
people were not fully alive to the
Importance of convention and that
the districts would not bold their pri-
mary meetings. But the reverse was
true Every district of the county, ex-
ccpt one, sent up full delegations, with
proper credentials and fully equipped
with instructions. Most Of the candi-
dates, and large number of voters,
preferred the lock-box primary election
system to the convention, but ma
jority of the delegates were instructed
to favor nominations by the convention
as preferable to the other. Most of the
candidates, we are informed, acquiesced
in the decision of the convention and
agreed to abide it's action. They saw
that there was an enthusiasm and a de-