Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-09-07
(from the North American Review
Continued from Yesterday

j
Inc decision OF the majority Of the Commission
was throughout harmonious, consistent. and based
upon the constitutional requirement-neyer TOR a
moment overlooked or disregarded-of ascertain.
ng who by each State had been appointed its
electors IN such manner As the Legislature thereof
hsd directed. This could be attained only bv
learning to whom such Legislature had copfided
the power and the duty of making and declaring
their appointment. Neither in Louisiana nor 10
iorida could this be determined but by the action
oil the Secretary of Stale. The duty of ascer. /.
talning counting aud declaring the electoral vote (,
mad been conhded to the Commission, but not the
power or duty Of reversing the action of State
uiounsls these were supreme, acting under md
M ooano 10 ooey the laws of the States creating
them, to which neither the Commission nor Con.
gress was 10 any manner subject.
WIN ms usual posltiveness Judge Black asserts
thst ia FLORIDA the statute creating the Returning
BOARD gave 1t only ministerial powers, and NO an-
thory to reject votes actually cast for anv cause
whatever; and that the Supreme Court Of thai
slate had SO decided. lie also ayerred with equal
assurance that the returning Board of Louisiana
acted under VOID statute, and without the least
suthofty 10 90 What 1t performed; and this In
the lace OF decision of the highest court of that
state. Party passion and professional zeal, coup-
leu win professional defeat. in spire reckless state
ments. That of Judge Black that the Florida
statute gave only ministerial powers to the Re-
turning Board. by which he means authority only
to count and not to reject votes, Is answered from
the statute itself, which declares -
Ihey shah proceed t. canvass the returns of
said election, and determine and declare who shall
have been elected to any Office" and 'if any such
return shall be shown shall appear to be so
irregular, false, or fraudulent that the Board
shall be unable to determine the true vote for any
such officer or me ember they shall 80 certify and
shdlt not include such return in their determination
and deciardtioa.'
The powers Of the Board were not, therefore,
as stated by Judge Black, ministerial merely, but
judicial Its duty was to canvass the returns, aud
10 determine and finally declare WAC had been
elected 10 ONCE; and II any return of votes was
SO irregular, false, or fraudulent that the Board
should be unable 10 determine the true vote of the
polling district such return was to be rejected &
and excluded in the final determ nation. Guided
by this law,-the supreme will of the State of
Florida,-the result reached and declared was
that the Hayes electors and q democratic Govern
or had been duly elected. and in so deciding no
existing decision OF the Supreme Court of that
State was disrcgarded.
1t seems appropriate to correct some Of Judge
Blacks statements concerning the carpet -baggers
who emig rated TO the South soon after the war
who, as described by him, "were the meanest of
camp-ioliowers, fugityes from Northern justice,
'ne best oil whom were ready for any deed of
shame that was safe and profitable" And then
picture Is drawn OF Their doings with vividness
and malignity only surpassed BY its untruth.
1t Is well known that when the war ended the
South was greatly impoverished, destitute of
aplta unable for want of that and labor to cult
most worthless. Northern capital was needed and
earnestly asked for, and much was taken South
and employed there,-some by its owners and
some as loans. Those who went there were in
the main imbued with Northern principles, and
with Northern habits of thrift, industry, and
economy, and these were in striking contrast with
The customary idleness and contempt for labor
which disting guished the whites of Southern birth.
Nevertheless, great numbers of worthy iadustri-
Gus men-many of moderate means and some of
considerable Wpa1th-wput ftom tha IN fh.
Southern States, with their wives and children,
intending permanently to remain. The vast ma
Jority went to settle TO work. and to live honestly.
They purchased and leased plantations, they
opened stores they built mills, they bought and
worked mines, they engaged in teaching and en-
tered upon all branches of protective industry.
Statistics carefully gathered show that in South
Carolina alone, between Jannary, 1865, and Janu
ary, 1861, not less than two thousand able-bodied
men irCln the Northern States, with their families,
settled carrying with them and actually investing
IN active business pursuits over thirteen millions
OF dollars; and IN addition to this, not less than
one thousand more settled there from the North,
and were engaged in teaching or in the practice
OF professions not requiring capital And it is
far and probable estimate, that from 1865 to 1868
there settled from the North, in the states of Vir
glnia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Flori-
da' Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ten
nessee, and Arkansas not less than sixty thousand
men, mostly with families, carrying and investing
in active industries there not less tina the enor-
meus sum of one hundred and eighty millions Of
dollars.
Tins great body of settlers were free men, ac-
customed to the ways of free society. They went
south, not as politicians, but as citizens. Civil
government was, however, a necessity to them,
and when the era OF reconstruction came and the
native whites withheld their aid from the mass of
coloed voters, as they sullenly and for long time
dld in every state, the Northern settlers had
alternative but to take active part in political
affairs. Upon them, then, fell the hate and ven-
geance OF the white democrats, and the name of
carpet-bagger swas applied to them. All the mild
er forms of coercion were exhausted upon them,
social ostracism IN all lis forms. Then came ac-
live persecutiou,-wsrniDgs to leave the State,
accompanied with demonstrations calculated to
destroy the peace and sense of security ofthe fam
lilies of Republican settlers; shooting at night
around and into their houses and these falling
assassination and murder and when at length
Northern men, by means like these, were driven
from the South, they were able TO carry but little
property away with them.
But it IS said the city of New Orleans has been
plundered by the carpet baggers, and its property
so taxed as to be worthless. A few facts will dis
pose of this mssatement. With the exception of
part of the year 1870, and from the time of the
election IN that year until November, 1872, that
city mas been Tor ageneration or more, and still
Is, under native white democratic rule of mayor
and aldermen and council. In 1870 Governor
flanuers-an estimable man, as we are assured,
and republican-was appointed mayor by Gov
crnOr w afmoutn TO bold once as sucn IN con-
junction With q counc-part white and part col
oied-until the election in November of that year
when they were by election continued in Office un-
til November, 1872, and then were superseded by
democratic mayor and council which have ever
since been continued. No republican legislature
of Louisiana ever imposed debt or charge upon
the city except for It's due proportion of State tax
ation did such Legislature ever authorize the
city to increase its debt for any purpose. II now
owes about twenty-three million dollars, all of
which accrued under democratic rule, except
an apparent increase of less than four million
dollars due to the funding, under the administra-
ton of Mayor Flanders. of floating debt incur
red by his democratic predecessors. These facts,
being matters of record, Judge Black could easily
have ascertained, had his purpose been to write
what history could adopt without shame.
1t was not, however, and hence he states that the
burdens imposed by the csrpet-bsggers upon this
devoted city within the last ten years had been
such that its debt more than the estimated
value of all the property within its limits. Its
total bonded and floating debt 81 the close Of the
Republican administration in January last was
less than twenty -four millions of dollars, and the
estimated taxable value of its property upwards
OF one hundred and twenty -four miIlions,-a dis
fContinned on fourth paret