Litchfield enquirer., 1877-02-01
a3E From the Atlantic Monthly.l THE POLITICAL CoMDiTI0N oF 1oi SOUTH CAROLINA. &

1The editors of The Atlantic Monthly have received from South Carolina con- tributor the following paper, to the strlk- ing statements of whicL the fact that the writer is by birth, education, traditions. associations, and residence a Southerner ought to give additional value. Their in- terest in the present political juncture it IS believed will amply justify the devo- tion of these pages to them. The writer name is withheld for obvious reasons.
 The appearance of the Northern armies in the South during the late war was eve- rywhefe hailed with rejoicings by the ne- groes, and on the full achievement of their liberty through the defeat of the South their exultation was unbounded. The carpet-baggers came here in the ar- my, in the service of the Freedmen's Bureau, and as agents of Northern churches and benevolent associations. | They at once took the negro by the hand, | and told him that the Northerners had
 freed him and intended to keep him free, give him property, and educate his chil-
 uren. The negro listened eagerly, and, we'll knowing his old masters were any | thing but satisfied with the new order of things, blindly followed the guidance of
 his new friends. Supplies were distribu- l ted, colored schools were founded, and | the blacks were induced to leave the | white churches and worship apart. Many
 colored men from the North, superior to | their Southern brethern in culture, also
 came to help on the work.
 l A few of the carpet -baggers were pure
 men, zealots and philanthropists; but
 many were dishonest, adventurers who 1 had left their country for their country s | good. Reconstruction came. The en- | franchised freedmen were utterly at sea in politics; they needed leaders The southern whites refused the ogg2lEd5uPRisy gBg1ld Ray, secured it, with scorn. The carpet-bag- gers seized it. Their authority over the
 blacks was already assured, but to make it doubly snre the Union Leagues were established. Every negro joined them,
 and was awed by their mystic rites. Free political use was also made of the churches The negro went to the polls, took ballot from a carpet-bag friend, and without looking at it (with reason, for he could not read) dropped it in the box. He did not know what voting meant; he had only vague though all- absorbing idea that it would bring him great good and avert great evil.
 The constitutional convention of this State was held early in 1868. It was com posed of carpet-baggers, scalawags (na- tive white republicans, andra moiety of the brightest field hands. ignorant of the alphabet. A constitution was framed with a bill of rights prefxed which would have made Calhoun gasp and satisfied Jefferson and Sumner themselves-with clauses by which the State that origina- ted notification and secession is oficious- ly made to declare that it's citizens owe paramount allegiance to the constitution and government of the United States, and
 that the ''State shall ever remain a mem- Der of the American Union; and all at- tempts. from whatever source or upon oh bs ffssssHdta t aEo a1EoHs hs HJ sd g
 CT of the State"
 The constitution was adopted and the first legislature and administration were chosen. The composition of the legisla- ture was like that of the convention; the governor, attorney general, and state treasurer were carpet-baggers;the ieuten- ant governor and secretary of state were negroes: the house selected a scalawag for speaker. Then began those fantas- tic tricks which for six years made the government of South Carolina the worst mockery of the name ever seen on earth. In the legislature no bills, unless of purely legal character, could be passed without bribery, and by bribery any bill whatever could be passed. A formidable lobby sprang up, and. presently, organized depredatlons were commenced on the public; 1 will merely summarize the main performances. In the cases of the Green yill and Columbia Railroad and the Blue Ridge Railroad, the State had guaranteed railroad bonds to the extent of $6, 900, ,000 reserving mortgages on the roads stuff cient to cover the amount. Rings com posed of carpet-baggers and native spec ulators paid the legislature to enact laws by which the State released her mort gages still retaining her liability for the $6, ,000, 900, and authorized the roads to pledge their property anew. In the case of the bank of the State, whose notes the State was bound to redeem, fraudulent notes to the amount of $75O,000 were ap- proved and assumed. The state-house was gorgeously fitted out; there were clocks at S480. mirrors at $750, and chan deliers at $650 apiece; elegant toilet sets; there were two hundred fine porcelain spit toons at eight dollars apiece; and cost ly carpets, mirrors, sofas. etc., under the pretense of fitting up committee rooms, were furnished members for their apart ments at boarding houses. The real debt thus incurred was $50, ,000. but the con- tractor by sharing the spoil procured an appropriation of $95, 5,OO0. Contingent funds became a notorious leak in the treasury; during the six years proceeding 1875 they aggregated $376,0O0. During the same years the expenses incurred for the public printing ran up to the astound
 ing figure of $1, 104, 900. During 1871,
 1872, and 1873, they amounted to $900, 009, or a thousand dollars day. s-s.s
 The bonded debt of the State, amount ing to 5,S00,0J0 when the new rSginse began, was run up to $27, 300, 900; and as the State was also liable for $6, COG, 900 of railroad debts, as above explained, it's to- tai debt was ~ell-nigh $34, ,000, 900. Most of the money raised on the bonds was de- liberately stolen; and the legislature in 1873, alarmed by the clamor of the peo- pie and grudging the money pald for in- terest, repudiated about half the debt. The rate of taxation WAS almost incredi.
 biy heightened. Before the war the tax able value of property in the State was $490, ,000, 900. and the taxes averaged $400, ,O00 year. the highest ever known
 being $5l5. 5.678 in 1851. The valuation of taxable property since the war has been $184. .000, GOO, and the annual taxes, state
 and county, have averaged g. GOO. 900! This is. .contiscation, pure and simple; and
 besides this the assessments have been | outrageous. It is doubtful if the prop
 erty assessed at $184, 900, 900 would bring 1 $100, ,000, 600 in market. Men were ap-
 pointed auditors (assessors) whose fig
 ures would increase the amounts sent to
 the treasury to bei stolen. am person
 ally familiar with seven or eight lr stan-
 ces in which, owing to over-assessment,
 the tax amounted te five per cent. of the
 real value of the property; and complaint
 on the subject was general Municipal
 taxes, too, were extravagant Such dis
 tress was engendered thaS half the real
 estate in county would be advertised
 for sale for delinquent taxes. The officials in Columbia grew fabu- l lously rich. Men, white and black. of no
 property vent there. and. with no per
 ceiyable or conceivable means of honest | trxy I ' = IL.