The daily gazette., 1878-02-26
uuxHsw = state WAS p,u.aa-a...

|pet Deggars will seem far more unreal
and quite as fantastical as page from
the Arabian Nights Entertainm.. nts
Already We find 1t hard to believe that
such things happened ~ are described
In the report an investigating committee
now made public, and yet the narrative
is told by the committee in plain words
and unvarished sentences. in the most
business like way, aad is fortified by af6-
davits and vouchers that carryconviction
wttbevery letter and figure. Tweedism In
its palmiest days never reached greater
heights Of deyilish extravgance than was
attain at bound by the illiterate field
hands of..the long PROSTATE State, under
the tuition of the political tramps who
claimed TO be doing tho work OF morality
and loyalty in the country that had beef
bound and gagged by the reconstruction
acts and placed in thsirhands for safekeep
Ing. Let us glance at n few features OF
the era of oppression and proflIgacy at
Columbia, a. pictured in the long official
report now published.
The theory of these thieving legislators
OF the Moses type was that laid down
by an iilustrieus Senator in the words:
"a State has no right to be a State un-
lass she can pay and take care of her
statesmen" Broad as this proposition
is in the plain terms given, 1t was inf1i.
itely broader in application. The State
was expected not only to take care OF
the statesman in princely style. but to do
quite as much for his household. He
was arrayed In broadcloth and fine linen
with jewels of barbaric splendor. His
wines and liquors and cigars were of the
finest quality; whatever their real price
the State was made to pay $40 case for
champagne, S40a dozen bottles for port
wine, $40 gallon for sherry. In s.e
session $4,000 were taken from the
treasury for refreshments. A bar was
open day and night in the capitol, and,
with the Legislators who had the run of
1t, nothing was more common than te
carry off bottle of champage and doz-
on cigars for home consumption although
orders TO have such things sent to their
chambers In any quantity were always
honored. Stationery was made to Include
anything that a man or his wife or chill
dren could eat, drink or use in any way.
Thus Westphalia hams, i'm portedcheeses
deviled Meats, fruits, kid gloves, skirt
BRAID, corsets, ladies' hose, garters. che
misses, parasols, bustles and palpitators.
boots, suspenders, collars, overcoats and
drawers, twenty five dollar lnkstands,
stoves, towels, and even horses and car-
riages, mules and harness, wood and
coal, and so on through catalogue of
artic cles equally homogeneous half a COLI
umn long, were classified in the accounts
AS stationery. The State paid for clocks
costing from $50 10 $500 each, aud for
mirrors at $500 each. Two hundred
thousand dollars were invested in furni-
ture for the legislative halls, and the
most liberal appraisment of that remain
ing on hand when the Hampton Govern
ment came in was 3l7,7l5. New car
pets of the most costly texture and pat
tern were bought at the beginning of
every session and carried away at its
close Thirteen hundred yards were an
abundance to carpet the whole State
House, but 4, ,658 yards were sold to the
State in single session, more than one
thousand being of the finest body Brus-
sels. In one instance fine carpets thus
bought were shipped to Massachusetts.
There was not one wood stove in use,
and yet 1000 cords of wood aud ,320 tons
OF coal were charged for. The houses of
legislator were furnished at State ex-
pense in style that was simply palatIal
negroes who had never slept on anything
softer ihan bag OF shucks making the
acquaintance of oiled walnut bedsteads,
pier glasses, "Oriental sponge mattresses
and extra long towels Extravgant
prices were paid in all cases, and then
the bills were doubled in order that the
buyers might devide with the sellers in
plundering the State. Although their
houses or apartments were already ele-
gantly furnished through these frauds,
every time the Legislature adjourned
the members divided up the furniture in
the capitol and carted it away" This is a
fitting climax to the story which We have
given in barest outline, for it would
take many columns to PRINT it in full
Difficult as it may be to us to realize
the truth Of these Representations that
now pass into authenticated history, it
was not necessary for the people of
South Carolina to wait for any investi-
CATION to know the truth. A man does
not need afiid wits or vouchers to con-
vince him that he has been robbed and
beaten within an inch of his life. For
years the lash OF f. Xation was hid upon
their bare backs with merciless severity
by their foImer slaves and the nameles
adventurers from the North. The
r CUES drank Imported wines, old liquors
and cordialH, smoked choice Havanas
at the rate of dozen day, wore bla-
zing jewelry, drove fast teams and
sqaandered millions with the prodigality
Of the beggar on horseback, and the men
who raised the money and paid the bills
were the intelligent property holding
citizens, who were absolutely without
voice IN the choice of their rnlers.
Every utterance in protest or symptom
of discomfort was regarded by the Geu-
eral Government RS an out break of dis
loyalty and punished accordingly. They
h ad only to hear the yoke placed on their
necks. At last it cut to the bone and
they could we itno longer. Then they
arose and by a superhuman effort, the
ma gnitude Of which is not even now ap.
preciated, threw it off. Yet there are
mon and newspapers at this day who do
not blush to remember that they voted
a little more than a year ago to perpet-
uate the rule of the oppressor.
A New Artic EyDIOriEtp. ExnesIi.