Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-08
WHAT A MODERATE REPURLI.
CAN SAW IN SOUTH CAR
OLINA

(AOAS5 a ~ NItA tii0 II 0AAa 00lk1tS lis
days of carpet bag supremacy in th'
South, and was the author of a serie
of papers in Scribner's Magazine
exposing the rascality Of the swind
ling adventures who We're ther
ruling the South. It is the trut
!. interest of all parties that the truth
should be known about the South,
especially South Carolina, and we
consider Mr.. Kings statement OF
sufficient Importance to be inserted
entire:
The Republicans made no nomi-
nations for State officers, saying that
the whole thing was in the hands of
the Democrats. Here they were
blameworthy at the start. The
Democrats took advantage of this to
say that the colored folk were per-
fectly satisfied with Hampton as
Governor, and would gladly vote
for him. They told the negroes
that they had been deserted by their
Northern friends, and that the Re-
publican party was no more. The
negroes, not seeing money coming
into their possession during political
strife az it had been wont to do, be-
gan to believe that the Democrats
were right. They put up no candi-
dates for State officers, and seem to
have had none to put up. So in the
Fourth Congressional District they
made no nomination; in the Third
they put up man who did not
even canvass the district; in the
First Rainey made no canvass at all,
and in the Fifth, Small's district, he
only attended three or four meet
ings. Whether this paralysis of the
| Republican party in the State was
due to despair or fear, it is repre-
/ hensible. In the Charleston district
! Mackey was renominated for Con-
] gress, and he is unfortunately the
leader of one of the Republican fac
I tions which are always fighting
each other there. In not more than
! ten or a dOzen-the Democrats saw
! five or six, of the thirty-three eoun-
! ties of South Carolina-did the Re-
! publican nominate full ticket.
/ Perhaps the result would have
| been much the same as it is if a full
| Republican vote had been really
| drawn out but it would have been
more consoling to know that the
party voted sOlidly and c0nscien-
tiOusly despite fraud and the deter |
I minati0n of the Conservatives. I'm |
der the law the Governor of the /
State has the power to appoint three !
| Commissioners of Election from !
each county. Gov. Hampton APP
pointed one Republican and two
Democrats from every county. !
These Commissioners elected the |
Managers of Elections, who were Of |
course uniformly Democratic, and /
who worked together by concerted |
plan. 1t would have been useless +
to make a square fight against them, ,
but it would have been more re- (
spectacle.
While Republicans did nothing
for themselves, Democrats did ev-
erything against them. They
adopted the ''one-man method in
some of the counties. This consists
in detailing some prominent men,
ber of local Democratic club to
make visit to negro and to en-
deavOr to "talk him round" The
Democrat calls, much as minister
makes a pastoral visit, reasons and
labOrs with the darky, tells him the
State has been ruined and must be
built up again, and asks the black
man to help. Then he goes away,
and if this does not secure a CONVEX
sion he comes again and again. If
he is not etficaciOuS he reports lack
of progress to the club and another
man is at once sent out. The negro,
approached from all sides, generally
by men of influence and property,
holds out as long as he can and
then yields.
"And has this succeeded in max
ing many coIored Democrats ?" / {
asked a gentleman in Charleston.
"In Barnwell county there are
two thousand negroes who vote
with us, even wear the red shirts ;
and all that sort of thing. They
were all captured by the 'one-man
plan.'
"But this did not serve every /;
where. Means had to be taken to {
keep the negroes from voting at all
for he would inevitably have cast
Republican votes-in some coun-
ties" / said. :
"Yes. In counties where the /
blacks were plenty dividing time |
was practised, in spite of HamptOn's I
HallOoing and massing of I
white people at the negro meetings
haG its effect. But in some counties t
where the negroes had ii majority {
as in Edgetield-the Democrats {
were victorious without raising a |
finger"
"Was there no kind of intimida- |
tiOn used in such counties ?"
''NOne, except the necessary and [
usual influence which landowners
and large employers have over en- I
plOyes. On the whole, if all the s
tissue tickets had been excluded t
we would not have lost a member y
of Congress" t
"Then there were really tissue Y
tickets used ?'' I
~ told you that must decline to y
say anything definite on that sub 3
iect. But they do say that the ne /
grOes in some of the counties held c
up their hands in amazenent at the &
of votes cast, saying, 'FO' G
God, neber seed de like Ob dat :
Whar all dem tickets come from ?" I
"The effective power of the Radi- t
cal lStldtlSt EOuttulAcl tllC DGlIlO- I
cratic gentleman, "their effective 6
power over the negroes was gone t
when they had no more money. |
Add to that the fact that the Demo \
Gratis had been in power two years, '
and that Hampton had given an t
of which the negro t
certainly could not complain-col- t
ored men on the Democratic ticket 8
in some counties-colored trial JUS ]
tices here and there-education s
looked after''- t
"But STILL" l said, "the Demo- /
Gratis were so very determined to I
keep the State that they used the y
tissue ballOts-and-"
"The Returning Board," said the t
Democrat, "is composed of the best t
men in this State, men who / do /
not think would sanction fraud. s
There were no protests from de- {
feated candidates laid before the /
board" c
"And now do you propose to allow t
black men to be officials in the State.
/ mean, supposing that you should t
to control the Govern {
ment"'
mot because they are black men. t