Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-11-27
WHAT sOLIDIrIED THE SOUTH (!

have resulted in solid South, yet the
same causes would have produced the
same effect in any other section Of the
Union. The Republican masses of
the North appear to regard Southern
solidty rs indicative of the totally
depraved condition of the Southern
whites, when, in fact, it simply shows
that they are more fit to claim CON-
mon lineage and share common dcs-
tiny with their brethren of the North.
We undertake to say in truth and
solidncss, and not only to say, but TO
show so clearly and forcibly as to CON
vince any honest, unprcjudiced mind,
that the white people of the South were
driven into their present political uni
~ by forces of Northern Republican
origin, and such forces ~ could not
possibly have produced any other ci-
feet without suspension of natural
laws. There eau be no honest, intelli.
gent man in any portion of the North
who, if he will calmly review the facts
in the case, and will Judge others by
himself. will not admit that the -olidi-
iication of Southern brains, manhood,
character, social influence and pros
perity was simple and unavoidable
act Of obedience 10 the first law OF ma
.turc-thc fiat OF the Creator.
The reasonable limits of a ncwspa-
per article prohibit the citation of cyi-
dencc in detail, and we can only give
aggregated results OF investigations.
This We propose to do in order 10
show how South Carolina was made
solid, and We present South Carolina
as sample, for the same kind of
work was prosecuted, to a greater or
less extent, all oyer the South. Ra--
cally adventures from the North, in
alliance with the worst CLASSES of ne
grocs. seized the machinery of state
Government and welded it ~ an
instrument Of Wholesale robbery aud
intolcrable oppression legislature,
composed of few white scouudrcl-
and a mass of ignorant and vicious
negroes, turned State capitol- into
dens of Thieves aud prostitutes, In n
single year the gang who held South
Carolina hy the throat, while Grant
held bayonrt- at her heart, ran up a
bill for Legislative expense only,
amounting to more than a million
and a-half of dollars, The negroes
and their white as-ociatc--a- shown
by official records nov before us
bought furniture, clothing. dry goods,
groceries. provisions, wines, millinery,
jewclry-in short, all that their rude
natures prompted them to call for,
aud the State paid ,he bills.
We will give iew footing. from
the official accounts of q single session
of that asscmblagc of .taie-men-that
infamous, scclhing, fostering mass Of
bcstial .villainy, Of which the black
prostitute was the ruling element.
And we want Republicans to look mt
these figures. Before condcmuing the
Southern Democrat for advocating a
solid South put yourself in his place '
This british crew, calling itself the
legislature Of South Carolina, in a
sample session, expended s262, $3.50
for wines, liquors, groceries, etc. If
any similar asscmblage, in any North
crn State, had attempted such rascali-
~ the people would have risen, in
their righteous wrath, and hurled them
out of the Capitol, and most of them
would have gone out dead. and all the
decent men and women in the State
would have said well donew
But there are other items of "lcgis-
lative expense for that sample scs-
sion that are as bad rs the grocery
and liquor bill. They paid for sta
tionery, although few Of them could
read or write, s6S, ,4j5.39 for news
papers, s5,767; for furniture-mostly
for private use, s1l6,57s. Think of
it. More money than all the lcgiti-
mate bills of n session should amount
to, stolen TO buy furniture and carpets
for the wives and mistresses Of those
black and white thieves, For print
ing this illiterate mob paid Just $780,
00G-enough to dcfray al the ex-
penses of legislature for four or five
years They had on their rolls ssS
employees, including 10 porters, 124
pages and three chaplains, and they
paid these black loafers and pimps
s359,397. The entire expense of the
session was 81 ,533,5747S. The total
cost of session under Democratic
rule, after solidifcation occurred, was
sS4. .096.
We have given these accurate state
ments of facts TO show by what means
the Southern people are forced to
throw off their oppressors, by uniting
in political antagonism to organized
robbery. 10 people worthy Of liber-
ty could have done otherwise. There
is nothing in modern history of civil
lied nations more cruel than the
wrongs inflicted on the South during