New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-13


To COLUMBIA.
IRON ePLCIhL CoeI- apOsDEsr or TIE rfii' Hl
COLUMBIA :. g., sept. IT Ncnil five hours o.
intensely hot, dusty. and unncrratirs travel have
brought tire correspondent OF 1uE iHlnUNh from
Washington to tins fair capital OF south Carolina.
The country traycrsed is misolab!y poor and bar
rem. Not only are human hahtatlons scarce
but 80 crops we'll. The latter portion OF the
route, however showed some good fields OF COTTON
a week or two in advance of the general crop Al
several of the stations. bales OF the new crop were
70 be sccn already packed AMI ready f'r Shipment.
Thousands OF acres of land lying along the rail
road track once in cultivation have been aban-
doned. and arr now become covered with u dense
growth of young pine or scruD OAK. This lana, u
is explained, WAS never valuable, but the IIuih
seems to be Chat 1t has been ont and here Is
not enough enterprise among the farmers o" hins
il to attempt It's restoration
For hundreds of miles throu1h virginia ana
North Carolina. the little isolated loghor,n Is The
rule. 4 fellow traveller explained that the people
of the South not much style, ana prefer
10 live IN plain log houses.
In reply 10 a question Why the people oi thr
South are 30 long in rrcnpertinc from tie cfetiS
of Fac val be made th, rather sltiins statement
that the south wants peace. We want reel
peace W want equal rQLt5 with the people oi
the North Not political alone. bat business
rights The North is protected in its nanniac-
turc, in which il deals largely and in many OF IFS
natural productions The SOuth is entirely I'M
protected We ask equality III This respect. The
legislation of Congress is against the South. and
always has been
Another gentleman, n rceiden. Of Augusta,
Georgia had much 10 say ABOUT the negro and ms
political status in The South. Tie Insisted that
perfect freedom is allowed to every negro to vote
lust rs hc like, without cOmDulSi0n Of any sort,
but ne almost Immediately admitted that the
whites can 10 more acknowledge that the negro Is
really on any footing Of equality tLan leopard
can change his spots. Tho masters will do any
thing foI their former slaves" said he. " if they
come in n spirit OF proper defercncc but let one Of
th, IN assume 10 be an equal. and have nothing
90 say 10 him. Here was an admission oi the
whole point al ssrc. The white race cannot bear
TO See the negro take an independent attitude.
There wero = good many Southern people on the
tram returning fIom the North. Every group dis
cuescd politics freely. Al were Democrats anu all
had the welfare Of the South at heart. One gen
tlernan remarked that he had been surprised to
find that tho Republican party ut the North is the
party OF responsibility. alt is composed OF the
mo-. who. if they lived down mere, would be Dem
ocrats." he explained. while Northern Democrats
are like our scaawags. 1t is u curious reversal Of
party designations, bat it Is nevertheless true"
commercial gentleman whose business leads
him 10 travel ~ over the STATE said no had found
it necessary to success in bis business to have no
political convictions. Ills home is in NeW-1Ork
City. and his relatives are Republicans. Bnt,''
said he " il were to avGw myself Republican. l
couid not sell a dollars worth OF goods II this city,
nor in any portion OF the South 4 Republican X
safe enough hero. apparently. 80 far ~ apprehen-
sions of personal violence goes but an open cecla
ration az Republican convictions would simply cost
one hrs influence and ruin him in y busiueas way.
talk with q leading Republican Of this city
makes clear The recent action of the Republican
state Convention. We did not put state ticket
into the field" said ne, simply because we
thought we could best serve the inter, SIS Of the
par,V by keeping ont o. tho State fight. CT course
we had lao hope of carrying such an election. and
an effort on par; in that direction would only
nave cmbittered the contest, forced recurrence of
the scenes of 1876 and in the end have done orr
own party inel arabic damage by ccmcntng TO-
rcther in ont solid mass the now divided De.noc-
racy. BY allowing item to nave their own way in
the State canvas. We invite di-scu>iCns among
them and a possible disntegraton. The Demo-
Gratis care moro Ior supremacy III the state than
FOR ali the National issues ever broached. In the
meantime We can quietly work up as much outhus-
iasul as possible ioI Garfield aud Arthur and do
what We can in November. though and he added
this with bitter slnel We shall got little sym
rathv and less credit from the North fer couIsc
OF action"
10 you think it likely" asked that the
Democrats will resort to violence and intimidation
to prevent coorcd Republcans from voting, IA in
1876 by Red Shirt demonstrations and the IiSe?'
Not to anything ike the extent There
viii be nothing Of that Kind perhaps. except in
few country districts The leaders IA The State are
opposed TO Chat system because Z has not worked
well. TO tell the truth. the South Carolina Dem
ocracy are under orders from the National Demo
cratic Committee in which bVlidozing tactics are
not hereafter to be employed. The tissue ballot
has also seen its day, and viii largely he discarded
in future operations because il is too hungng. 1t
vas too carelc,,y used in the last election. There
was no discretion u.ed in pcpetrAting this fraud
and myself have seen an ignorant c0uutuman
take large folded ticket handed him al the polls
and honestly supposlu9 u 90 rc a.l right uuIol Il,
letting fail q dozen more of the tissue ballots
Ihi, diseraceful exposure OF the cheat Wa, only
~. tea with laughter and Tie farce went on
ar. tl..l tiekrts taken out Of tie hox folded |
fogsthcr in the way you have dc.crihcdt
Well. there is an attempt made 10 mix chem !
ND 4 man Sis by The box holding \ long bent !
wire which ponetIates the interior of "a, boN
tlIoueh the crhce ut thu top. This VIII. Ia keeps I,
turning ami twisting about 50 rs To dlr.utauglc !
the small or tissue ballots Is much as possible. but |
they oycIdid that matter, and now thcy viii beat
II, i,y a mach sim Ter process. By the law passed |
dining the Republican Administration al the STAT"
each county has tlJce Comm,s Uncrs of Elections, |
one of which is elected nom the minority. These |
Commissioner, appoint managers Tor each voting !
precinct. The two Democratic Commission l. OF /
I'm, county would mo- permit The Hcpubcau--a !
respectable white clulcn Of Columbia, Mr. gncW /
to namo q manager. lie made a number Ui nCIHi- |
nations, some ol -hrm being moderate Democrats, |
hut hi. Democratic colleagues voted them al out.
OF course this is lawful but very unfair. ASncw |
resigned. ard the result was tull board Of Demo-
ratio Comm Sei ncI-. ana also full boards OF man
ayers n all the election precincts II will be seen
that Ay tins evasion OF the spirit of the law that
thcre il 10 difficulty IA counting us ont every time.
No Republican can prevent II. No Republican can
have access 10 tho returns. ana though We may be
absolutely certain that thousands of Republican
votes are not countcd, we have 10 redress " c are
helpless a. infants.