The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-03-23
A REASON FOR IT.

The effort 10 form new party in South
Carolina should be viewed as q business
proposition, and either given support or
rejected upon its merits If ,he Demo
cratic party has done we'll III the past,
with perhaps few Objectionable meas
ures to some people, and if the Republi'
can party has done badly, with perhaps
few good things, it is TO be decided by
us as plain, sensible men, whether the in
terests of South Carolina will be sub
served by destroying the Democratic
party and returning the old Republican
party to power. This will probably be
the result if the new party is formed /;
or at best, il the hopes and aspirations Of
the new party men are realized, will the
interests Of the State be subscrved By
forming new party. which will be COM
posed Of one disaffectcd Democrat and
ten s,alwart Radicals? In our opinion,
the thinking people Of the State can
reach but one conclusion, which is, that
the Democratic party is the party to con-
tinue in power in South Carolina. 1t is
composed Of more than nine-tenths Of
the morality, the intelligence and the
virtue Of the State, and nearly or quite
that proportion of the property 1t has
within its ranks all Of the elements
which are interested in tie future pros.
perity ard peace of the State. and if the
Democratic voters have not the virtue
and the ability to correct abuses as they
arise, il will be vain to look for that yir'
tue and ability in small fragment Of
this party combined with overwhelming
numbers of ignorance, corruption and
prejudice. Our friends who are Inde-
pendently inclined have, according to
our judgment, made grave mistake in
not making their efforts to assert their
opinions and preferences within the
Democratic party, for if they really de-
sire reform Of abuses, and not merely
personal emolument, they would have q
much greater opportunity for success
than by the plan under which they arc
attempting to operate.
The masses of the Democracy are in
telligent and honest. They desire good
government, and from time 10 time will
correct abuses as they appear. If one
Legislature does badly. it is no reason tc
punish the State with Republican
combination party. The remedy is tc
elect another Legislature that will dc
better. This can be done only by making
the fight inside Of party lines, for by
breaking these lines the Republicans
will either elect their own men or dictate
the combination candidates and the
question for those who want TO leave the
Democratic party to decide is, whether
they would prefer the white people Of
the State or the negroes to choose the
men who are to govern South Carolina
For our part, we would fear more disas'
ter from the combination party than we
would from the Republicans, pure and
simple for the combination would be
responsible to no party, while the Re-
publicans would be required by the Ma.
tional administration to keep somewhere
in the neighborhood of the powers oi
the people for endurance. AN indepen.
dent party, however, composed of nine
negroes and one white man, would have
all the capacity for mischief and none oi
the chec:s which would be thrown
around the Republican party itself. Oul
people, before ,a,2ing the Democratic
party, should not only have reason fol
doing so, but should be able to give &
reason for expecting any improvement
from the new organization. If the State
is to be benefited by a change Of parties
then it should be made; but unless &
beneficial result is pretty certain to flow
from new party, we had better let vel
enough alone, and direct our efforts tt
making such changes, if any, in tht
Democratic party Us may subserve th'
public welfare.