Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-02-24
FROM SOUTH CAROLINA.

THE CAUSES or THE NEGRO EXODUS FROM THAT
sTATE-PooR CROPS AND BAD LAWS CAUSE
D1scoNTENT, WITH POLITICAL PRESCRIPTION
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TRoUDIE-A DOUBT
FUL OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE.
Mr.. Editor: You ask il have got at the
inside facts of the colored exodus from this
state. think have obtained some of them,
others are not easy to get. 1t is impossible
to learn exactly how many of the colored
people have left the state. Some estimates
put the number at eight hundred to one thou
sand, while others go as high as ten thousand.
From all the information l can get think it
safe to put the figure at four thousand. By
far the greater number have gone from Edge
field county. Beside those who have left the
state several hundred have removed from
Edgefeld and adjoining counties to Beaufort
county in this state. Opinions differ as to
the causes leading to this exodus, all seem
to agree that there are several. The immedi-
ate cause, think, was the failure of the cot
ton crop last season from drought, which left
those who had rented land heavily in debt
with but little prospect of being any better
off at the end of the coming season. Many
of the negroes hire land of the whites, agree
ing to pay a stipulated amount of cotton per
acre for the rent am told that in many in
stances the rents were exorbitsnt and the
landlords were not willing to make any de-
ductions because of the failure of the crop,
but exacted the full amount of the bond. The
enactment of laws from time to time, the en-
forcement of which bears heavily upon the
colored population, and the introduction and
discussion of the stock law and the election
law in the present Legislature has increased
the uneasiness, but think the principal, un-
derlying cause is the treatment received by
the colored voters at elections. They regard
the ballot as the symbol of their freedom,
given them by the national government. And
to be prevented by violence from casting
their ballots, or, if allowed to vote peaceably,
to have their ballots made of no account
through ballot-box stufing and false count
ing, under the apparent sanction of the state
government, has led them to believe that the
dominant party has no respect for their po-
litcal rights. Add to this the other causes
mentioned above and the result is a feeling
on the part of the blacks that they have no
rights which the whites consider worthy of
respect. Entertaining this feeling it is not
surprising that they are casting about for a
better country. Many Of those that have
gone are among the best laborers in the state,
and it cannot afford to lose any laborers of
this class. Many who have gone had hardly
enough money to pay their railroad fare, and
will undoubtedly suffer before they can be
placed where they can obtain work. Should
the reports from those who have left be fa-
vorable, there will undoubtedly be a much
larger exodus next winter than has taken
place this season, for there is a spirit of un-
rest in all sections of the state.
The opinion OF the people in the localities
from which the laborers have mostly gone as
expressed in the local papers, is that it is a
good thing, because it renders it less difficult
to continue the present political party in pow
er. 1t is a common remark of the Southern
people that Northerners do not understand
the negro race and cannot manage them as
well AZ they can. | think they are in fair
way to manage the best of them out of the
state and by their legislation and treatment
generally to antagonze the entire race. be-
lieve it to be for the interest of the whites, as
well as blacks, that friendly feeling exist
between the two races, for there is no labor
80 well adapted to this section of the country
lose the best of its laborers before this fact
will be recognized o.BN.
AIKEN, S. c., Feb. 7, 1882