The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1894-10-31
THE VOICE OF A STATESMAN.
A Well Painted Picture


lowing interview had with Mr., Au-
gust Kohn, the able correspondent OF
the News and Courier The matter
contained in this interview should be
read by every white man in the State,
regardless of factional differences.
sWhile am talking on politics and
the status in that Congressional dis
trict had Just as we'll give those of
our people, who care to know my
views on other questions. few
words of warning on the dangers
ahead of us There is crisis upon
us. and the immediate future is
| fraught with more of good or i'll than
any period in our history since 1861.
The dark wave of corruption, mis-
government and well-nigh anarchy,
which engulfed our State during the
days of Radical dominion, failed to
overwhelm and destroy our civiliza-
tion because of the feeling Of race
unity; blood was thicker than water,
and white men we're ever ready to re-
spond to the call Of white supremacy.
| When the tocsin was sounded in 49,
Is the white men Of the State re-
sponded as one man, and our people
moved as a solid phalanx to recover
their lost liberties and restore de-
cency and order in the conduct of
our affairs.
The unfortunate divisions which
have arisen among US, and | Will not
now discuss the question as to where
the blame lies, have reached the
point for a second time where white
men of acknowledge integrity and
character and decent reputation are
willing to use the negro in our poll
tics in the hope of regalning lost
ascendency. l have no uneasiness as
to the result of the election this year.
| There is no possibility of any great
inroad being made on the Democrat
ic party as now organized. Evans
will be elected by an overwhelming
vote and the complexion of the Leg
islature will undergo little if any
change from the status fixed by the
primary of August %.
But the issue which vitally con-
Germs the future of this State and its
people, the calling of Constitutional
Convention, is in doubt. All the ele-
ments opposed to Reform in the
State. every newspaper controlled by
the so-called Conservatives and sew
eral which lave hitherto sided with
the Reformers are opposing the Con-
vention with every argument posi-
BILE. When consider the fact that
this opposition may defeat the call
ing OF a Convention I shudder to
think what will inevitably follow in
1.-The next political campaign.
"Our people will come together if
the Convention is called. and patriot
ism and character without regard to
faction will govern in the selection
of those who will make a new Con-
stitution. But if the Convention is
not called then we will be divided in
| to two hostile camps of white men in
the next campaign, struggling to see
which can get the most negro votes.
This is as inevitable as that the sun
will rise tomorrow. What the result
will be upon the future progress Of
the State and it's business interests
must be apparent to every thinking
man. Some men affect to believe
that the negro, as factor in our pol
itics, would produce no untoward re-
suits, nor be dangerous to the public
welfare. Others say that the best
white people, as they term them,
selves, and the negroes in political
combination would bring about q
restoration of good government.
But can We touch pitch and not be
defiled? Can the 100000 white men
in South Carolina energize and mar
shall the 100000 negro voters in this
State and lead them to the polls, con-
tending for the mastery, without de-
struction of all of our business inter
ests and paralysis of every industry?
Can this vast horde Of ignorant and
debased voters participate in govern
ment without corrupting and de-
bauching the public service? 1t is
not clear that while in the first fight,
and even possibly in the second, de
cent and honest men may be elected
to Office, that the inevitable trend of
politics will be for those who are most
willing to go to the level of the ne
gro to control them? VIII the ne
groes not demand and enforce a di
vision of the offices as a recognition
of their service? Can we hope that
character and intelligence will con-
tinue to control when such contin-
gencies arise, as they inevitably will
arise? Will not the needy and greedy
ofice-seekers, the corrupt, the low,
the base, among the whites finally
use the negro votes to virtually con-
fscate property and renew under the
form of law John J. Patterson's five
more years of good steaiing?"
How then can any patriotic, SEN
sible man, who loves his State and
race, hesitate as to how he shall vote
on this Convention question? l con-
fess it puzzles me to account for the
insane opposition which has arisen
in so many quarters. In some coun-
ties, where the whites are in major
ity, which have, therefore, never un-
dergone, except in modified degree,
the degradation and miseries of the
reconstruction period, demagoglcal
pleas are used to frighten the poor
whites. If We had a white majority
in thesState this burning question of
negro supremacy, or quasi suprema-
cy, need not cause so much alarm.
But those white men in the white
counties, who are opposing a Con-
stitutional Convention and say there
is no danger, are like the. ostrich
which hides its head in the sand and
considers itself out of harms way.
They have never suffered what their
brethren in the lower part of the
State have endured and they cannot
therefore conceive the terrible results
that will follow division of the whites
struggling TO control the negro vote
and making him the arbiter of our
,,olifinc Con finno1 Con-
vention is not called when the
twentieth century shall dawn on
this country there will be forty or
fifty, negro representatives in the
South Carolina Legislature and in
most counties half, while in many
counties all of the county offices will
be filed by negroes.
But Governor, how is the Consti-
tuition to prevent all this!''
I'VE have been trying to get a