The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-10-31
THE CONVENTION.
should 1t Be Called-SOme Facts for
Ynu to Think About.


We propose to give some statistics-which
we hope our country contemporaries wlll re-
produce this week for the more general lntor-
nation of voters-to prove how baseless is
the claim Of the Ring that by adopting new
constitution establishing an educational
qualification for voters, the negro vote can
be eliminated in South Carolina.
We have no doubt that the prospect or such
an achievement is aIiurlng 10 great aSsss many
thousands of illiterate white men. whose sui.
frage Is equally menaced by an educational
test, TO overlook their own danger In the de.
sire to put the negro out OF politics." II VIII
asked to sacrifice their own rights In order
TO accomplish something which cannot be ac-
mplished. ,
figures II the respective illiteracy OF the whlte
and colored people of the State In 1880 could
be proved by the census OF that year. put 30
far as we can ascertain, these statistics nave
not yet been published, and we shall have TO
reach the same result by less direct. Out
equally conclusive figures.
In 1880. according 70 the centus hgures OF
that year. the NUMBER OF negro males In thls
State, from the ages Of 10 l6-constitutlng
the "schoiistlc pcpulation"-was O,ssI:
In 1852 the number Of negro males atteno-
Ing the public schools OF the staUe was
This number increased year by year, UNI
last year, 1893, there were, according 10 tne
report Of the Spperihtendebht pn deb3i 1s Eooca''on
IA
II is evident, then, that for eleven years
past from 10000 to $500 prospective negro
voters have been educated In the puollc
schOos alone and Sv ops
have educated thousands more each year dur
ing that period.
That those who have been thus receiving
instructions have at least learned TO read and
write will not be questioned. Reading and
writing were the first thing taught them the
very gfoundwork Of their education.
How Of them 70 SaI SStpf
as much as five years of this perloo irom
1882 to 1893, to teach one set, and five years 70
teach another, and you have, averaging & tne
ready or soon to be Of voting age. who have
been thus qualified TO vote under eoucatioha'
tests.
by the census of 1850, which gave the figures
TO show that &,679 colored persons OF ten
years Of age and over could write. II they
could write, they could read. In l8Sg. Oh Ia q
we're we're Tilt iiiiteratepabout I half With better
schools and teachers, more schools and q iar
larger attendance In the fourteen years since
then, who will say that this proportion Oh II.
literacy has not been reduced? .,.o oro
But cut the estimate in half, and there are
still O,OOO of the 1872, 600 negro men shown oy
the census Of 1890 who can read ana wrlLe;
The number Of negroes now registered ana
county. or 900 at the utmost. Instead, there
fore. Of "eliminaiiug the negro VOTE" an edu-
ucational qualification, honestly enloreu,
would at the least increase II py do.V; ,,o
prime Justification for the exclusion Of the
negro from political influence has been his ig-
norance and consequent unfttness 10 use the
ballot wisely. But let $1,000, or any other
number of them, pass the educational tests
which thousands OF white men cannot pass,
and 1t establishes their educational equallty
Indeed 1t gives them distinction, In one
sense, above illiterate white men.SOn Whal
ground can the negro voter then be made an
outcastP He has stood the ordeal. he has es-
tablished his worthiness TO vote. Ihose VINO
appeal TO him for support cannot pc c6argea
with appealing to ignorance and degradation,
for the State will have set the seal OF is ap-
proyal upon him as q voter. In our opinion the
Inevitable result Of this will be TO put ihose
negroes who are qualified TO vote IN ponticai
demand and To remove the strongest ooJec'
lions which now exist to their participation
There are $4,000 negroes Of voting age In
South 10 ios Wosd
the very most, disfranchise $1,000 or them,
leaving 5O.OO0 qualified to vote. There are
lO2 900 whites OF voting age an ed9Ganohai ac nH al
them, leaving 1000. 80 we would have S2,OOO
whites and 5000 negroes competent to vote.
Seventeen thousand white men, uniting
with the negroes, could carry the otate.
Where then is the security from negro In.
fiuence" promised by the Ring as the chiei
fruit of constitutional conventions labors !?
We know that illiterate white voters are
told that they will be protected In their sur
frage by some scheme which will descrimin'
ate between them and the negroes who are
illiterate. That can only be done by fraud
by giving registration and election omcers
bower TO refuse applicants a. their own pleas
ure. But such device would be dangerous
in the extreme Once put the suffrage OF the
voter at the mercy Of Irresponsible ohcials
and nobody's rights would be safe. A. party
might attain power which woul Id enforce the
educational test stritly and disbar white men
as we'll as black. The disfranchised white
men would have no resource.
These are things to think over very careful
IL. Let them be considered.