The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-07-24


1885 .... 7O,5Gl 65,S25 1876 52Os9 Dem
1872 ..... GS,O37 it692 1886 4l,3i7 Dem
1896 ..... 6s,O70 5s,79S 9,2sl 47,5l7 Dem
South Carolina is one Of the three states in
the American Union in which the colorcd people
outnumber the whites, the Others being Louisi-
ana and Mississippi. In 1890 there were 227,0O1
more negroes than whites in South Carolina. In
the days OF reconstruction the negroes voted,
secured control Of the government and under
the leadership of dishonest whites, showed an
incapacity to govern wisely. In their ignorance
their ineXperience, their innocence, the negroes
made deplorable mistakes. The whites, instead
Of trying to do something for the education and
uplifting OF the negroes, instead OF pointing out
the errors that the negroes had made, resolved
to rob the negro OF the ballot and by force and
fraud substitute the rule OF the minority for
the rule of the majority. reign of terror was
inaugurated; midnight raiders committed un'
speakable outrages upon negro voters and their
families; thousands of negroes were frightened
from appearing at the polling places; OF those
that did appear to insist upon exercising the
rights granted by the constitutions of their
country and their state, many We're driven
away by armed men; some of the remainder
had the courage to vote but il useless, for
white men did the counting. This went on for
| several years, until by force and fraud the
whites obtained control, and then, to make
their control permanent they put into the con
| stituton educational test for the voters,
leaving Democratic election judges to deter
mine whether or not the citizen was intelligent
enough to exercise the right of suffrage! Ma.
| turaly the negro was barred because he was
| Republican, while his white neighbor, though he
might be unable to read write, and so def
| cient in understanding as to be virtually an
idiot, was admitted to the franchise because he
was a Democrat. The result is in the
| steady decrease in the Republican vote from
! 92,OSl in 1876 to 9,2Sl in 1890.
| Tillman, one of the rankest dcmagogues in
| the United States today and OF the most
| dangerous men in public life, not only took an
active part in the robbery and disfranchisemcnt
| Of the negro, but has actually had the audac-
| ity TO brag Of his crimes, even going so far as
to insert in the Congressional Record Of the last
| congress the frank but infamous speech which
| ne delivered in the constitutional convention Of
| South Carolina five years ago. In this speech
| Tlman confesscs to fraud and eXults in its tri-
| umph. GLOW did we recover our lihcrtyF' hs
asked and answered the question by saying, by
| fraud and violence" adding. ''We tried to over
| come the 10000 majority by honest methods
which was a mathematical impossibilty. How
| did we bring il about? Every white man sunk
his personal feelings and ambitions The white
| people of the state, illustrating our glorious
motto, Ready with their lives and fortunes,
| came together as one. BY fraud and violence, il
| YOU please, we threw il off, In 1873 he had to
| resort to more fraud and violence, and 50
| again in 1850" In the constitutional COnvcn.
| tion it was proposed by some of the more de-
| cent Democrats to put in a property quafca-
| ton SO that no man could vote unless he owned
| property valued at $500, but Tlman opposed the
plan because it would disiranchise $4,000 whites;
| he demanded the educational test, and said
| "Some have said there is a fraud in this under.
standing clause. Some posons in small doses
| are very salutary and valuable medicines. II you
put it in here that a man must understand, and
you vest the right to judge whether he under.
| stands in an officer, it is constitutional act.
That officer is responsible to his conscience and
his God--he is responsible to nobody else.
| There is no particle Of fraud illcgaltv in it,.
IT Is JUST SIMPLY SHOWING PARTIAIITY,
PERHAPS, OR DISCRIMINATING"
| The census shows that in 1890 there were 235,.
COG persons in South Carolina Of voting age,
hut the total vote cast in 1896 was only 6s,079.
The election returns show that the Republican
vote has practically been wiped out in South
Carolina by force and fraud and Tillman glores
in that fact, while he denounces "mperialism,"
Is there not government in South Carolina
without consent; is there not taxation there
without representation? Are not thousands Of
voters disfranchised by fraud2 Are not provi
sions Of the Federal constitution virtually over
riden? Is not crime triumphant? And yet
Senator Timan, the instigator of crimes against
the franchise, the panegyTist of fraud, has the
amazing audacty to stand up before the Ameri
can people to denounce "imperialism' and wcer
for Aguinaldo and the sayages of Luzon! Was
anything like it ever seen before?
| .
Meanwhile South Carolina that cast s,O7l
| votes in the last presidential election, has a,
many senators and representatives in the con
| gress Of the United States as California, that
| ,ost OGA. many Kansas that Cgs