Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-04-01
A VICIOUS AND INcENDlARY ACT.
Very Plain Speaking on the Crum Case-The
People Should Draw tho Line.
News and Courier. ]

News and Courier.
The late Hon. j. III. Hammond,
Governor and United States Senator
OF South Carolina, delivered schol-
arly and eloquent address at the
South Carolina College in 1S49, and
the leading thought of this oration
was thus expressed: "Those who
have made themselves most familiar
with the true state of human pro-
gress are accustomed to read the
future in the past-men for the most
part follow shadows"
Thirty years ago South Carolina
was known as the ''Prostrate State"
BY the illegal and revolutionary con.
vention of 1868 a new constitution
had been formed, which placed the
State and its largely wasted resources
in the hands of the vile and the ig,
norant. For eight long years high
carnival of rascality and waste was
the order of the day; millions were
piled up in debt, and proclamation
was publicly made that there were
"years of good stealing in South
Carolina" The act of Republican
Congress-, that had made this dis
graceful public condition possible,
had disfranchised the property and
intelligence of the State and put i'm
ported arpet-baggers, native scala
wags and ignorant negroes in posses
sion of South Carolina.
Hammond's thoughts were, of
course, on high lines, while these re-
marks have necessarily to be in re-
verse and on very low lines, but the
the principle is applicable. A few
years ago prominent Southern gen
tleman was in company with Mr..
Roosevelt in a Northern city and in
very pleasant intercourse. Finally
Mr.. Roosevelt asked why it was that
the white people of the Southern
States did not unite with the Repub-
lican party. The reply was that it
was impossible to think even of such
a political course; that the Republi-
can party had made political allies
of aliens, scalawags and negroes
that several Southern States had been
brought to the verge of ruin by this
fatal domination, and that almost a
revolution had to be resorted to to
save those States from utter ruin
and restore them to a safe condition.
To which Mr.. Roosevelt replied
"that the only fault that he had ever
found with the Republican party
was that it had abandoned the negro
politically" The implication is
plain: That he deprecated President
Hayes's recognition of Hampton
and Nichols as Governors of South
Carolina and Louisiana in 1877.
The recess appointment of DR..
Crum as collector of the port, after
refusal by the Senate, for which Office
he has not single qualification, has
not been in commerce, has possibly
never added up column of figures
in his life, and must be absolutely
ignorant of the essential requisites
for this Office, is the reflex of the
Presidents real sympathy with the
conditions which prevailed in South
Carolina in 1868-1876. He is still
looking on our State as a conquered
province, like the Philippine Islands,
and the united, respectful and earn
est objection on the part of the
property and intelligence of Charles
ton to the attempted ruthless break
ing down of well-est H'lished social
and business conditions, he contemp
tuously tramples under foot. The
attempt will fail! But it is base,
despicable and corrupting.
In the 1868-76 period we were
cursed with the Mackeys, our native
young Governor Moses, Josephus
Woodruff, Bowen, Whittemore and
others--carpet baggers, scalawags
and the easily deceived ignorant
negroes. Now we are similarly
cursed. Some to "the manner born"
who have descended to the low level
of the Presidents Kitchen Cabinet,
dealing out Federal Offices There
is even one who has publicly pro.
claimed political and social equality
with negroes, and hopes TO be--if he
is not already-the "missing link"
between the two races. All these
are ominous signs for our future.
What is tho community going to do
about it9 Are such political and
moral bankrupts to be permitted to
be recognized in representative posi-
tionsp
cit is only the first step that
counts" Shall we shut our eyes to
these offensive and corrupting signs
of the times2 Let the morally
blunted continue to receive recogni-
tion in the places they now disgrace,
or reduce them to the low level they
have voluntarily descended to Let
effective action be summarily tax Ten.
Let the lines between moral and
social bankruptcy and common
'decency be sharply drawn, and at
once. VIM. A. Courtenay.