Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-09-15
"oUALIFIED SUFFRAGE"
One Thing Needful to Raising South
Carolina Politics.

One Thing NeedfuI to Raising South
Carolina Politics.
Columbia Record, Saturday.
Suffrage, as we endeavored to show
yesterday, is a most priceless posses
sion of citizenship, and ought to be
held by all upon whom it has been con-
ferred as a sacred trust, something that
should not, must not be given indis-
criminately to those who through ig-
norance or lack Of appreciation Of its
worth use it to the injury Of society.
There is no Disgusting the fact that in
South Carolina, to say nothing Of 9TH
err states, are many, perhaps two thirds
of it's population, who esteem suffrage
out a qualm Of conscience make mer-
chandisc Of votes, selling or buying
them, as sheep are bought or sold in
the shambles, for a small considera-
ton.
Whatever Of redemption the revolu-
ton Of 1876 brought to the state, 1t
must be confessed it also entailed upon
our people evils under which they are
still suffering. The greatest Of these
evils, because the source Of all the
others. was the cheapening Of suffrage
to this degree that men of education
and substance and character voted IL
legally by voting many times, stuffed
ballot boxes, swore falsely as to elec-
ton returns, and thus-through neces-
sity, Of course, let us say-set an ex-
ample to the ignorant and naturally
vicious holders Of the suffrage who
ever since have taken their cue from
1t to the great detriment Of elections
now. The moral tone of the people was
frightfully lowered from the effects Of
which they have not recovered, and
perhaps never will. We see 1t in the
witness box, in the jury room, and at
all elections.
It is in consequence Of the lowering
Of the moral standard at that time that
men are found depreciating suffrage
and no longer regarding it as a sacred
trust that they must employ for the
we'll being and good Of society. The
lack Of appreciation is shown positively
and negatively. Positively by bad men
who mock suffrage and degrade it by
illegal voting and bribing Of electors
without character at election; and neg
atively by many good men who make
no use of their suffrage at all, but from
squeamishness or a feeling Of foolish
pride refuse or neglect to go to the
polls and vote for the best men offer
ing for Office. In thus acting, by which
they show their absolute lack Of ap-
probation of the suffrage, they are no
better than the men who lay violent
hands on it. They prove by such a
course that they regard the trust re-
posed in them by society as being Of
no account, the duties Of which they
may utterly ignore or discharge when
ever it suits their inclination and pleas
ure. It is needless to say that these
men, respectable though they be, who
thus undervalue their prerogatives as
citizens deserve to be deprived forever
of the trust of suffrage. They should
be put in the same category with those
who in positive ways desecrate the
elective franchise and make it thing
Of scandal.
We realize the extreme difficulty Of
bringing the people to full realiza-
tion Of the sacredness Of suffrage as a
trust, out Of which, could it be accom-
plished, would inevitably come the pur-
ification of the ballot, because the
means that ought to be employed, and
which should have been used long ago,
might at this late day prove inefficient
were it possible to give it force. We
allude to the disfranchisement of ig-
norant and irresponsible voters, white
or black; but this, however desirable
1t may be, is out Of the question now.
The most that can be done in this re-
spect is to disfranchise those who un-
lawfully abuse the suffrage. Disfran-
chisement for bribery at elections is,
as we said yesterday, the proper PEN
atty to affix to the crime.
While, then, it is impracticable to
disfranchise by wholesale, but only by
Titles at a time and for crimes. ac-
tually committed, we are going to risk
incurring the wrath Of small politi-
clans and demagogues by saying 1t Is
pities that the great mass Of
ignorant and characterless voters can
not be eliminated from the suffrage.
Thus the disease would be reached at
once and cured, and the country, left
in the keeping Of intelligence and vir-
tue, would be safe and free Of the dan
ger Of revolution. Universal, unquali-
fed suffrage Is a delusion and snare,
false in theory and false in practice.
To it may be traced all the evils and
sufferings that have afflicted the coun-
try heretofore, and from 1t even greater
evils, we fear, are yet to come. Now,
to restrict it, by passing qualification
acts such as would weed out the OBJ
iectionable and unworthy, would place
suffrage at a premium, make people
value it far more than they do now,
and prove a mighty stimulus to them
to acquire the qualifications necessary
TO secure it. They don't prize it now
because it is thrust upon them regard
less Of their lack Of intelligence and
moral qualities, when II ought to be
made a prize worth all their striving.
Were that done, what great impulse
would be given to education! How
parents would see to 1t that children
were not deprived Of the advantages OF
the schools. There would be no need
to talk about compulsory education. 1t
is patent to the most obtuse mind that
the quality of citizenship would pc
vastly improved. that the dominating
forces in the land would be intelligence
and goodness, and that political dema-
gogues would disappear like miasmatic
fogs Of the night before the morning
sun.
MINT IN ICED TEA.-If a housewife
has not tried serving sprigs Of mint in
glasses of iced tea for luncheon or sup
per, she wants to experiment with 1t