Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-02-20


minded individual who reads 1t will
necessarily be impressed with the
writer's thoughtful analysis Of the po-
litical conditions in the state.l
The present political condition of
South Carolina was conceived In the
social status which existed there be-
for the Civil war. Unfortunately for
the state, it's white citizenry was di-
vided into two distinct classes. One
was the aristocrat, who, as rule,
owned slaves. but whose social posi-
ton was established only by an un-
disputed record Of a given number Of
forbears of standard breeding. The
other class was the working man
who, whether he owned slaves or not,
was a manual laborer by profession.
There are instances Of most cordial
relations having existed between in
dividuals belonging to these two
classes, but between the classes them
selves there has been war to the end
of each class.
The aristocracy furnished the most
cultured men Of ante-bellum times.
The citizens who were most promi-
nent in the service Of the state,
through their service did not benefit
to advantage afterwards, were repre-
sentatives Of that class. Many OF
them were patriots Of very acute
sense of personal honor as public SER
wants.
BY the working classes, they were
generally despised. And, to an ex-
tent, they received a just recompense
OF reward in such disesteem. AL
though many Of them were holders Of
large estates and not few Of them
occasionally toiled with their hands,
yet they usually regarded profession
al manual labor as an insignia OF
meanness and the necessity for it as
an evidence Of low breeding. Some
Of them, when they were reduced to
great want after the war, were known
to have received their daily food graf
is from the hands of their former
negro slaves, but would never have
won it by their own toll.
The working man, on the other
hand, was not without serious fault.
He entertained the spirit Of vengeance
and retaliation. He sought, in many
cases, to sink to the low plane OF life
on which an unjust social discrimi-
nation had forced him to stand. Much
Of South Carolina's record for illiteracy
iand bloodshed may be traced directly
to this cause. The social caste-lines
put iron fetters on the upward tread
of the masses and enervated their
moral consciousness; so that today
the state weeps because of the low
ideals of so many Of her people.
\ Unity But the Seeds of Dissension. !
But in the throes Of the reconstruc-
ton, the white citizens temporarily
laid aside their differences and united
to throw off the effects Of invasion,
and to avert the greater disaster i'm
minent from the cloud of the black
hand that lay upon the horizon of the
south. With great enthusiasm and
loyalty, they came together under
Wade Hampton in 1876. How mo-
mentous that event was in the destiny
of the state, 1t appears that neither he
l.,
had a mind chiefly to the deliverance
from negro domination and menace
which had been accomplished for the
people through their ascendency to the
seat Of state government. 1t seems
that they had rested on their honors-
and their oars. 1t Is apparent that they
did not think, as they should have
thought, of the mass of men against
whom discrimination had been prac-
ticed so long; so that, perhaps, they
could have saved them in that grave
hour from a greater than negro
menace-that of schism, fractional
hate and bloodshed, internal dissen-
sions and strife. Their administra-
ton was lacking either in statesman
ship or in patriotism. At any rate
they had their chance.
But Hampton was an aristocrat.
And when he came into power, ne
found himself Immediately the centre
Of an aristocratic circle-a ring which
excluded the common people from
rightful access to him and participa-
ton and fellowship with him in the az
fairs of state. A coterie OF faVorites
closed in around him; be 1t said, not
so much in order to shut others out as
to replenish their own wasted fortunes
and to re-establish their political dig
nifty by including themselves Gould
Hampton have broken through the
line that enveloped him and made his
way to the plain man waiting at his
door? He could have done so, had he
been seated on a charger and II that
circle around him had been the front
line of his enemies whose lips breath
ed curses and death. But they were
his friends and to smite one of them
in order to make his way out in any