Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-10-26

The prime mover OF tnlS pio-Oaaih
berlain agitation was Captain F. W.
Dawson, editor of the conservative
daily, the News and Courier. Dawson
from this time until the second Demo-
cratic Convention used all the ener-
gies of a resourceful publicist to con-
struct a master defense of his some
time idol, Chamberlain. Curiously,
once the Democratic party, to which
he was always in spirit loyal, adopted
policy contrary to that which ne ad-
vocated. With equal zest he spent the
remainder of the time of the cam
paign of 1876 in tearing down the ar
guments that he had advanced in sup
port of Chamberlain. In using the
governor as wedge through which
Republicans might be made reform
ers, Dawson and his coadjutor, Gen.
eral James Conner, received the en-
thusiastic backing of the articulate
majority of white opinion. The files
of the News and Courier contain a
ceaseless number of resolutions en-
dorsing Chamberlain from almost
every county of the state except
Edgefeld. I shall not take time to
read them as I have CLEANED them
from the files of the News and Cour-
ier.
Important in consequence of the
new stand of Chamberlain and the
Democrats, was the changing atti-
tude of the Northern opinion as il
Illustrated by the Northern press, ex-
cepting Grants Journal, the Wash
ington National Republican. The Bos-
ton Weekly, the Springfield Repub-
lican, all joined the chorus against
Whipper and Moses, and in commen-
dation of Chamberlain and the South
Carolina whites.
Briefly summarized the arguments
advanced by Dawson in favor of coal
ition were: First, the positive evil
dence of Chamberlain's reforms as
advanced in the editorial columns of
the News and Courier. Second, the
apparent helplessness Of recosciling
Northern opinion on any basis other
that a plan through which fifteen or
twenty thousand of the estimated
black majority could be converted to
vote for a reformer. Third, the ma
chinery of election was in the hands
of Chamberlain's radical board of
canvassers, Federal troops and United
States deputy marshals, who, it was
believed, stood ready to intimidate
all whites.
Yet there was determined minor
ity of the Democratic party bent on
complete Democratic success or COM
plete failure. To them all Republicans
bidding for the negro vote looked the
same. They put Chamberlain in the
same class as Moses. The rule of
property and white skin came first;
reform second. They believed that the
Anglo-Saxon could rule regardless of
the black majority by dint of super
ior intelligence and powers of initia-
tive and the negroes inherited ten
dency to submit. BY strong armed
tactics and brave words the negro
could be made to vote Democratic
or stay away from the polls. Northern
public opinion, slowly reverting from
the abnormal war enthusiasm to the
traditional Anglo-Saxon contempt for
the colored race, could be placated by
specious words.
This movement, known as the
Straight Out-Movement naturally had
its origin in the upper counties of the
state where the smaller black majori-.
ty was less likely to Drlng despair OF
success. The first determined move
against the policy of Dawson was the
refusal of white mass meeting held
in Edgefeld Court House, January
6, 1876, to endorse Chamberlain
along with the usual condemnation of
Whipper and Moses. General NJ. c.
Butler, Colonel H. D. Capers and j.
C. Sheppard, there voiced their oppo-
sition to compromise and the desire
that the policy of the Democratic
Party be determined by convention
instead of public expression. This
meeting was followed by like meet
ing in Aiken county. The Edgefeld
Advertiser called for a ''local ticket
as straight as a gun-barrel." This
was followed by equally determined
statements from such papers as the
Abbeville Medium, the Rock Hill