There may be truth in that; but it may be, that they are and have been Democratic in spite of the Negro.
The publication of the List of Tax-Payers in Charleston, “The Hot-Bed of Secession”, in 1860 was an illustration of the thorough-going democracy of the place and the people, at that time. It was an open display of the strength and weakness of each and every governmental burden bearer, and of the burdens imposed. What could be more democratic than that? There was a tax of 1.4 per cent on real estate; a tax of 1.4 per cent on stocks of goods. There was no tax on bonds and no tax on stock, because, without interest or dividends, the scrip is mere paper. But there was a tax on interest and dividends of 2.5 per cent; the same on gross income; commissions; annuities and gross receipts of all commercial agencies. On premiums of insurance there was a tax of 1.25 per cent. On capital in shipping, as it should have been, the tax was light, only .75 per cent; for shipping is the very life of a seaport. But it was also gainful, so it was taxed for some of its gain. The foolish idea of absolute exemption was avoided. Luxuries were taxed fairly, in the additional head taxes. The carriage drawn by two horses was taxed a third more than the carriage drawn by one. Sulkeys were taxed lower than one horse carriages and horses and mules lower still. Slaves were taxed, but the head tax of $3 per slave, when it is realized that some sold for $1200 apiece was indefensibly light compared to the tax on horse-flesh and property of that kind. One per cent on a Negro to ten per cent on a mule by the average value and lessening with the increase of value of either was an immense incentive to slave-holding. With apparently this one exception, in the absence of that procrustean bed, the uniform rate, upon which all property which cannot be concealed is now stretched, the wealthy paid according to their wealth, the poor according to their poverty; but all, who had anything, contributed to the general welfare, and bore a fair share of the general burden.
That is the real reason why they fought so long and well. For instance on $385,000 of real estate, 28 slaves, 1 carriage and 2 horses, Otis Mills and Otis Mills & Co. paid a tax of $5,524. On $281,000 of real estate, 14 slaves, a carriage and 2 horses, William Aiken paid a tax of $4,027.40. On $101,500 of real estate, $2,724.16, interest on bonds, 3 slaves and $45,000 of shipping, the estate of James Adger paid a tax of $1,835.60. On $15,000 of real estate, $1,982 interest on bonds, $14,642 commissions, 14 slaves, 1 carriage, 3 horses and 2 dogs, Wm. C. Bee and Wm. C. Bee & Co. paid a tax of $732.60. On a stock of goods $16,000, commissions $9,000, Jeffords & Co. paid a tax of $449. On $8,000 shipping, $4,600 income and 3 slaves E. Lafitte & Co. paid a tax of $184. On a stock of goods of $1,000, Samuel P. Lawrence paid a tax of $14. On 1 slave Mrs. M. S. H. Godber paid a tax of $3. On $200 of real estate Dr. Charles M. Hitchcock paid a tax of $1.80. On a stock of goods valued at $100, C. H. Brunson paid a tax of $1.40. The tax imposed on the manufacture of gas light was lighter than that imposed on shipping; but it was gainful and on a capital of $755,700 the Company paid a tax $3,778.50.[405]
That the condition of the Southern States was incalculably improved by the abolition of slavery is the firm belief of the author of this study. But that from the tax legislation that followed, the morals of all have suffered tremendously, is the belief of many, with which he agrees.
The presence of the Negroes in the masses in which they still remained in the South after emancipation retarded even the remarkable recovery that the South has made. In this year of 1925, the first in a century in which the white population of South Carolina has exceeded in numbers the colored, it is apparent that the small industries of country life are becoming distinctly more gainful. Why? With lessening mass the Negro is feeling the effect of environment. He is less of a pilferer. And with less friction and consequent material gain, wider opens the door to literature and art.
That there is an immense educational power in art has again and again been demonstrated by artists who have had a purpose deeper than—“Art for art’s sake.”
As an illustration, one cannot fail to note that while the educated Negroes of the North could not possibly take at the hands of a Negro Union soldier, who had fought for the freedom of the race and gone thro’ the days of Congressional Reconstruction without a stain, as a distinct Legislative leader, a faithful description of the great mass of Negroes in the South, they acclaimed the French Negro author of “Batouala,” whose realistic novel of the Negro in Africa while criticising severely their white French rulers, damns the Negroes, even more so. The book is not only interesting, it is instructive to those who need the instruction; and the increasing numbers of educated Negroes at the North needed just such a book, in order to show them what they were rescued from in Africa.
Rene Maran says:
“My book is not a polemic. It comes by chance when its hour strikes. The Negro Question is of the present. Who made it that? Why the Americans.”
Describing French Colonial Africa, he quotes, the Senegalese, Diagne: