The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-05-05
THE FARMERS IN COUNCIL.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATE CONEEN-
Tl0N IN COLUMBIA.

lkVN ~ SSA<
Large Body of Good Make-Up-Nearly All
the Counties Representative Proceedings
in Detail.
Pursuant to the call heretofore pub
ished, the State Convention of Farmers
met in Agricultural Hall, Columbia, on
the 29th ult. Promptly at - o'clock the
Convention was called to order by Capt.
r. R. Tillman, of Edgefeld, who pro
, ceeded to deliver an address in substance
as follows:
EIwere much in love with myself,
this manifestation Of approval you have
Just given me might turn my head and
make me egotistical. I hope to prove
before conclude what have to say that,
while I am man who entertains positive
opinions and am not afraid to express
them unequivocaDy when occasion de
mands, yet still I know who I am and
what am. I have been asked to call
this convention to order, and state my
views as to the objects to be gained and
the proper mode of proceeding to attain
what we have in view. In some respects
I am thus placed in peculiar and en-
barrassing situation. There seems to be
current opinion that I am a dynamiter,
a communist, who stands ready to sub
vert society and overthrow the Demo-
cratic party. The newspapers and the
politicians have striyen hard to thus pic
ture me in the mind of the public. 1
have been christened the "Moses," " and
the name has stuck and Will continue to
stick. The application was first applied
to me in derision by Colonel D. P. Dun
can, and it was taken up by the newspa-
pers, and has constantly been connected
with me and the movement which l
claim the honor of having originated.
But am not ashamed to bear the name.
Ny friends even call me Moses. hope
sincerely that I may, if even in the very
smallest degree, resemble the great Law
giver and leader Of the Egyptians; and if
I shall be able, like him, to benefit my
people-the whole people OF the State
without regard to any one class-I Will
feel that have accomplished my highest
object. This is my mission, and has
been since, at Bennettsville last August,
I started this movement. Selfish, little
men-pohticians and editors-have in-
pugned mymotives, thus seeking to I'M
pair my influence and bring me into bad
odor. I shall nevertheless continue to
move onward till I reach my goal. You
must reform the farming before you can
reform the farmers. There must be
among us more thought, more brain
phosphates. This agitation has already
broadened into formidable proportions;
it is now a grand reform movement
which Will and must triumph over all
obstacles. The CRY is ever heard that II
we are not very careful how We proceed
We viii injure the Democratic party and
divide our people. No man man IN
South Carolina is a truer Democrat than
am, but if necessary I would not finch
even if our grand reform movement
should so into politics and rectify the
abuses in the Democratic camp and wash
its dirty linen.
It was feared that ! would be very
violent and communistic and advocate
the rending asunder of all prevailing IN
stitutions, but all have to say IS, that if
every man IN this convention is as con-
servatire as I am, no class of our citizens
viii have any cause to complain of the
action Of this body.
He had somewhere seen a cartoon
which had amused him much, and which
had impressed on him an important les
son regarding the attitude Of the Office
holders and rulers of the party toward
this farmers movement. It represented
large enclosure of glass, IN which there
were number of rats, each enjoying a
piece of cheese. On the outside was a
cat endeavoring to get in, and mad at
the failure OF her efforts to effect an en-
trance. Beneath the picture the legend
ran, ssYou Can't Get In There were
hungry political cats In South Carolina
who were mad because they could not
get into the Farmers Convention, but
the farmers were inside just now; for
once they held the keys, and they in
tended to stay in, and as they were IN
they had better take a nibble at the
cheese, just to see how it tastes.
The farmers had been so long accus-
toned to the condition OF dependence
and vassalage to the unfavorable condi-
tions around them that they had reached
a state where they were unwilling to
make an effort to release themselves or
to respond to an effort to secure deliver
ance. He told the story of Sterne, who,
while walking near the Bastile in Paris,
heard a plaintive cry like that Of wo-
man or child, 81 can't get outE' Il can't
get out!'' His compassion was aroused,
and following the sound he discovered
that It proceeded not from human pris-
oner, but from acaged starting, and, yield
ing to the feeling of commiseration ex-
cited by the cry and the sight of the
captive bird, he opened the door of the
cage. The bird hoped from its perch
to the open door, surveyed the fields
around the prison, on which no single
tree offered refuge to tempt it to try
its long unused wings in flight, and then
4al l;coo,,,.aotaa hacl into the caoa