The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-07-03
TILLMAN AND HIS METHODS.
The Conservative Opinion of Robert AL
drich, of Barnwell-Tillman's Mistakes
and Shortcomings.
T From the Charleston World. I

From the Charleston World.
Col. Robert Aldrich of Barnwell was
in the city yesterday, and was met at
the Charleston Hotel by a World re-
porter, whe addrested to him several
questions on the political situation in
Barnwell and the State generally.
"Four-fifths of our people," said Col.
Aldrich, "are for Tillman."
"Is there likely to be any change in
this condition between now and the
election?"
"Yes."
"Whato?"
"The other fifth will be for him by
then.n
To what do you attribute the strong
support the Tillman movement is re-
ceiving throughout the State??"
{" "'There is tide in the affairs ofmen
which, taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune?' There has been wave of
popular discomfort with our party
methods gathering in the State for
years. Capt. Tillman has done great
deal to work it up, and at the oppor-
tune moment he leaped upon its crest,
and it is bearing him into the guberna-
torial office.'
"Then you do not think it is dissatis-
faction with our State government or
officials that inspires this support Of
Tillman:"
"Certainly not. We have had since
1876 clean, economical government,
and our Offices have been filled by good
men-I may say our best men-and
there is no ground for discomfort on
that score; but our methods have been
faulty, and it is against these that dis
satisfaction has been growing for years,
and Tillman offering the occasion, the
people are responding with earnestuess
and enthusiasm to secure a change.
"After all that may be said, the un-
derlying principle which controls the
actions of our people isa love of liberty,
and they are not not going to submit
to the despotism of party any more
than they will to the despotism Of a
government, any longer than they can
help it. For years our elections have
been decided in Columbia. l do not
mean by the State officials alone, or by
any ring-there is no ring that I know
of-but by public men from ali parts
of the State, who meet there periodical
ly, and who shape up and give direc-
ton to events, and under our peculiar
conditions the people have been forced
to ratify their actions. In other words,
instead of the people choosing their
own servants, they have had candi-
dates in which they have had little or
no voice in the selecting, forced upon
them with the alternative, take these
or go to- the Radicals
"Now, Tillman saw this condition of
things, and discerned the appropriate
relief for it. He has inaugurated a
policy by which the people will in fact,
as we'll as in theory, choose their own
servants. He offers to the people self
government, pure and simple, and they
seized the opportunity with avidity,
and hailed him as liberator.
Ideas, not men nor measures, gov
ern this world, and it is this idea of
their rights and privileges being
brought within their own grasp that is
that is controlling the people of the
State, and there is no power on earth
that can shake them loose from it.n
What will be the result of it all?'
'"The immediate result will be the
election of Capt. Tillman. That is a
matter ofsmall import. Men like him,
while bold and aggressive in the fight
for power, are proverbially conserva-
tive once they have gained it. He will
administer the duties Of the office as
they are prescribed by law; no more, no
less.
"There has been one marked good
effect already; the people are more
cheerful; they are working more hope
fully; their farms and crops are in bet
ter condition than for years past, and
generally life has taken the place of
stagnation. But the ultimate result
will be Of the greatest good to the State.
Hereafter, when men aspire to office,
they won't go to Columbia to make in-
terest for themselves by the employ
ment Of the wiles and arts of the ma
chine, but they will go to the people,
where the broad-guage principles of
the statesmen tell in the long run.
"Our young men will be taught to
cultivate these, and the people will be
elevated and educated. Look at
Georgia, Where the people themselves,
unaided by cliques and caucuses and
conventions, have always elected their
officials, governors, presidential cleo
tors, congressman and State officers
after thorough canvasses under the
leadership Of great men.
The ordinary farmer in that State, at
a cross roads store, can tell you more
about the political history of this coun-
try, and understands the theory of the
constitution, and the government un-
der it, better than half the lawyers in
South Carolina, and under the paralyz-
ing influence of our system over here,
hundreds of Crawfords and Beriens,
Toombs, Cobbs, Stephenses, Hershel
Y. Johnsons, and Ben Hills have been
born, lived and died without anybodv