The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-07-10
TIRED OF SANDER.
Chairman Hoyt Answers for the ENecu-
tive Committee as 60 the Call Tor
the August Convention.
Il1rrnnyille News.

statement has been made by Mt. u. IL.
Tillman, candidate for Governor OF
this State, that in response to his
speech at Ridgeway early in May, the
State Executive Committee had refused
to order a primary election. | was not
aware that he assumed the authority
of political dictator, but it would seem
that he has been discharging the duties
of this position, according to his own
confession. The State Executive Com
mittec has steadily pursueda Il consistent
and tenable course from the beginning
of this remarkable campaign, and this
course has been strictly within the lines
of its prescribed duties, rs they are
found in the written constitution Of the
Democratic party. That it has not
escaped censure from eithef faction Is
an observation which need not be pro-
ven. but it has turned neither to the
right nor the left in its purpose to
maintain the unity and integrity of'the
party. Mr.. Tillman has quoted fire.
uuently from an interview, in which l
said that the demands of the March
Convention were utterly yimpractlcable
and unattainablen in this campaign, so
far as reapportionmenta and the election
ofdelegates by primary were concerned.
He is endeavoring to make capital for
himself by assailing the position as
sumed by me on the 10Th day Of April,
and now claims that the August Con-
vention will reapportion the delegates
and order primary election. My state
ment was based upon the facts of the
case, and related solely to the duties
and powers of the State Executive
Committee under the present constitu-
ton. His prediction is yet to be verl-
fled, and it mayor may not be fulfilled.
NV declaration was made in good faith,
because there was general acqules-
cence in the proposition to delay the
nominating convention, in which Mr.
Tillman and his executive committee
fully concurred, as I have the written
evidence to show. Now, if the State
Executive Committee had ordered an
early State Convention, under the
circumstances existing at the time OF
the Ridgeway meeting, can any one
doubt that nominations would have
been made at that date, thus cutting
off all opportunity for u preliminary
campaign. 1t might have been wise to
avoid the heat and the rancor ofthis
preliminary campaign, but Mr.. Tillman
is mainly responsible for the tone and
the temper of the meetings, and not the
State Executive Committee, whose du-
ties were plain and Imperative.
It is fair to conclude, then, that the
demands for reapportionment and the
election Of delegates by a general prim-
ary were "utterly impracticable and un-
attainable,n unless a State Convention
was called into existence. Did the
State Executive Committee retrace its
steps when the August Convention was
called? Not at all, and it is in order to
show that Mr.. Tillman initiated the
movement which led to the prelimi-
nary convention. If there is any one
to blame for this state of things, be is
the author of the suggestion itself. At
the opening meeting in Grcenville and
other places, Mr.. Tillman urged his
opponents, General Bratton and Colo
mel Earle, to unite with him in asking
the State Executive Committee to
order State Convention for the pur-
pose of securing a general primary. On
the 18th day of June, nine days after
the preliminary campaign opened, |
received 4 message from Colonel Joseph
H. Earle, through the Hon. w. l..
Mauldin, to the effect that Messrs. Till
man, Bratton and Earle had agreed to
ask the Executive Committee to order
State Convention for the sole and eN-
elusive purpose of changing the consti-
tuition so as to provide for primary
election of delegates to the Nominating
Convention already called for the 10th
of September, and that the agreement
between them was that neither would
accept nomination for Governor If
the convention thus called would under
take to nominate q ticket. Within an
hour after message was received, the
call was issued for the State Executive
Committee to meet in Columbia on the
18th of June to consider this pro-
position. Colonel Earle came to Green
Vile the day after the call was issued,
and I said to him that it would be well
to put the agreement in writing, as the
basis of action for the Executive Com
mittee. He asked ME to draw up such
an agreement, and I declined to do so
on the ground the proposition was to be
submitted to the Executive Committee,
and as it's chairman I would insist that
the agreement be placed in our hands
without any dictation on our part. 1t
was their proposition to hold another
State Convention, and it was our duty
to consider it. Colonel Earle admitted
the propriety of this course, and the
next day at Union submitted written
agreement to Mr.. Tillman, which he
refused to sign, and gave as a reason
that "there was a trick IN it."
These are the facts relating to the
call for the August Convention. Ordi-
narily, it would be regarded as ungra-
cious and discourteOus to crltlclse any
one for doing that which you had re-
quested to be done, but the rare facility
with which Mr.. Tillman jumps from
one conclusion to the opposite side of
the question, as has been abundantly
demonstrated in the campaign, will
account for his assertions upon the
State Executive Committee since the
call was issued for the August Conven-
tioniHe and his followers are welcome
to the distinction enjoyed by unjust
and unfair accusations against the Com
mittee, but let me say that the action
taken by the Committee was unani-
nous, which includes Col. Eugene B.
Gary, OF Abbeville, the candidate for
Lieutenant Governor on the Tillman
ticket. and Judge N. J. Hough, Of
Lancaster, who is also understood to
favor Tillman for Governor. These
gentlemen were present when the reso-
luton was adopted which called the
August Convention, and they entered
no protest against the action OF the
Committee.
Now, in all fairness and candor, let
me urge that the serious questions in
volved in the result Of the August Con-
vention be considered with the careful
scrutiny which their Importance de-
mands. After the refusal to sign the
agreement at Union, it is doubtful
whether the Executive Committee
would have ordered preliminary Con-
vention, except that it was convinced
of the overwhelming necessity for mea-
sures which would make the nomina-
ton in September acceptable to all fac
tions of the party. The Committee were
unanimous on this point, and after full
discussions it was agreed to submit the
I 60.