The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-06-19

|
himself here, but q great many men are
/ such enthusiastic supporters Of his thai
| I almost believe that they would sup
port him and believe him if he Were
! to charge their fathers and brothers
or even themselves with perjury
whether he proved it or not. With
| such persons it IS no use to undertake
! TO reason or talk for they will not hear
you.
have endeavored to give fair re,
port of the meeting and while the
speeches are not reported in full, tic
reader who did not hear them l hope
will be able to form some idea what
they contained, and will be able to
form his own conclusions.
i. II. AULL.
TILLMAN'S REPLY TO B!'TLER.
In my speech at Anderson | niaGe
ailusions to the failure Of the agrcul-
tural department to punish frauds III
fertilizers, and | charged in substance,
or charge now
First. That the bureau has made no
honest effort to protect the farmers
against being swindled by buying
guanOs below the guarantee.
Second, That it has not enforced the
law or its own regulations.
Third, That although the law IS
known to he defective, and the punish
ment inadequate, no attempt has been
made by the board or commissioner to
have it amended, except that the mat
ter was mentioned in one of the de-
partment reports several years ago.
Commissioner Butler, in an open
letter addressed to me, and which has
been widely published in the State
papers, says: II challenge you to point
to one instance where farmers have
been defrauded by manufacturers of
fertilizers where such fraud was lot
punished with all the power that the
department had at its command, and
that you make good your charge. or
retract it," l will cheerfully comply.
have prepared the data and facts in
writing, so it can 60 in the papers in a
correct shape 1t is to be supposed,
though / have not experienced it thus
far, that sense Of fairness will make
every paper which copied Col. Buffers
letter publish my reply in full whether
it gives any other part OF my speech or
not.
AS to the first count: The commits
sioner in his letter acknowledges that
the penalty of confiScation imposed by
law against all fertilizers that are below
the guarantee cannot be enforced, for
the sufficient reason that when the
analyses are made the fertilizers are in
the ground, and out of reach, etc. The
distribution of fertilizers to points of
consumption commences generally i'll
December, and they are not all Sin the
ground" till May /, or later. During
the last ten years, at a rough estimate,
one and quarter million tons Of fer
tilizers have passed the quasi "inspec-
tionn of our agricultural department,
and the amount paid by farmers for
the farcical protection has been up
wards of $1,000 ---~-->-.
In the letter quoted above the COM
missioner says: II will say that in my
opinion, based upon official experience,
the manufacturer who deliberately at
tempts to defraud the farmers is the
exception, and further, / believe that
in every case where this has been at
tempted it has failed Ofsuccess, because
of the departments supervision"
Here is an acknowledgement that
''attempts to defraud" have been made.
There have been exceptions" to the
rule of honesty. Has he ever contis-
Gated single sack? No. Then GER
tainly 1.-The departments supervision"
has not caused the failure of every at
tempt to defraud.
"Up to eighteen months ago. Com
missioner Butler had ut his command
4 State chemist. employed by the year
ut Il salary of $1,000. Analyses of fer
tiiZers could begin rs soon as samples
were taken-say the middle ofJanuary.
In 1885 80 per cent. of the ammoniatcd
fertilizers analyZed were below the
guarantee, and 20 per cent. of the acid
phosphates were ditto. In 1856 twenty
per cent Of ammoniated and 8 per cent.
of acids were deficient, and this is
about the average Of the last three
years. Is it possible to suppose that
none Of these deficient brands of
fertilizers were ever alyZed, or could
not have been analyZed and this
lIdIu lOullu ouG III tiiiIS, So Liitl I'LL
efficient and Jealous officer could not
have found an opportunity to "seize
and sell" some of it before "all was
i'm the ground?" Nc reasonable man
i'm South Carolina believes it.
Suppose, as Col. Butler claims, that
he"average" manufacturers guaraE-
tees exceeded those guarantees $3GS per
ton, what satisfaction was it to farmer
who bought and paid for the deficient
brands to know that some one more
fortunate had got brand above the
guarantee, and was being benefited at
his expense? That he had paid for
what he had not received, and that
though the farmers paid S3G, 900 4
year for inspecting fertilizers, the
inspection was fraud, his guano
a fraud, and no punishment meted
out to the rogue except to print his
brand in italics in q report which not
one farmer in fifty ever saw or heard of.
Cnly 800 of these ''italizised' re-
ports Of analyses were printed in 1859,
ana | doubt if twenty men in Gre. H.
Vile other than dealers ever saw one.
BY the way, this system of punish
ing Il rogue ny printing HIS Oranu OF
guano in "ilalics" ought to be patented.
OF course it is we'll known that the
brand may be changed next season and
the italics rubbed out.
It is notorious that manufacturers
vii! fill sacks, branded in Il dozen differ
ent Ways, from the same pile, but
then the chemist can catch the thief
and "italicise" him again, and why
should we farmers complain! On, my
countrymen. 1t is this fatal laxity;
this conniving at crime; this dcthrone-
ment OF law; this obtuscnesS Of moral
consciousness this "poltiral lcp-
rosy" that permeatcs our entire govern
mental fabric, and is summed up in
one word, neglect Of duty, that is de-
stroying our very civilization itself
We punish guano frauds with "i!alics,"
we punish lynch law which is the re
suit OF this laxity with "italics,n we
punish murClerers who have money
with new trials and italics" and the
people are sick nigh unto death of such
government and are determined to
make change.
But I must return to my proofs. The
law governing the sale of fertilizers
e