The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-07-11
STATE EXPENDITURES.
STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE COST
OF THE GOVERNMENT.

OF lHG SOVeHNMeNl
John G. Haskelrs Speech ia Columbia-Thc
Farmers Actual Proportion of the Oaices
and Legislative Power. Population and
Taxable Values.
Ladies and my fellow citizens: I
cone before you to-day asking no
Office at your hands. L am here in
answer to call made against our
mother State, to tell you the upon
the matters under discussion in this
momentous canvass.
1 came here to-day though my bust
ness called me away, to meet face to
face this man who claims to be the
Moses of the farmers; to question
him as to the truth o. the charges he
has made against this State and her
people: to prove to him to his face
that his charges are false, and now 1
find that he has gone. daughter
and applause.) L gave him notice,
for L called on him to stay here to
answer and to make good his charges
against the people of this State, or
here, in the face of South Carolinas,
to acknowledge that he had spoken
falsely. But he answered that he
would not stay, and in fact he has
gone. (Derisive cheers.)
There can be no denial about the
fact tnat he has arrayed class against
class,and men who have stood side by
side in the war, and who lived under
and redeemed themselves from the
worst government the world ever
saw, up to the redemption of 1876.
His claim to the governorship is
based solely upon the grave char.
ges agaidst men who have striven to
support us and our State since that
redemption. He has arralgned the
I.neislaturo and Indicted it for e4-
travagance and corruption and for
the suppression of the rights of the
people.
propose to give him and you
some figures to sustain my position
and as a complete answer to his
charges against our people and gov.
ernment. They may be tedious but
they are necessary. From 1876 until
the present day there has been no
Legislative Assembly which had less
than IL majority of farmers over all
other classes of representatives from
the State. The largest majority of
farmers was % in 1878 and the small
est was II in 1884. Now, I challenge
any man in his senses to answer me
how could the farmers have been
wronged OF ruled by rings when they
had clear majority in every Assem-
bly, since 1876?
Now, as to the oppression by law
e6 but a single one was a LAWYER
There were Hampton, Hagood, Jeter
Richardson and Thompson, and mo-
one OF them lawyer. Of the State
offices majority of them were filled
outside OF the profession of the law
there being no lawyers except in the
Attorney Generals office Now then,
what does the charge amount to if it
does not amount to this-that the
Legislature being in the hands of the
farmers since 1876, that they have
been false to their trust, and that the
white people, the white farmers, have
proven themselves unfit for self
government? Great applause and
cheering.) That is the charge, my
friends, that he has made against the
good name and fair fame of this State,
and that is the charge that you
must rebuke by your verdict at the
polls. tremendous applause and
cheering.)
There has been n very common
clamor that the farmers have never
had fair share of the representation,
and although he is not here it has
been repeated by men upon his ticket,
but, by the way, let us first look at
the ticket and see how it represents
the farmers. Who are they? There
is the candidate for Attorney Gen
eral, Y. j. Pope. He is lawyer.
There is the candidate for Lieuten-
ant Governor, Mr.. Gary, and he is a
lawyer, and there is the candidate
for Superintendent of Education, Mr..
Mayfeld, and he is lawyer, and
believe the rest of the ticket has not
yet been filed out, and there is Mr..
j. E. Tindall, who is farmer and
whom 1 believe to be a good soldier,
for we stood together for three years,
and 1 know him to be a brave and
true man.
Let me call your attention now to
the other claims made by this refor-
mer. If we look at the tenth census
we will find, on page 1855, that there
are in this State farmers and planters
$4,000; members of other professions
10000, or in other words four-sev-
enths of the white voting population
are farmers and the three-sevenths
hollow" :" "+""" professions. The
pay S319,000 of
igures cannot be