The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-07-17
are or claim to be farmers. They must
make charges before they can start the


portion Of the reformers. To-day the
name Of Cromwell is hated, and agi-
tators in whatever cause, have COM
mon fate. The question is whether
the proposed reform is of a magnitude
to compensate for the evils of hatred
and the destructiveness of popular pas
sion. The seeds of bitterness have
been s0wn in South Carolina among
the white minority which is to control
the black masses.
No evidence has been brought to
show that there is anything rotton in
the State government. There does
cccm to be something in the complaint
about the method Of nominating State
officers. The club system is not calcu-
lated to give i perfect expression Of
popular opioion. It seems to be in
South Carolina what the courthouse
convention has been in Georgia. These
conventions have produced dissatisfac-
ton here, and it is natural that the
club system should do the same there.
The further fact that there have been
DO public discussions by gubernatorial
candidates, has added to the dissatis-
faction. When the people see a man
face to face and vote for him indivldu-
ally, they feel that they have had a
voice in the selection. In Georgia,
primaries have become almost the
only way Of choosing officers and South
Carolina will be better off under the
same system.
General Haskell makes good point
about the farmers majority in the
legislature. But as in speech, the man
ner is often as important as the matter;
in elections the method may justly
cause indignation when there is moth
ing very bad in the result.
When they come to order 4 primary
to nominate Governor, these South
Carolinians will have q chance 70 i'm
prove on the Georgia method. The
Georgia primary, by counties, does not
perfectly voice the will of the people.
Where each county sends so many
Representatives, whether the majority
is large Or small, it may happen that q
man will have majority of the popu-
lar vote, and yet fail to get majority
Of the votes in the convention.
The same thing happened in the
electoral college Of the United States
when Tilden got more votes than
Hayes, Hancock more than Garfield
and Cleveland more than Harrison
giving the paradoxical result Of a ma
iority in the minority. There is reason
for this in the Federal government,
but none in State.
The only way to get 4 perfect express
sion of the popular vote Of the Demo
cratic party in South Carolina is to
lave primaries and consolidate the re-
turns for the whole State, showing the
actual majority of the votes cast of the
people. This is the only safe plan
where class is arrayed against class.
The fact that the minority class may
turn the scale by making a slight in
road among the privates in the ranks
Of the majority will make the majority
class cautious and conservative when
it has captured the machinery of gov
ernment.
The gentlemen who are conducting
the fight against Mr.. Tillnan are used
to politics and are among the most in
telligent in South Carolina, but their
plan of campaign looks strange to a
Georgian. Utterly without organiza-
ton, they make it point against the
Tillman faction that they are organized
and have an executive committee. Re
lying upon the State Democratic Ex-
ecutive committee, the Anti-Tillman
people have no organization Of their
own, except in Richland County. The
Tillman people on the contrary are
comparatively organized in every
county. This alone would be enough
to defeat most any man in Georgia.
When you add to it the result of fiTe
years of agitation, the result seems in
evitable defeat. If the Anti-Tillman
people had organized several months
ago, and had met every charge and
every argument in every county, AID
had then put on the stump their
strongest men, they might have sue
ceeded. 1t is barely possible that they
might do so now, if immediate organ
ization were effected in every county,
but I do not think they can do much
at organization. The local politicians
are terrified, and the farmers are draw
ing the Tillman lines closely around
legislative candidates. Thereis hardly
any material left for local organization.
The people in mass will not listen to
an Anti-Tillman speaker. The thing
has gone so far that it will take
house to house canvass to reach them,
and it is doubtful now whether even
that will stem the tide. 4 leading
gentleman said to me in AIKEN: ''The
men who have led the people in the
war, in 1876, and in politics ever since
are powerless. They have no influence
ut all with the farmers. l have two or
three uncles who usually vote with me,
but they won't listen to me now"
1t is said that another wave has set
in behind the flood in the upper coun-
ties, but I could not find out where
it was. Conservative farmers regret