The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-07-02
THE FARMERS MOVEMENT.

SotiLSS .uOSL lO'ilihtut -ncu- " nciC
the People Have Cause of Complaint,
and How it Is to be Righted-Tllln,an's
Mistakes and Shortcomings.
Charleston World.
Col Robert Aldrich, OF Barnwell, was in
the city yesterday, and was met at the
Charleston hotel by Il World reporter, who
addressed to him several questions on the
political situation in Barnwell and the State
generally.
"Four-ffths of oar people, said Col. Aid
rich, "are for Til!nan.
'Is there likely to be any change in this
condition between now and the election"
Yes
What"
The other fifth will be for him by then. :"
80 what do You attribute the strong sup
port the Tillman movement is receiving
throughout the State?"
There is tide in the affairs of Aen
which, taken at the food, leads on to for
tune There has been wave of popular
discomfort with our party methods gather
| ing in the State for years. Capt: Tllman
has done great deal to work it mp, and at
the opportune moment he leaped upon its
crest, and it is bearing HIM into the guber-
material Office"
Then you do not think it is dissatisfac-
ton 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 me1-I may
say our best men--and there is no ground
for discomfort Oh that score; but our meth
DDS haye been faulty, and it is against these
that dissatisfaction has been growing for
years, and Nllman offering the occasion,
the people are responding with earnestness
and enthusiasm 10 secure change. After
all that may be said, the underlying prlnci-
pie which controls the actions ofour people
is n love Of liberty, and they are not going
to submit to the despotism Of party any
more than they will to the despotiSm of q
government, any longer than they can help
it. For years past our elections have been
decided in Columbia. I donot mean by the
State tfhcers alone, or by any ring there is
no ring that know of-but by public men
from all parts of the State, who meet there
periodically, and who shake up and give
direction 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 candidates in which they
have had little or no voice in the selecting,
forced upon them with the alternative, Take
these or 60 to the Radicals" Now, Tillmau
saw this condition, and discerned the appro-
pirate relief for it. He has inaugurated q
policy by which the people will in fact, as
well as in theory, choose their own servants
He offers to the people self-government,
pure and simple and they seized the oppor-
tunity with avidity, and hailed him as a
liberator
ideas, not men nor measures, govern
this world, and it is this idea of their rights
and privileges being brought within their
own grasp that is controlling the people Of
the State, and there is no power on earth
that can shake them loose from it.
What will be the result Of it all? 2"
The immediate result will be the election
of Capt Hllman That is matter of small
import. Men like him, while bold and ag-
gressiye in the fight for power, are proverb
tally conservative once they have gained it.
He will administer the duties OF the Office
as they are prescribed by law; no more, 10
less
'There has been one marked good effect
already; the people are more cheerful; they
are working more hopefully; their farms
and crops are in better condition than for
years past, and generally life has taken the
place of stagnation. But the ultimate re-
| suit will be Of the greatest good to the State.
| Hereafter. when men aspire to Office, they
won't 90 to Columbia to make interest for
| themselves by the employment Of the wiles
and arts of the machine politicians, but
they will 60 to the people, where the broad
gauge principles of the statesman tell in
the long run. Our young men will be
taught to cultivate these, and the people
| themselves will be elevated and educated.
Look at Georgia, where the people them
selves, unaided by cliques and caucuses and
conventions, have always elected their offic-
ials, governors, presidential electors, con-
gressmen, and state officers after thorough
canvasses under the leadership Of great
men. The ordinary farmer in that State, at
cross roads store, can tell You more about
the political history of this country, and
understands the theory of the constitution,
and the government under it, better than
half the lawyers in South Carolina, and un-
der the paralyZing influence OF our system
over here, hundreds Of Crawfords and Beri-
ems, Toombses, Cobbs, Stephenses, Herschel
Y. JohnSonS, and Ben Hills have been born,
lived, and died without anybody knowing
it, and without knowing it themselves.
''You think, then, that hereafter all candi-
dates viii have to get down to personal
electioneering for the Offices they aspire to Z!
Il do not think it much OF descent to
Get on the plane of the sovereign people.
Some men elevate themselves upon an I'M
aginary pedestal and pretend to look down
upon the great body of their fellowmen. But
they have always appeared very silly to SEN
sible people. If you mean that hereafter
candidates will have to go out among the
people and address public meetings, and
visit the people in their homes and present
their views, and hear the views and opin-
ions of the people on public questions,
(Which many of our so-called public men
could do with much profit to themselves,
in order to secure public favor, that is ex-
actly what mean, and the man who ques-
tons the integrity of the people, Or doubts
that the people will do right when left a fair
and unfettered opportunity to do so, is unfit
to represent free people, for he has no
confidence in free institutions. That the
people will do right is the keystone upon
which the whole fabric of free government
rests"
what of Capt Tillman's charges against
the State government and its oficlals?"
Capt. Nllman is an unframed man, and
of course he has made and will make mis-
takes. The most adept politicians and
practiced statesmen make them. What
wonder, then, that a man fresh from the
farm should do likewise. But have no.
ticed that whenever he IS convinced of his
errors. he has the manlinesS to acknowledge
them and make suitable reparation. He has
made some very reckless charges: for in
stance, the one against Judge klar was