The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-01-14
HEAR THE OTHER SIDE.
PRESIDENT STOKES ANSWERS THE
ATTACK OF COL. KEITT.

A giId Rebuke to the Severe Diatribe--
! The Charge Of Having Sold the Alliance
for Gubernatorial Shadow Positively
Denied and MercIlessly RidIculed.
To the Editor of the News and Cou.
rier: l have just read in your issue Of
January 3 the ill-timed, not to say i'll
tempered article of Col. Ellison S. keitt
anent the Senatorial contest in which
he vas interested as a candidate, "not
in common acceptance of that word.
as he himself puts it.
Your comments thereon are eminent
ly pertinent, entirely fair, size up the
situation fairly well, and doubtless
give utterance to the undercurrent OF
conviction running through the minds
of all thinking men at all acquainted
with the facts in the case. at thesam
time, as you intimate, some expression
is proper and expected from me
though, as you justly remark, no good
can possibly result to the Order or tC
the public service by this public parade
of a purely family affair.
I feel sure, therefore, that you will
not refuse to reply the facilities OF
your widely-read journal that have al
ready been accorded the untimely at
tack.
AS whole the article in question is
unique. Analysis shows it to contain
a modicum Of augmentation, coHsid-
erably more of defamation and innuen-
does. and a column of d7siasus. With
its argument l shall deal principally;
with its oniwss only incidentally, Sec
ondarily. Its defamation I have
neither time nor patience to discuss.
It is strangely familiar. an oft repeat
ed story.
Divested of it's defamation and in
nuendo, Col. Keitt's propositions are
four, and to the discussion Of these
propositions I shall strive to bring ab-
solute fairness, but at the same time
entire frankneSs and rigid logic. II
the application of these tests to asper-
sions upon the characters of his breth-
ren-aspersions as unworthy as unwar-
ranted-resultS in apparent harshness
on my part, such harshness must be at
tributed to the ineXorable conditions
of the case as made up by him, and cot
to any unfraternal feeling on my part.
The constitution of our Order forbids,
as understand it. my indulging before
the public through the press in animad-
versions upon member of the Order.
Provision is made within the Order it.
self for the adjudication of all differ
ences between members. | shall en-
deavor, therefore, to contine myself to
his propositions:
| 5. Col. keitt holds that an Alliance
man, who is a member of Congress,
commits perjury "if he is in any degree
influenced by party caucus" In justi-
fcation of his charge he quotes an
agreement signed by committees of the
National Alliance and Of the Knights
of Labor, which agreement, he init.
mates, every Alliance is sworn to obey.
In view of his ne pins ultra manner Oh
this point one can scarcely help Won
deriDg whether Col. Keitt has ever
read the express reservation precedent
to the pledge taken by every applicant
for initiation and upon which the
pledge is conditioned. There are not
few men in the Order as true, as honest
and {ifit be not treason to say it, as in
telligent and statesmanlike as Col.
keitt, who think that the agreement
quoted by him, in so far as it relates to
party caucus, conflicts with the free
dom of their political views" This
question has never been adjudicated,
and in cases of conflict of opinion, eS-
pecially among brethren and equals, a
commendable modesty would suggest
the suppression of intemperatec charges.
2. His second proposition, as well as
the third, is a corollary of the first. and
stand OF falls with it. The imputation
Of perjury to Senator Irby, therefore,
is not justified in the premises. Sena-
tor Irby, whose record as an Alliance
man, it seems to me, will suffer no dis
paragement by comparison even with
Col. Kiett't, proposes to work for the
Alliance demands through the Demo
cratic party. Col. keitt'S political con-
science is not offended by the party
caucus clause; Irby's is-that is the
whole of it. In our judgment the
shameful insinuations and offensive
epithets aimed by indirection against
his brother Alliance man by Col. Keitt
are wholly unworthy and inexcusable
upon any conceivable principle either
of public utility or of Alliance polity.
But Senator Irby is abundantly able
to take care of himself, even if it were
probable that the general public, to
whom Col. keitt has appealed this case
of distinctly Alliance jurisdiction,
would not make just discrimination
between the merits and the spirit Of the
two men.
3. His third proposition follows by
implication from the second and falls
to the ground with it, but the Colonel
must not evade the logic which be has
invoked. II Senator Irby is guilty of
perjury, as charged by Col. keitt un-
der the terms of the agreement quoted,
then is every Alliance member of the
General Assembly involved in the same
condemnation, Col. keitt being judge,
jury and prosecuting attorney in the
case-eXcept those who voted for Col.
Keitt. Now, since not even his sup
porters voted for him on the last sever
al ballots, all are perjurers by reason Of
This conclusion is unavoidable. because
the agreement quoted reads: "We will
support for office only such men as can
be depended upon to enact these prin-
cipleS into statute law uninhuenced by
party caucns." This, Col. keitt says,
every member Of the Alliance is sNorE
to obey. Very well-Col. keitt was the
only candidate member of the Alliance
who considered that freedom from par
tv caucus influence was not in conflict
with his political views" But on the
last few ballots all the Alliance mem
bers of the General Assembly failed to
vote for COL Keitt, and under his con-
struction they al! stand perjured by
reason of that failure. This is grave
charge preferred against venerable