Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-11
SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICS.
The Rise and Progress of the TiIlman
Mo<emenf.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
COLUMBIA, s. c., Aug. 9, 1892.
1t is not easy for outsiders to understand
political conditions in South Carolina. They
are so much involved; have been subject to
30 many different interpretations, according to
the bias or the policy of the newspapers and
public men discussing them, that even among
the best-informed people much doubt exists as
to the facts.
The third party movement, especially, is so
intimately related to local and state politics that
it is impossible to form q clear opinion regard
ing 1t without some preliminary study of state
history for the lastseven years. shall endeavor
to summarize as briefly and intelligibly as pos
sible the events leading to the present crisis in
state and national politics.
In 1885 the political peace Of South Carolina
was profound. The democrats had been in
complete control of the state and county gov
ernments for eight years, easily overcoming the
one attempt made by greenbackers, assisted by
republicans. to elect a state ticket. The repub-
icans had not offered state ticket since is7e.
and had made no fight in most OF the counties
Some of them had voted for Congressman and
presidential electors, but more to keep up their
organization than with any hope of success the
election and registration laws Of the state max
ing hopeless any contest except in the seventh
congressional Tor black district
The democratic leaders who had made the
great winning fight of 1876 were still in control.
Most Of them had been prominent before and
during the war. and good military record was
still an accepted password to office. system
Of official promotion upon the basis of previous
| service was in vogue by general consent. The
man who had been good soldier in the confed-
crate army had an excellent chance of being
elected to the legislature or to a minor state
office, and an acceptable record there gave him
n Of hair oil oto,l
place on the state ticket, on the benci. or in
Congress. To this system-a system MY be-
cause of general consent-there was 80 opposi-
ton by any reputable citizen. 1t was an EZRA
of good feeling" The state was prospering.
its affairs were well managed and it was de-
voting much more attention to Industrial deyel-
opment than to politics.
In 1888, however, a new and strange figure
appeared on the political stage. 1t was that of
Capt. Benjamin Ryan Tillman. younger
brother OF the Congressman Of that name so
well known in Washington to this day as a vet
eran South Carolina legislator. Capt. Tillman
sprang, as he claimed from the ranks OF the
common people" He was an unsuccessful
farmer and had never held office. He was un
known outside Of his county (Edgefeld). and
| there was only distinguished because of his par
ticipation in the race riots at Hamberg and
Ellenton in 1876. Since that time he had been
chosen captain Of his militia cavalry company,
but he had never made a speech or been prom
| inent in politics. He was ambitious, however,
and hard student.
Capt. Tillman burst forth suddenly At an
agricultural meeting in Marlboro county in
1885 he astonshed people by making a vigorous
attack upon the State Agricultural and Mechan-
ical Society, purely industrial organization,
which had in charge the annual state fairs.
This he accused of being political machine
He also advocated an agricultural college in lien
of the agricultural department of the South
| HWY ifu at Tnlrr ,I,ia
was printed in the Charleston Ne,rs and
Courier, then the most inf1uential-indeed the
only widely influential in the state.
Being soon engaged in controversies with
officers of the society he had attacked Capt
Tillman made free use of the columns Of the
Ne,cs and Courier to sustain his positions and
to make new charges against the management
of state affairs He argued that our politics
sSere stagnant, TINT "a green scum covered the
heads of the farmers" who were oppressed,
overtaXed and ignored in the distribution of
offices and honors. although in q numerical ms
jority. He insisted that a separate agricul-
tural college was necessary to educate the
farmer industrially and politically. and fit hun
for his inheritance, the control of the state.
1t was said in reply that the farmers had
been fully recognized in the distribution of i'm
portant Offices and that the legislature had al
ways had a large agricultural majority. Capt
Tillrnan's rejoinder was that men had been
elected who. when they came to Columbia, had
been :bamboozled or debauched." and that
''incipient rottenncss" prevailed in the state
government
The newspaper controversy ragged for long
time. The calm had been too great and agita-
ton was looked to by many as beneficial. Capt.
Iillman multiplied his charges as time went on
and accused the state administration of extrav-
gance. of being tanned" by corporations, &c
A number of farmers believed him and two
state farmers conventions were held. which
10 dc for
certain reforms
In the summer of 1886 Gov Thompson was
appointed assistant secretary of the treasury
by President Cleveland and Lieut. Gov John
&. Sheppard Of Edgefield succeeded to his Office
His administration very brief but credit
able, and he was candidate for nomination be-
fore the democratic convention held that fall.
State Treasurer John Peter Richardson was also
a candidate. Capt. Tillman and the Charleston
Ne,-s and Courier formed an alliance to nomi-
nate Sheppard, but q knowledge of that fact
becoming general the anti-Tillman majority
concentrated upon Richardson and he was
nominated. Capt. Tilman went home and re-
newed his letters to the newspapers, becoming
more and more bitter in his charges.
Two years passed and Gov. Richardson was q
candidate for denomination. He had no open
competitor. Capt. Tillman, however, went
with him to the campaign meetings before the
convention, and following him on the rostrum,
made bitter attacks upon his admnistrat hon.
He made several unsuccessful efforts to bring
out candidate against Richardson. but failed,
up to the very eve Of the convention, when
Attorney General Joseph H. Earles was fixed
upon by the Tillman faction. Gov. Richard
son was nominated on the first ballot Capt
Tllman went home and announced his retire.
ment from politics.
The next year the unexpected happened
Mr.. Thomas G. Clemson, the son-in-law of
John c. Calhoun, and the inheritor Of his
famous plantation, Fort Hill. died and left the
plantation as a site for an agricultural college
with an endowment of about $4,000 a year.
Capt Tiiiman named as one of the trustees
of the college, which, according to Mr.. Glenn
sons will, was to be a state institution, al
though he named for it majority Of its
trustees.
Once more Capt. Tillman emerged from his
retirement and renewed his agitation for the
agricultural college for ''retrenchment and re-
form, for ''the control Of the farmer" In
the summer Of 1889 he held secret conference
with certain leaders Of the Farmers Alliance,
then rapidly extending its membership in the
state. made plans for the election of q farmer
governor i'll 1880 and had a general working
agreement with alliance managers At the ses-
sion Of 1889 the Clemson bequest WAS accepted
by the state, and preliminaries were arranged
for the building Of an agricultural college.
Thence forward the alliance labored, under
the surface Of politics. to carry out the political
purposes Of its leaders. The train was set
Only the touch of the spark was required to
cause an explosion which would shake the state.