The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-07-27

Calling names Will cOuNluCo ~ oAo'
Ifwhat say shall reflect severely upon
am determined that it shall be the force
of the facts of the case, and not simply the
words of the speaker.
To begin with, Governor Tulman and
his friends have sought to array one class
of our citizens against another class, ana
has thereby produced division and dis
trust In this State which has been most
injurious. It has arrsyed brother against
brother, neighbor against neighbor ana
friend against friend in this little State
which Is small enough to make our in.
terests one.
Our people ought to know each other in
South Carolina from the mountains to the
sea 80 well by character and reputation
that we would appreciate and sympathize
with the motives and purposes Of all our
people, and not be hostile to one anoth-
or.
Our interests are the same throughout
the State, and the classes Of our citizens
in South Carolina are so dependent one
on the other that 1t is a great wrong FOR
any man to seek to produce discord ana
distrust where there was harmony. and
unity before, and yet Governor Til!man
has done this under the plea that he1s She
laboripg mans friend.
I propose to speak to you plainly and
candidly to-day, and at the risk OF aston
ishing YOU by the proposition. I Iarraign
This administration as the most hostile, In
the measures proposed and advocated, to
the laboring man of any administration
this State has ever had, not excepting the
darkest Republican administration Of our
State.
want you to understand me clearly. 1
do not believe that this administration has
stolen money from the people, but say
its attitude toward the laboring man In
South Carolina is more hostile than that
Of Moses or Scott.
They robbed the State, but in order to
do it they taxed property and stole only
from the property holders.
In adopting the present Constitution
which has heen so much abused and OBJ
jeeted to they fixed the burden which the
1aboring man must bear In taxation at one
dollar per head and never sought to raise
il. They taxed property to run the pub
lie schools, retained the lien law and en-
acted the homestead law, but 1t Is reserV-
ed for this Administration fifteen years
after this party Of corruption and oppres-
sion were driven from power, to come
forward, and as the prOfessed friend OF
the laboring man, and as the aVowed
champion Of the wool hat crowd, to pro.
pose to change the provision of the Con-
stitution relating to the poll tax and raise
this tax from one 10 three dollars per
capita or to place three times the burden
Of taxation upon the poor mans head
which the Republicans themselves put
on it.
The plea for this is that it will make
the negro pay his share Of the school tax
and run the schools longer.
In order to oppress the negro they pro-
pose to oppress the poor white man, too,
nd if they could run the schools longer
there are hundreds and thousands OF poor
white men who would have to pay this
tax that could not send their children, for
in making an honest living for themselves
and their families they are compelled to
take their cuildren In the busy times Of
the crop to th fields, and only the men
who do not have to put their children in
the field could get the benefit Of these
schools run by the tax on the poor mans
head.
This basis of taxation is wrong.
People ought to be taxed to support the
government according to their ability to
pay, by an equal tax in proportion to the
property they own.
Any scheme of taxation which seeks to
tax the poor man heavily is unjust, and
cannot see how one processing to be
the poor mans friend could be willing to
permit such tax upon him, much leHs to
advocate it, as Governor Tillman' does. !.
Again, Governor Tillman has expressed
himself as favoriag the repeal OF the lien
law.
There may haye been time in the his
tory of our State when crops ere abun-
dant and prices good that by giving time
~ notice It might have done to repeal this
law, but in the last two years when crops
were short and prices were going down,
down until the staple crop Of our country
reached apoint below what many persons
believe to be the actual cost Of production /;
when the landlords haye been scarcely
able to make ends meet, and when tenants
have been barely able to support them
selves and their families, often enduring
many privations, there has certainly been
no time when it would have done to re-
peal the lien law.
Why, my friends, don't every man in
the sound Of my voice know that II the
lien law had been repealed last year, or
the year before, as Governor Tillman ad-
vocated, it would have compelled hum
dreds and thousands Of respectable, hon.
est, hardworking white men to have hir-
ed themselves and their wives and little
children as servants to men who had
money enough to run without the lien
law.
He says the lien law has been abused,
and no doubt it has been, but no man is
compelled to give lien unless he finds 1t
to his advantage to do so.
It is privilege the poor man has which
enables him to live and support his wife
and children by honest work as free
man and as his own boss.
i for one would never be willing to SEQ
this largo class of our fellow.citi-
zens deprived Of the opportunity to live
as they find most conducive to their hap
piness and prosperity.
AS one of the young men Of this State,
who saw much of the campaign of 1876,
remember with unmixed gratitude the
splendid services of this tenant class Of
oar citizens in the effort to redeem South
Carolina. They rode with us on many 8
night and many aultry day. They re-
sponded in rain or hottest sunshine and
shared to the fullest every peril Of that
magnificent contest, and I for one, as long
as I remember their gallant and ever
ready service, cannot consent to see their
only means Of credit taken from them at
a time when their crops are scarcely suf-
ficient to support them, and thousands OF
them would have to break up homes,
which are happy, even admit their toll
and forced economy, to become the hire
lings and servants of their more fortunate
neighbors.
Governor Tillman certainly is not their
friend when he would take away from
them their only means OF credit and re-.
duce them to the position Of serfs.
But this is not all. In this country the
sovereign power of our government re-
sides in the people and this sovereignty
has no way of asserting itself except by
the ballot.
It is by the ballot that we select our
lawmakers to oonstrue and enforce the
laws. We can only enact new laws or re-
peal bad or Injurious ones through the
exercise of the ballot.
It is by the right to vote that we can
assert our wishes as to the government
which controls our lives, our liberties and
our property. 1t is the highest right of
the citizen.
It is this right which enables and digni-
fies every true American, and yet Cover
nor Tillman, who claims that he is the
wool hats friend has declared that he
wants Constitutional Convention,
among other things to pass an education.
al or property qualification for sotterage
in this State, and pursuant to thisidea the
Senate, which is twO-third5 Tillman, pass.
ed q resolution calling Convention and
voted down resolution offered by an an
ti-Tillman Senator to require the work OF