Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-22

Y
record a stirrer-up of strife among demo-
Gratis, to his failure to discover officer the
abuses he charged a candidate against the
state government, to the fact that under his
administration capital summed the state be-
cause of determinations against il. TO the loss
OF revenue caused by locking up the Coosaw
phosphate territory during his long fight with
tine Coosav Mining Company, to his criticism
upon the Judiciary OF the state for not render
ing decisions in favor of his administration in
certain cases. to the fact that he had constantly
sought increased powers and the deduction
that he was striving to centrahze the govern
ment and make himself dictator, to the incon-
sistency OK his actions as reformer and officer.
But tho leading argument was that peace and
unity among the white people and the prosper
its of the state could not be secured during
his supre macy. and that the only way in which
al classes and professions could be brought
into harmony was TO elect a ticket pledged to
the conservative policy Of justice to all and toll
Grafton to all, and TO the upbuilding Of the in
dustrial interests Of the state.
GOV. TILLMANs POLICY.
Gov. Tiilmsns policy from the beginning was
TO pass over the failures of his administration
as far possible. but when pressed to put the
blame upon the legislature, which had refused
10 carry ont his and their pledges Of reform.
he insisted that he could donOthing unless given
a legislature in sympathy with his aims He
denounced the 'driftwood" in the general
sembly which hsd foated on his high tide, but
refused to give names, on the ground that be had
already made enemies enough. He accused the
conservatives of being Haskeilites, republicans
IL principle and the agents of banks, factions
and railroads. and maintained that they desired
to re-establish the ''oligarchy" which he had
broken and TO make the people their beasts Of
burden He held up before the poor man the
danger Of the enoroechments Of corporate
power, and maintained that his mission was to
save them from enslavement. He raked over
the records of his opponents. charging Shep-
pard with extortion in his bank and Orr with
overworking his factory hands. South Caro-
lima has never known such campaign. A mere
summary of the points of attack upon Gov.
IillInsn would fill columns of The STAR, and
booi; of uncompimentary biographies might be
made out of retorts upon the personal char
acter Of his opponents.
At the early meetings the governor was in
rather pleasant mood at the evident main
tenance Of his strength with the people and the
moderation of the criticisms of his opponents.
BIT when Col. louInans appeared on the scene
with his scrap book and began drawing deadly
parallels between his anti-official utterances
and official acts, and Was cheered and whooped
up by the conservatives the executive temper
became soured, and on sundry occasions
he ripped out good mouth-flling oaths,"
which. together with some very salacious nnec-
dotes which he related to point his attacks,
1t vas maintained that his profanity and vul-
garity kept ladies from attending the cam
paign meetings. and IL Ii q fact that nearly all
the preachers in the state and large majority
Of the democratic women are against him.
The preachers here do not preach politics
freely a. IN the north. but they use their indi-
vldual influence against him, and the women.
who have never been clamOrous for political
rights. wish they could vote and SO wishing
Overwhelm the conservative candidates with
howery tokens of their sympathy.
THE CONSERVATIVES LOOKING UP.
The conservatives were disheartened by the
first meetings. Many farmers who had during
the winter expressed themselves strongly
against Tillman on account Of the Legislative
hasco and other more personal failures were
brought into line again by the new arguments
and by the open opposition Of the conservatives,
which they attributed to hostility to the ALI
ance and the farmers movement" which Till
man had led. Thousands Of them who had been
disappointed in Tillman still regarded him
their champion, the man who. whatever his
faults. had been instrumental in giving all the
political power Of the state to the agricultural
class. For the sake of ''the movement" there
fore. they adhered to Tillman its only capa-
bic leader. The conservatives had made large
and permanent gains. but they vet lacked many
Thousands of agricultural votes necessary to
their success. About 20 per cent Of the white
a difficult problem indeed to devise a plan for
coaxing twenty odd thousand Of them out of q
strictly agricultural party to ally themselves
with the lawyers and business men they had
been taught by the alliance to consider their
natural foes.
The. Chicago democratic convention gave the
conservatives their first access of confidence.
Gov. Tillman and the alliance had induced the
May state convention to denounce Mr. Cieve-
land and pass resolutions indOrsing the Ocala
platform, which is really the peoples party
platform. The South Carolina delegates went
to Chicago with the idea that If they told the
convention that Cleveland could not carry
South Carolina they could prevent his nominal
ton But one or two conservatives got to Chi
cago ahead of them and told the Cleveland
leaders that this was all fudge, that South Car
DINA would support the nominee, no matter
who he might be, and that the Cleveland senti-
meIt in the state was far stronger than ap-
peared on the surface. This argument was pal
atable 20 Mr.. Cleveland's friends. and when the
1illman and alliance leaders got to Chicago
they were quietly ignored by the Cleveland
men. Workers went to all the other antl-Cleve-
land delegations from the southern states. but
they were prohibited from seeking proselytes
among the men who had publicly denounced
Mr.. Cleveland Us tool of Wall street" and a
man who was not a democrat Gov. Tillman
and Senator lrby went about the Palmer House
fairly ravening against Cleveland. They
tnht represented nlQe-tentne the
democracy of South Carolina and that those
democrats would not support 1.-THE Wall street
candidate" They not only said this before the
nomination, but after it, and they came home
very much depressed.
ORGANIZING CLEVELAND CLUBS
Meantime the conservatives, who had nearly
all been Cleveland men, became unanimously
such On the day Of his nomination they held
ratification meetings all over the state. passed
resolutions denouncing the ''imputation'' cast
upon the state democracy by the delegates
in asserting that the democrats of South Caro-
lima would be disloyal, and pledged themselves
TO his support against any third party move
ment, such as had been implied by the words
of the Tillman leaders. Chairman Dibble
promptly issued an address to the democracy of
the country celebrating the same views, and set
about organizing Cleveland and Stevenson,
sheppard and Orr clubs" in a number Of
counties. All this shrewd politics, and it had
immediate effect. There was q noticeable change
in public sentiment. Many alliance men professed
themselves converted from Tllmanisnl. which
thew now deemed third partyism in disguise
So noticeable was this change when the dele
gates returned from Chicago that Gov. Tlman
and Senator Irby felt compelled to take steps to
quiet the storm they had raised. They had q
double reason for so doing. Not only was the
idea that they might lead q bolt to the third
party alternating those Tillmanites who preferred
a i