The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-08-08

mend IL to our careful consideration
and a fair trial.
Prohibition, as heretofore tried,
seems to have proven q failure, and IL
this be so, 1 must confess that I have
but little confidence In any final and
satisfactory solution of the LIQUOR aues-
ton, further than that arrived at by
European experience. Every attempt
at prohibition, and every tax put upon
liquor, 1s but q premium offered for
Its Illicit manufacture and sale, and
for Its adulteration, and I see no final
settlement outside of the production
OF native wines, and the encourage
ment of the free sale like any other
commodity In the market. Legislate
against drunkenness and bad liquor in
stead of the legitimate business of
wine making, and we may be nearer
the mark.
Governor Tillman has occupied such
an important position In the Reform
movement and In the public eye, as
connected with the various matters to
which this article alludes, that it
would hardly seem right to close it
without giving him a place in the pic
ture. l am not q hero-worshipper, and
am we'll aware that he Is not as mean
as he appears to his enemies, nor per-
haps as great as he appears to many of
his followers. The reform movement
was the result of years of political
thought and experience of many
parties, and came in Gods W good
time, but was not created by any single
man. The Governors career has been
phenomenal, and he has been its ablest
advocate and leader. He has shown
extraordinary power and ability, and
has risen above the charge of being o
mere agitator or demagegue. He
caught the tide at its flood, and now
having %triumphed as q leader of a sue
cessful faction, the true test of his
strength has just begun. Whether he
Is to be classed as u great politician
merely, who has had his day and time,
Is yet to be decided. He seems at
times impressed with the false idea
that he is nothing If not aggressive,
and he has unfortunately allowed him
self to appear before the public as self
willed, arbitrary and even vindictiye,
but 1t is to be hoped that it is only the
forceful manner of a strong will, with
out which there can be no strong mind
or character. Let him be what he
will, 1t is certain that unless he can
rise above the clouds of passion, preju-
dice and OF faction, he can never de-
serve the name of statesman. 1t
is still in his power to make his adj
ministration acceptable to the whole
State, and to quiet the troubled politi-
cal waters, but if he fails to meet the
great emergency before him, and to
bring peace, hope and prosperity to
our people, then he must fall, and
like Lucifer he will fall to rise no
more" Our people like strong and
bold leaders. but they will resent now,
as they have done before, anything
like an arbitrary disposition, Of which
the Governor has shown strong tenden-
c1es, and he must show less intolerance
and hatred towards his opponents and
more kindly consideration towards his
friends and allies, if he desires to main
tain himself before the people, because
all the real conservative, good citizens
of the State, who want peace and good
will and progress and prosperity, and do
not care for office, are much nearer to
each other than the casual observer
would suppose. They cannot be kept
long apart.
When we come to consider the Soon
servatives," as they were called in the
last campaign, we find that, like the
"Reformers," they are made up of
W different clements, real Conserva-
tives n Haskellites, just as the Re-
formers are made up of real Reformers
n HaskelliSm are about the same,
as they represent the two extremes,
the Scylla and Charybdids of the Dem
ocratic party, either of which would
ruin the State by appealing to the ne
gro. The real conservatives on 10th
sides were unfortunate in the last cam
paign, those on the Sheppard side be-
ing, unwillingly forced into alliance
with h Haskellites, and those on the
Tillman side being forced into alliance
with Third Partyism, the Third PARTY
ties realizing the situation and taking
an ungenerous advantage of Tillman
and others in making the Governor
and others swallow almost the Omaha
platform without modification.
Fortunately it ended all right in the
defeat of the effort to restore the old
regime, which Haskellism represents,
and in tying the hands of the Third
P~artyites and thereby preventing
Third Partyism from taking any Sc
rious hold in the State. It is some
what curious to note that the real con-
servatives, who are largely in the ma
Jority in the State, are divided be-
tween the RefOrmers and Conserya-
tives. So-called Haskellism and Third
Partyism are each in q minority on
each side, though potent factors in the
last division, but they cannot reach
each other or control the State, as
they represent what may be called the
~AShPooSo III oliolSo IL . dlSO CURIOUS
to note that Tillm"n is the dividing line
or the cause Of the division between the
real conservatives in the State, a part
OF them going reluctantly with the So
called Conservatives, who had cunning
ly adopted the Reform platform to
catch them, because they knew they
did not like Tillman, and the other
party standing squarely by the Reform
movement, as a matter of principle,
though 1T was evident that many OF
them, as well az many of the Third
Partyites, followed Tillman with re-
luctance. From all of this, it is clear
that the Reform movement, with all
OF its essentials, has taken a strong
hold on the great majority of our peo-
pie, and the conclusion is inevitable
that IL Governor Tillman had been diff
ferently constituted, Or q man OF more
tact and address, he could easily have
united, or possibly could now unite the