The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-12-05
HIS LAST MESSAGE.
GOV. TlLLMAN ADDRESSES THE LEG
IsLATURE THE LAST TIME.

A Report that VIII he Read With Interest
| by all, Whether Conservative or Till
manite---Nhat the Governor Kas to Say
! About Pnblic Matters.
GENTLEMEN OF THE GENERAL AS
sEMBLY: l herewith present to your
honorable bodies this my fourth and
last Annual Message. Since my in
duction into office four years ago, the
administration of the Executive De-
partment has been beset with difficult
ties. Complex problems have forced
themselves forward for solution; re-
forms of a radical nature have been
accomplished; abuses of long stand
ing have been corrected, or attempted
to be corrected, and the natural result
has been that the period from March,
| 1890, to 1895 has been one of intense
political activity, and will mark an
epoch in our annals to which the fu-
| ture historian of the State must devote
more than a passing glance. During
this time there has been no perfunct-
ory performance of routine official du-
ties in the Executive office. The ire
pressible conflict between capital and
labor or-between the corporations and
money OH the one hand, and the peo-
pie on the other-which is fast mar
shaling the American people into op-
posing political armies, has been
waged here in South Carolina with
relentless fury. But, thank God,
Machiavelian cunning and unscrupu-
lous political methods have been met
by honest patriotism and unflinching
regard for duty. The people have sus-
tanned our efforts to make reform
mean something, and the victory has
been with the State administration in
every essential particular. The cor
porations have been forced to bow to
the rule of right and justice. The law.
less have been taught that statute of
the State cannot with impunity be an
nulled by mob. Equality of burden,
with eqality of benefit and equality of
opportunity, is now more nearly u
rule than at any other period in our
recent history; and the march OF
progress, while over rough roads, has
been steady. The people of the State
govern; the majority rules, and the
advance in education, III temperance,
in all that goes to make up higher,
better civilization and more prosper
Gus, happy people, is marked. No un-
prejudiced man can deny it: No
truthful man who will deal with facts
| will deny it.
The representatives of the once priv
ileged classes will protest most vehe-
! mently. The newspapers owned or or
| subsidized by the liquor dealers will
continue to howl and gnash their
teeth in rage that the goddess traffic is
being slowly but surely taken from
their patrons and confined within rea-
sonable and lawful bounds. But the
great mass of plain, business working
men and farmers know that what |
| state is true.
cannot expatiate or 60 into details,
| but brief recapitulation of the things
which have been accomplished by the
| Reform movement in South Carolina
can best show the truth of what l as
sert. They are:
1st. The erection and endowment
Of Clemson College.
I'd. The overthrow of the Coosaw
monopoly.
Sd. The just and equitable assess
ment of taxes on railroads and other
corporations, and the victory in the
Courts compelling them to pay.
4th. The passage of the Dispensary
law and the destruction of the bar
| rooms.
5th. Refunding of the State debt,
which saves $7s, 900 a year in interest.
9Th. The establishment of the Win
throp Normal and Industrial College
for Women.
9TH. Election of the Railroad Com
missioners by the people, and allow,
ing them to fix passenger and freight
rates.
Sth. The Inauguration of the Pri-
mary system of party nominations
for all Offices in the gift of the people.
The last is not a function of govern
ment, and belongs rather to party
management; but by and through it,
and the battle fought to obtain it, all
the rest have come. By those who
have fought us SO doggedly it will be
charged that the unity of the white
race has been destroyed the Demo
cratic party riven asunder, and the
kindly feeling of our people for each
other replaced by factional bitterness
and strife.
| Be it so. The blame rests with those
who, while claiming to represent the
masses, were entrenched in our high
places as the tools of corporations,
and advocates of special privileges for
the few and political slavery and fl
nancial servitude for the many. Per,
ish the Democratic party of both the
State and Nation, if Democracy does
not mean the greatest good to the
greatest number, and the rule Of the
majority. Let white unity 60 if the
bond which binds us is not that OF
brethren with equal rights, but links
aristocratic privilege and the claim OF
inheritance by divine right, to ser
vile surrender of the rights of free,
men. The National Democracy be-
trayed the people and broke all of its
pledges. It has been given deserved
chastiscment, if not a death stroke, by
| the voters. But the State Democracy,
although stabbed in the back by white
men calling themselves ''our best peo
| pie" and the only true Democrats, ,
| has trir1mphed over Bourbonism and
treachery. The presence in these halls
of an increased number of Reformer.