The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-05-02
VERY SPICY INDEED !
mo1aurin unbosoms himself to a Friend

VERY SPICY INDEED!
McLaurin Unbosoms HimseN to o Friend.
The following letter has been ad:
dressed by Congressman McLaurin, OF
South Carolina, to Editor Appelt OF
the Manning Times:
WASHINGTON, April 16, 1894.
Mr.. Louis Appelt, Manning, S. c.
DEAR APPELT: Your letter of recent
date, calling my attention to widely
circulated reports of my being in
"combination" with SENATOR Butler
in his race for the Senate, has been
received. It is lie out Of the whole
cloth. Hitherto, ! have paid no at
tention to ISLANDERS circulated" by
interested parties, for the purpose Of
destroying the confidence that the
people are supposed to have in me. 1
cannot, however, avoid reply to a
pointed question, such as you ask. l
shall "call spade a ~pade' and ex-
press my feelings fully. Last spring,
when the famous "blacklisting" Of
the South Carolina delegation was in
progress, / soon discovered that the
trouble arose largely from the admin
istration confounding the Alliancemen
and the Populist. In the West, the
Peoples party swallowed the Alliance
and, just coming into power, the mis-
take was natural in reference to the
Alliancemen in the South. If you
will remember, I was not present
when that disgraceful scene occurred
in the Office Of our Postmaster-Gen-
eral, where the question Of the De-
mocracy of our Representatives in
Congress was tested. I felt that the
matter of my Democracy had been
tried by the people of the Sixth Dis
trict, and if suited them it mattered
very little to me whether [ suited any
body else or not. I soon discovered
that Mr.. Bissell was big-hearted,
big-brained man, not much of a politi-
clan, but fine lawyer and a thorough b.
going business man the only trouble
being that he runs the Posto6fce De.
part1aent in business way instead of
as a political machine. Mr.. Talbert
and myself had an additional advan-
tage in not having defeated ex-mem-
bers on the spot to wage special war
upon us. While the issuing of
ukases, pronunciamentoes, etc., was
going on I kept my mouth shut, and
attended to my own business. Per
sonally, I did not banker after the
distribution of the Offices, for / knew
I couldn't suit everybody, and every
man who made application and failed
would either be lukewarm friend or
an open enemy. I felt, however, that
I had certain duty to perform in
reference to these postof6ces, and
made up my mind to perform that duty,
if permitted by the Postmaster-Gen-
eral, and if not so permitted then the
responsibility was taken from my
shoulders. I was pressed from every
quarter by Reformers to secure these
appointments. You wanted the Office
at Manning, and suppose had said:
"Oh, / cannot recommend you because
Messrs. Latimer and Strait are not re-
r. You would have very
probably told me that / was sent to
Congress to represent the Sixth and
not the Third and Fifth Congressional
Districts. / made formal request of
Senator Butler that he should not in
terfere with my recommendations, or
if he did, to give reason why he
should treat me in different manner
from that in which the Hon. George
W. Dargan had been treated: Sena-
tor Buffers treatment Of me was kind,
courteous and upon high plane: He
said that in his service in the Senate
he had never interfered in the district
of a Congressman, where he was treat
ed with that consideration due his
official position, and would not inter.
fere in mine. In the majority of
cases in my district, Senator Butler
has made no recommendation what
ever in some cases, yours for in
stance, at my request he Joined in the
endorsement.
It is utterly impossible to represent
South Carolina without some concert
of action between the Senate and the
House. Senator Butler has been
kind and considerate. I have in my
turn, endeavored to be courteous and
show proper respect for his official and
personal character.
The subject of State politics was
never mentioned between us until after
the article in the Headlight, due re-
speot for the feelings of each prevent
ing even an indirect reference to it.
I had appointed to nearly every post
Office in the district Tillmanites of the
most marked type, without a question
being asked or pledge being taken
from single man. So far from any
appointee of mine feeling that he is
under the slightest obligation to Sena-
tor Butler, you feel perfectly free in
your last issue to compare him to a
s'buzzard." My dear Applet, what in
the name Of Heaven is public man to
do /? Latimer tells me that some of
his people are "cussing" him because
he has not any influence, and some of
mine are "cussing" me because /
have.
have nothing to do with the can
didacy of Senator Butler; he has
treated me like a gentleman, and I
shall treat him the same way regard
less Of consequences. The very first
time that State politics was discussed
between Senator Butler and myself
was that Infamous attack and insinua-
tion by CAN'T of "trade and combi-
nation" I then deemed it my duty
to talk to Senator Butler, and he said
not to pay any attention to that, that
he knew the personal and political re-
lations between myself and Tillman,
and did not expect me to do anything
else, but that it need not disturb our
personal and official relations, for me
to support my friend.