The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-02-14
BREEZILY REVIEWED.
South Carolina's Reform Movement from
an Opponents Standpoint.

euth Carolina's Reform Movement from
an Opponents Standpoint.
WASHINGTON, January 24.-Mr. A.
B. Williams, editor of the News, of
Greenville, S. c., has been in Wash
iogton several days. Mr.. Williams is
one of the most independent and
strongest writers on the press Of South
Carolina. He talks as we'll and as for
chilly as be writes. Of the political
situation in the Palmetto State he said
to-day:
"The signs in South Carolina are
propitous from journalistic point of
view. 1t looks as if we are to have the
most complicated, venomous and lun-
attic political tarantula dance ever seen
in this country. We haven't got very
big floor but it's powerful hot. Some
States can show up more voters than
we can but we can, count out more
voters per capita and work out more
devilment to the voter than any other
people on earth.
''Somewhere in the solar system there
is a special South Carolina moon, invis-
ible but effective. She has big orbit
and swings around once in. thirty years
and then we unanimously 60 looney,
and when we regularly set ourselves to
to work to turn fool and 60 on a good
old bowling political debauch we paint
things red. Along in the thirties it
was notification and before that we
had gone tolerably crazy over the
French revolution and liberty, equality
and fraternity. In the sixties it was
secession. Now it is just general poll
tics. Every man in our State is now
politician in full practice: every other
man is candidate or applicant for
something and there is mighty near a
faction or party for every citizen.
"You remember in 1890 Governor
Tillman jumped to the front of the
farmers movement. He had been
working up an organizing strong po-
litical groundswell. The farmers
movement was loose jointed, scat
tering kind of a ghost, which had been
knocked together year or TIVE before
and held up on pole to scare politi-
clans with. G. Wash. Shell, clerk of
court of Laurens county, was chairman
of the executive committee. He issued
a manifesto-a famous and historic
document in our State-abusing near
ly everything with striking impartial
ity and calling upon the people to rise
against the ring which he alleged ex-
listed and was expressing and despoil-
ing.
You know the result, I reckon.
There was good deal of result. The
| March convention was called, packed
and worked. Shell called it and !rby
worked it. 1t came within two or
three votes of smothering the reform
movement when was saved only by
Irby's magnificent demonstration Of
Nerve, gall energy. Once started, how
ever, the movement took. Our time
for insanity had come. One side was
as stark, staring, .raving mad as the
other.
"Wbat's the quotation about max
| ing stepping stones Of our dead selves
to higher things? 1t was most appro-
priately paraphrased in our State with
the statement that TiIl,nan had made
stepping stones of our darned fools to
higher spheres. He was governor. Ir-
by defeated Wade Hampton for the
Senate. Shell was sent to Congress.
So far so good. And it was all right
last year when the anti-Tillman peo-
ple made a fight. The reformers just
renominated their old ticket and sailed
! in again with hurrah.
"You understand, of course, that all
of this is inside the Democratic party.
All our fights are preliminary to and
I leading up to the general primary.
"In 1892 the Tillmanities, as we call
them, the reformers, as they call them.
selves, polled in the primary $4,000
votes while We Tillmanites, OF
: conservatives, squeezed out but 10000
They wiped up the earth with US and
have been danciHg on our remains with
. what Mr.. Cleveland calls ghoulish
gleeever since. They held the legisla
ture, turned out all the old judges with
ope exception, tightened up the dis
pensary liquor law, and from our point
of view, played the deuce generally
!, We have been like Brown, of Caleve
> ras. The subsequent proceedings in
terested US no more. We could only
) lie and look aud groan.
NOW, however. the time of travail
! for the reformers has come. The pc
riod is here for a new divide and it i:
: making trouble.
"In Columbia some time ago there
wasa conference which included Nj
, Bowden, editortaad owner of the Cot
. ton Plant Mr. Koester, editor Of tht
Columbia Register, the Journalistic
, prop of thereform movement, and sew
eral others of the most progressive anc
active leaders of the Reform party
Those men believed and declared tha
their party could not continue to live
and grow on the strength of one man
They claimed that as Governor Tillnar
= was to be candidate for the Senate
his supremacy in State matters should
: end and that Senator Irby must be Sc
, aside.
"This movement within the move
> ment has spread as fast as the move
e ment itself did. In two weeks it ha