The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-03-07
THE FIRST GUN FIRED.

THE FIRST GUN FIRED.
THE BEGINNING OF THE FIGHT.
The Reformers Anxious for the Fray
with No Enemy in Sight.
The Chair-This closss the reading Of the
letters. We have with us distinguished son
of South Carolina, whom you all Will De DE.
uohted 10 hear. One who has been Identified
w,,h the Reform movement from Its incep-
ton and who has rendered valuable service
IN the nast-the Hon. Sampson Pope, OF New
berry.
speech of Dr. Sampson Pope.
DIR. Sampson Pope. then came forward and
MI President ard Fellow Citizens In
| obedience to your kind invitation appear
before you today TO give my views on the
inc the attention OF the public mind today
Every man in this country has righL 70 run
for office, and the people have right 70 know
the political principles when may or gSTehLjn XII
reason, I give mine cneerfuilly, deemlng IL
vonr rlghtto know them. Although 1t may
not pleaee you In everything, you are never
'ne1ees WoS,d seorn TO accept office without CIV
Ing INV views, and would be untrue TO my
| self if I allowed you to vote for me under
misappresion OF the facts. 49,
movement since 1884, when some members
OF the Legislature took counsel togetner:ioi
the furtherance and The accomplish ment OF
| the great ends which that party tnen NAG IN
view. You reccolleot that we were derislve-
| iy called three for-a-quarter statesman:
10 the August convention In 1883, without
concert, we found that out OF So We nao l4o
We put up General Earle for Inornination
for Governor. He pulled down bis name at
| the last moment, but we polled Tor him l4b
R B. r. Tillmah when we failed to nominate
our man. said: 81 have fought Richardson
as hard az anybody. but move TO make the
Af.erward, when 3. r. TIllman was nomi-
mated. what did the small minority do? Ihat
small minority refused to make the nomlna'
tion unanimous .. ,.,,
say ali the bitterness is with US. They are
full OF BITTERNESS for us. and can see notnlng
good in u.s. They cant even spes tssn;, he,oi mi mi
| their efforts we are gaining strengtn. we
| are stronger now than we were In lSSZ.
on our side we had the Farmers Movement
and the Farmers Alliance that educated our
people az they we're never before educated.
nov. a sixteen year old boy knows more
than grown men used TO know.
The Alliance has done 3 noble S worS, ama ThaI i
are Democratic. Each and every one Oh them
is for the good OF the people.
Democratic platform, but 1t is not recognized
sup yonder." I favor the ratio sixteen 10
one.
/ believe In the income tax. 1t is right and
proper The only mistake about It is, that IT
ought TO have been a separate Bill, instead OF
being made part OF the Tariff Bill.
But am depressing: l viii Vile, 60 back from
The Reform Government has met the
strongest and fercest opposition from the
first
man told them their lease would expire on
that day. They wouldn't give !, up but forced
us into litigation. In the United States
| Court we gained the case for the people OF
Every daily newspaper In the State, save
| one, was against the common wealth. ana
for no other known reason than that Tiilman
" We had litigation with. the Railroads.
They were against US. Under the protec'
ton OF the United States Courts they pre-:
taxes that was due to the State.
The South Carolina Railroad was assessed
at S3, 800 900 for taxation. In 1891 the income
from that road was Sl.2OO'Ooo. Ihey maze si4
The Z. & @. road was assessed IN ABOUT tne
'"tsI But by The laws of the United States the
Courts become protecting angels Tor such
roads as apply for receivers.
The Individual citizen is required TO pay bis
taxes, and Is especially forbidden 70 employ
but insolvent RAILROADS defy the State laws
and withhold their just burden Of the Gov
ernmenL. Shall the Railroads continue 10
have better favor than Is SHOWN 10 you ~ MU os
movement is, that all shall be treated
alike.
a magnificent structure, with eloquent sur.
roundinga. Now, there are five hundred or
ak hundred students within It's walls.
Where did these students come from? For.
merly. higher education was FOR the masses.
Now, this College is supported from the
m asses-your sons. admit that the Bill es.
tablishing this College was passed during
Richardson's administrati0n, ont he heid
delay it no longer: believe II the antls
were In power to-day that they would dis
mantle Clemson College. The would DO this
because Of their belief that your favored , In
stitution interferes with their favored lnsti-
tion-the South Carolina College,.
The public debt of the State became due
last July. The old debt bore Interest at the
rate Of six per cent. Although there was a
money panic In the country, Tillman and
Bates refunded our Indebtedness at four ana
a half per cent. ,
| In 1888 tne Legislature auLuorIHeu uoNeFuoi
Richardson To refund four hundred thousand
a: six per cent. He failed in the Northern
markets, and finally Mr.. Bamberg appealed
to George W. Williams. who kindly consent
Yet, under this awful administration Of
| Tillman d We millions were readily refunded
at four .and -a-half per cent.
Tillman, and his crowd did this.
You will be told at the proper time that
citizen OF South Carolina, an anti OF course
attempted to defeat the refundlng OF the
State debt, urging as q reason ior not doing IT,
that satisfactory arrangement of 1t, would
fasten the Tillman Government on the State.
The bankers replied that they were for busi-
| ness-not for politics.
| We could not sell the new bonds and refund
the old bonds on the same day. This neces-
Stated double interest on the state deot lor
six months.
This, together with the loss by the storm In
the low country, by which many OF the
Islands were devastated, and the loss on
phosphate royalty, made unusual expenses
The royalty on phosphate rock now goes 70
the sinking fund for the redemption or The
State bonds, and does not 60 to the re-
duction of the taxes.
In addition to the building Of Clemson COL
| lege for the education OF your sons, this aw-
| full administration 10 building twin sister
college at Rock Hill for the education OF Wo-
men. This Ia the first time that the educa-
| tion OF woman has been looked after by the
state Government of South Carolina.
\. K. Tillman got 1t up, and heformers en-
! dorse IT.
But notwithstanding all these advances
which we have made for the educatlon OF
your sons and daughters, and notwllhslanu-
Ing the storm, the less OF phosphate royalty,
and the increasing warfare OF the daily news
papers OF this state, the next tax will be five