The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-07-18
ARE THEY DIscONTENTEDe
Some Mutterings of Storm which Do Not
Seem to Amount to Anything.
THE News and Courier ]


COLUMBIA, S. c., July 1O.-The
State Reform" Executive Committee
met here to-day, and to put it mildly,
there is a whole lot of fuming and
fu sing about the capitol. There is
plenty of talk about an abominable
| ring in the Reform movement. There
are suggestions that Governor Tillman
and John Gary Evans aud a few
others are having thing loo much their
own way. The mutterings that some
thing ''is going to drop" are becoming
frequent ard loud. The Alliance men
hereabouts are pretty sick, and if they
only felt that they were as strong as
they are credited with being they
would pick up their heads and get right
into the fight.
Well, what is all the trouble about?
Simply this: There were a great many
Reformers who thought it the best and
only thing for the good of the move
ment to have general primary for the
selection of State officers, inasmuch as
the Conservatives did not intend rum
ming candidate and were Democrats
who were entitled to q voice in the
selection of candidates. Now it was
again demonstrated that the John Gary
Evans faction, some say through the
influence of Governor Tillman, has con.
troll of the "Reform" Committee, which
is something known as the Colleton
idea committee. They say that Gary
Evans and opposition factions went
into the convention with every expec-
tation of fighting to finish. For some
reason long tefore the vote came the
close corporation side, which wanted
nothing but simon pure Performers"
to have say in the selection of candi-
dates, showed that they neld the win
ming hand. Then ;ne other side
thought precedep. had already been
established; tha: a call had already
gone out for Reform" primary, and
for various and sundry other reasons
when the time come to vote the general
primary fellows found that they had q
mighty small vote, although some of
them afterward said that they thought
a general primary would have been for
the good of the movement, but that
they could not afford to take such
action because of various dangers,
which when analyzed, were more or
less personal. The committees refusal
to grant the request of candidates for a
general primary will no doubt please
John Gary Evans and his allies, but
from what can be heard it has put the
danger signal out.
This does not mean that the Ellerbe
people will bolt, or that they have any
idea Of doing such thing. The fact is
that the Ellerbe people now say that
they are going to win, hands down. no
matter low the election is held. The
argument goes further, that the contest
for Governors now practically between
Ellerbe and Evans, as the refusal to
grant general primary mas put cold
bath on the chances of Pope and Tin
dal. It looks very much from the way
that the Reformers are putting it that
the Evans side has the endorsement of
Tillman and Irby, while the Ellerbe
race is to be run with the endorse
ment of the leaders of the Alliance as
an Offset. This is going to decide
whether the Alliance need hereafter be
counted at all as factor in State
politics, and whether the little rings
that are doing work are more powerful
than the Alliance organization. The
application for the primary. to be ex-
tended to the State officers was kind
of compromise. The committee said
that it could not act in the matter az it
bad only been authorized to act on the
Goverrorship and Lieutenant Cover
norship, but asked the clubs to iAstruct
their delegates whether they wanted
the Reform" convention to suggest
the nominations on which the "Re-
formers" are to go into the general
primary. This is the plan of the Evans
side.