The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1894-12-05
HIS LAST MESSAGE.
GOV. TlllMAN ADDRESSES THE LEG
lSLATURE THE LAST TIME.

by all. Whether Conservative or TILL
lnanitc---What the Governor Kas to Say
About Pnblic Matters.
GENTLEMEN OF THE GENERAL AS
sEMBLY: 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 passing glance. During
this time there has been no perfunct-
orr performance Of routine official du
ties in the Executive office The ire
pressible conflict between capital and
labor-between the corporations and
money on 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 unAinching
regard for duty. The people have sus-
taincd 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 a
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, in temperance,
in all that goes to make up a higher,
better civilization and more prosper
Gus, happy people, is marked. No un-
preiudiced 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
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 SIS, 900 a year in interest.
9Th. The establishment Of the Win
throp Normal and Industrial College
for Women.
7th. 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 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, We're entrenched in our high
places as the tools of corporations,
and advocates of special privileges for
the few and political slavery and f.
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 a ser
vile surrender of the rights of free
men. The National Democracy be-
trayed the people and broke all of it's
pledges. 1t has been given deserved
chastisement. if not 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, y
has triumphed over Bourbonism and
treachery The presence in these halls
of an increased number of Reformers
show that the people are content with
the Government as ithas been admin
istered, and intend to continue the
policy l have pursued. Freedom and
tyranny cannot revolve in the same
orbit in an elective government, un-
less the tyrant is on top. The position
having been inverted by the election
of 1890, placing the free people on top
and the tyrants below, the natural Re
pubicans among our white people
the believers in special privileges and