Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-06-26
PRESERVE THE HOME
STEAD.
That Law is a Protection to the
Poor Against the Ayaricious.
Columbia Register.

Columbia Register.
EDITOR REGISTER: While | ia.
vor a straight, white mans prima'
ry, it is row evident many of the
counties will hold conventions OF
mass meetings on the first Mon
day in July, for the purpose o.
suggesting candidates for the Con
stitutional Convention.
The men named by those assem-
blies will, in almost every instance
be elected in the primary and gen
eral election, therefore it is o.
great moment that the people
should be prepared OH said occa
sion to instruct the men suggested
as aforesaid, on the vital ques
tions to be disposed of by the Con
stitutional Convention.
I wish to attract the attention o,
the people especially to one O.
those questions, to wit: Should tbt
homestead law be eliminated from
our Constitution? I answer no
emphatically no. If you, my fel
low citizens, wish to he indepen
dent men, if you wish to preserve
a castle for your wives and daugh
ters, if you desire to thwart the
Capitalization of wealth in cities
if you desire to escape the oppres
sion of the usurer and extortloner
suggest men who will vote first
last and all the time for the home
stead law.
Abolish this law and you would
be as much astonished as distress
ed, to behold the heart-rendins
spectacle of hundreds of white
fam. lies in this State, homeless
wrecked and ruined. From YOU
observation you may not know
that this law avails many people
1t is because the creditor dare no
press his claim. He knows hehint
the debtor is Il law that will ar
rest his hand and render it pow
erless; l;tw that is prop to tht
poor and a curb to the rich.
In the present appalling fnan
cial condition OF our country
shorld q creditor obtain iudgmen
against debtor for 5000, th'
creditor could easily gobble W
that many acres of land to satisf,
sSeSh judgment.
Wspeed a number of lega
strings arossnd property tying it t'
the people SO t6s'>aSaricious can a,
not steal il legally. Hstore tn'
war there was no necessity for Il
law, but the confscation of our
property then, and the new order
Of things following, and the pres
ent financial condition of our peo-
pie, render such law absolutely
essential to maintain the social,
civil and political equilibrium. |
have ascertained enough to know
that an effort will be made to
eliminate this provision from our
Constitution. Don't permit such
a blow to our State. Such an in
notation on the rights of the
masses should not be tolerated.
Be the candidates Reformers or
Conservatives. it is extremely per-
ilous to place in their custod y the
destinies of the people without first
securing sacred pledges of their
loyalty to a Constitution that will
secure independence and prosperi-
ty to the white people of the pres
ent generation and to posterity.
| crave perpetuation of the
independence and bra
very of our citizens, but those
glorious attributes cannot be pre-
served, if we legislate against the
masses in favor of the few. The
day our law precipitates into the
public highway orphans, widows
ard helpless families to make more
plethoric the purse of the capital
ist. our doom will be fixed; "the
handwriting will appear on the
wall"
The masses Of our people are
liberal, indeed too much SO for
their own good, they constitute our
best citizens and are the backbone
of our State, they furnish our toll
ers in time of peace and soldiers
in time of war. Our laws should
not permit them to be the victims
of the legal thief or the slaves of
any class.
Every State in the Union allows
a homestead exemption to the
head of the family of its citizens.
South Carolina cannot afford to
be an exception; she should be the
rival of any State in her induce
ments and protection to the poor.
Let the homestead law as it now
is pass into the new Constitution
.:withou5 even the smell of fire TO
its garments"
J. WM. THURMoND.
Edgeield, June 20.
Dew l;,,,or- for family 1rcp The