The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-04-23

- oeate' IL WOulu De wrong anu u
y patriotic tn refuse their oyertures 4,
q peace. These are men with whom "
were willing to bury the hatchet. an
8 not envenomed irreconcilables. Ever
d good citizen would be glad to hay
: peace and unity between the factions
J, Dut even these blessings must not b
T purchased by a sacrifice OF the primo
{ pies for which our farmers bande
, together in 1890. But IL we can pro
tect those principles, and put a sto
TO dlscord and strife, of course
would be for the best. And the Con
seryatiyes who were in that conference
with I1llman and was honest in-thei
desires to bring about reconciliation
and proved this by doing all and every
thing in their power to induce thei
faction to accept our terms, we'll know
ing that nothing less would conten
our Reformers."
do you have any doubt Governor
about the Reformers controlling the
constitutional. convention ?"
Not the slightest. 1t now looks as
u there would be q straight fight
That Forty convention refused to ac.
cept our terms, and the people have nc
Idea OF giving the Conservatives any
stronger representation than they can
win at the ballot box, unless that
agreement Is carried out in good faith
and to the letter From what { can
gather, from every section OF the
State, the Reform movement is
stronger today than ever before. Our
people are determined to control the
constitutional convention, and not
permit 1t to be. used to disfranchise a
single white voter, except for crime.
do not know how this can be best
secured, but you may rest assured that
wt hn
insure white supremacy for our State,
and place every Anglo-Saxon voter on
an equal footing. And to this end,
desire to urge up Reformers to send
their best and ablest men as dele G ates
to Columbia"
-" 1t 1s reported that yourself and
Senator Tillman will be candidates 9"
Yes ;my county desires mo to run,
and l will serve them if they ask me.
I1llman will also represent Edgefield.
lrby will go from Laurens. Wilson
should represent Spartanburg Now,
with the men whom the people have
entrusted with their highest positions
IN that convention, the farmers of our
State need not fear that their rights
Ur ifbe1 tS,os you'd So imported. We
shall be upon the floor to engraft the
Reform principles into the organic law
of the State, and will see that it is
done, too"
You can assure your people," con-
tinued Gov. Evans, "that neither
Senator Tillman nor myself had the
slightest design OF betraying them.
We are just as true to them and to
their interests as when we appeared
upon the rostrum last summer and
asked their support. We were re-
quested to confer with certain prom
inent representatives in the COnser-
vative party, and met them. These
gentlemen expressed themselves. as
anxious to restore peace in South
Carolina, and asked that we assist
them in bringing about this happy
result. You would not have us spurn
their overtures, and confess that our
Reform party depended on strife and
discord for existence? We respect
fully listened to what they proposed.
We then named the only terms that
we believed the Reformers would
accept They accepted those terms,
and we then agreed to use our personal
efforts to give them as near equal re-
presentation in the constitutional con
vention as the people would consent to.
NOW, does it not seem fair, that If they
we're willing to accept our terms, and
support the very measures that the
convention was called together to
frame, that we should have made the
slight concession that they asked !?
We were getting more than we con-
ceded, and had no fear of the farmers
sending to Columbia any Conserva-
tive whose sacred word and honor
they could not trust. There are OF
course plenty of fair and honorable
men in the minority faction, and these
were the Representatives whom the
voters would select. But don't want
the public to think for an instant that
the Senator or myself went into that
caucus with treacherous intent. We
believed that the overtures made to us
were sincere, and our compact with
the Conservatives in that caucus was
equally sincere"
- How about that call Messrs. Hemp
hill and Barnwell made upon you since
the Forty convention, and published in
the Columbia papers?
had no idea that these gentlemen
were even in the city, and had retired
for the night, when telephone mes
| sage reached the mansion that Messrs.
Hemphill and Barnwell would call
upon me ut once. | dressed and re-
ceived them. They simply asked me
what it was now necessary to do, since
the Forty had refused to accept Oul
agreement? / told them that | would
consider the matter and answer them
This did, and the next DIV wrote
that there was nothing further to be-
done that could sec. [ would decline
10 .,G2 into any more caucusses
but was ready to carry out my part o
the agreement whenever the COnser
vatives accepted it,"
Then, Governor, you anticipate nc
danger to the Reform movement from
tho calling of the constitutional con
vention ?"
Not the sligh sst, assure you.
was necessary to hold this convention
| think. Now that 1T has been called
rest assured the Reformcrs will con
troll it, and our movement will be- NOR,
fully anchored than ever before"
"Do you think the Forty will be abl
to do our cause any harm 2"
do not. In their March conven
tion they had no new recruits, but tn
same old leaders were on hand. The
are weakening every day, and will
play no part in politics. The minorit
faction controlled their convention
and waved the flag of defiance In tn
face of our ISeformers. They demand
ed, and would only accept, an equa
division of delegates, and not tn
slightest restrictions were to be place
n upon them. For RefOrmers to accep
! such terms would be an uncOnd itiona
and disgraceful surrender, and we ha
as well decline to put out any cand
dates OF our own, and let the minorit
; have free rein to do just as they plea.
p1 ha | atata1 mora than On UD