The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-04-07
NEWS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA.
POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL
ITEMS.

-'> '"N" SNSti N'hiNLhhu
POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL
ITEMS.
"A Brother of Governor Evans Talk
Freely With n Philadelphia Re
porter.
Mr.. Barnard b. Evans. a brother o
the Governor, has been on a visit Il
Philadelphia, and gave to reporter
for the Press his views on the in
dustrial and political situation in thi;
State, as follows:
The State dispensary, of which sc
much has been said and written" said
MIR. Evans to 1.-THE Press representa-
tive, " is now comprised of board ol
| control. 1t numbers five men, elected
| by the State Legislature, and they are
| not ofliceholders. These men do all
o the financiering and buy all the
| liquor. In addition to this. they ex-
anime and audit all OF the accounts.
The results produced by this system
are OF the best. Heretofore the matter
was in the hands of one man and the
system did not seem to prosper. Not
wlthstanGing that things have been
during the past three or four wears.
the State has not been as prosperous
since the war as it is to-day We
have three new factories in Columb bia,
where ducking and other cotton goods
are made. All of these cotton mills
are large and prosperous. Another
cotton mill, now in course of compile.
tion, will be started soon, and q 10000
horsepower electric plant will drive
the machinery when it is completed.
The old paper mill between Aiken
and Augusta, is undergoing change
into bleachery, which, when ready
for work, will be the only bleaching
mill in the State or in the South.
Heretofore we had to go North to get
our goods bleached.
We are also extending our rail
road facilities. The newest road is
the Greenwood, Anderson and West
ern, which will reach the seaboard on
the one hand and tap the vast coal
field OF Tennessee on the other. This
road, instead of parallelling some
other road, will cross number of
reads and open up a section OF rich
country that never before has been
reached by u railroad. Sixty miles of
this line have already been graded
and ironed and the remaining dis
tance will soon be put in running
order.
"Then there are our phosphate
fields. My brother, the Governor, has
Just returned from an extended visit
to the phosphate fields of Florida.
Much to his surprise he finds that we
have in our midst much better ma
terial, easier to mine and not so full of
grit as is the Florida phosphate. Be-
sides, we can produce cheaper phosp-
hate than can Florida. Our cotton
mills are paying large dividends. The
Richland mill, ut Columbia, will declare
a dividend OF from II to Is per cent.
a cotton seed oil mill last year paid a
dividend of 40 per cent. Spartanburg,
the Lowell of South Carolina, has a
number of mills and they are all MAX
ing money. All of them are doubling
their capacity and the future output
must be very great. Still there is
room Tor more mills, and Massachusetts
people are coming nearly every day
into the State looking for investments
in cotton mills.
In spite of the financial depression
we are, as you see, doing fairly well in
South Carolina. Within ten years the
Dispensaries of South Carolina will
pay our State debt of So, 100000. With
in the past eighteen months the system
has put into the State treasury $780,
600. Then there is quite an extensive
tea plantation at Summerville that
promises much for the future revenues
of the State"
HAS Tillman done you good or
harm ?'
Tillman opened for the first time
to the people oi tho State the possi-
bllltles that lay before them. He
created an era Of industrial develop
ment such as was never known before.
No public man since the war has done
the State as much good as Ben Till
man. Whichever way you view Till
man dispassionatcly you must admit
that he is no common man. Why,
think OF it a few years ago he was IL
small farmer and illiterate in a. Ger
tain sense. for he only had the most
meager education in the schools.
He lived In little four-roomed hut at
Edgefield, without Sign of IL ceiling
His library was in the rafters of his
house, for there he kept the few books
that he possessed The stables where
he kept his COWS were much better
than the house he lived in, and he ran
kind OF small dairy farm. He read
law after he was elected Governor,
and when as a member Of the recent
constitutional convention some Of the
legal lights tripped in their authori-
ties, Tillman was right aftem them"
There is talk that Tillman will
bolt tho Democratic ticket if gold
plank is inserted in the Democratic
platform this year."
Mark my word, he will not bolt.
There will be no boiling the ticket.
The Democrats Of South Carolina will
stand by the candidate. What we don't
like we will try to alter later on"
Will Irby succeed himself in the
United States Senate ?'
Not II my brother can prevent it,
He will be IL candidate for the seat
himself and expects to win. He was
only 30 years OF age when he ran for
Governor and is only 81 now."