The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-02-25
REpLles yo HIS cares,
Tillman DEFENDS His Speech in the Senate
Wdl Apolooizs Wosn His Facts Ara Dis

lAIU 1870 O|tf%0 OWrN "A
Tilmant Defenos His Speech in The Senate
WD APolooizs Wpsn His Facts An Dis
proved
WASHINGTON, Feb. IA, 1896
To che Editor OF The World:
My uniform rulo has been to trea
criticisms with silence L break that
rule now for q purpose, and that is TO
challenge those who have found SO
much 10 condemn In ray recent speech
In the Senate to u trial before the jury
Of their readers, in which L can have
at least a show of justice. The New
York Times editorlally terms mo ga
filthy baboon." the New York Evening
Post "a political anarchist, The World
itself has used the word 'tblather-
skite,n the Philadelphia Record calls
me "the chieftain of anarchists" and
the Globe OF st. Paul says This
record he made In his State, q char
acter tattooed with dishonesty
These arc u few OF the parliamentary
and elegant phrases employed by the
polite and refined editors OF some of
the leading newspapers as applied to
myself. They have not read my speech,
they dare not publish it in full, and,
basing their criticisms upon a few
garbled extracts In which L used strong
language to express indignation and
contempt, they asked the people OF the
country to render u verdict against me
as u coarse, brutal, ignorant black
guard.
All the words and phrases which
occur In the speech,to which they take
exception do not exceed u dozen. They
neither add nor take from the argu-
ments and facts as presented. Not q
|, single one OF them is supplementary,
and frequently, in the same Senate,
language as violent, as coarse and as
brutal has beer uttered in the past by
> Q dozen men who's names are written
high in our country's history.
Ifmy language was unparliamentary
and indecent, why did no Senator call
/, me to order? Ii the charges were
/ untrue, why has no Senator answered
t them, and why do my newspaper critics
not even attempt to answer them? Is
n it SUPPLEMENTARY and indecent to
tell che truth Are we sunk to that
2 low estate that falsehood and treachery
S and official dishonesty cannot be men
toned without calling down an avalan-
che of abuse and slander?: What other
g Senators have whispered among them
selves / have spoken aloud and in plain
d words. What's majority Of the people
of the country have thought and felt
Vt l have uttered.
This Is the sum OF my offending, and
@ the hireling editors and reporters who
% now degraoe the sO-called freedom OF
q the press to so d~espicable u level may
Y 1atter themselves that they create and
y control public opinion, but the thou
sands of letters that have poured in or
a me from every quarter of the Union,
l. mostly from the North, and from men
h engaged in every pursuit in life, have
s. given me that the scales
ID are falling from the eyes of the people
B. and that the truth, bravely told, hasa
p sweet and wholesome sound. The
ID American people as a whole, the
e. great common people," love the
OF They despise traitors and thieves and
towards. 1t is a large mass to move
but the leaven is at work and the
~ issue is joined, and the result will be
Sc known on the day Of election.
rs So far as I'm individually concern
a ed, and so far as my speech in concern
ed, care nothing for the abuse heapet
on me, and thank my critics for direct
:. ing attention to my utterances. Wher
my facts and arguments have been dis
of proved l will apologize. Until ther
g. decency demands that men who abus,
me for speaking the"truth should lie
s. their readers see it aud Judge fo
On themselves, or reserve the epitbets fol
lis men of their kim who dread tn,
In truth ana love c0WardlCe.
or If there is no need of reform, reform
ae will not come. If 1 represent nothing
ne but ignorance and anarchy, why was
De elected Governor OF South Carolin,
e. twice by such overwhelming MAORI
Is, ties For fOur years, as executive
fought and abused by corporations an,
banks and their hireling newspapers
to why did my State send me to the Sen
III ate by q vote of 131 out of q total of 16
of in the General Assembly? Durin,
IT'S these our years the State advanced il
ly material growth and increase of tax
1t, able values more rapidly than in an,
ed previous period in it's history. spen
at $500 600 in the erection and equipmen
Of two of the largest colleges for tn,
,st industrial, technical and normal train
)t- ing in the South-one for each sex
Id And the constitutional convention
err with which l had a great deal TO do
be the free school fund !; the saloons hav,
IL been banished from tho State, Will,
IN three-fourths of the people, if no
er more, are firm supporters of tho new
If method of handling the liquor traffic
do These facts, which are history, canno
ne be sneezed at nor obliterated. Anar
OF chists don't write such history.
l have never shrunk from the lash
n, ings of newspaper scribbers in Tho
" oNoo pOiboiSo Nv VIII ~
I'd begin to do so in the broader field t.
which my commission from the people
III has transferred me. If it is to be the
to fate OF this great republic to sink tc
the level of Rome when the PrBetoriar
se guards were wont to put the emperor
ship up to the highest bidder; il Con
N gress is to become or remain tue COW.
Of ardly tool and purchasable agent of the
a wealthy IL tho Federal judiciary arc
- to undermine and destroy the constitu.
n. ton, as foretold by Jefferson If oul
b. liberties are to be lost through supine
l. ignorance aed venality, 1, as q ~ssntine.
on the watch tower, holding a sacred
h trust, cannot be charged with having
T. assisted my country to its degradation
= by giving a note of warning.
1T B.. II. TILLMAN.
SOUTHERN EXPOSITION.
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