The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-02-12
TlLLMAN'S SPEECH.
What Has Been Accomplished by it's
Delirerancc

What Has Been accomplished by itS
Delirerancc.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.-Mr. Till
mans speech in the Senate is sengaging
but little attention in political circles
on the score of its want of good taste.
There could not very we'll be but one
opinion on that subject. But the point
of interest is that the most extreme
condemnation of the deliverence on
that line is the best assurance to Mr..
Tillman himself that he has accom-
plished the purpose which. brought hill
to his feet. He and his friends, in
deed, measure his success on Wendes-
day by the fact that the speech is con-
ceded to be without precedent in the
Senate for severity Of tone and direct
ness OF attack. And they want it, for
campaign purposes, to continue to en-
Joy that startling direction.
Mr.. Tillman is silver man, and is
classed as an agitator, not a states
man. He is Democrat, and at the
head of his party at home. 1t may not
be extravaeant to say that he is the
most powerful factor in political af-
fairs that South Carolina has known
since the days of Mr.. Calhoun. VIII
he be able long to retain his power?
That is considered Of less moment
than what he is likely to do with it
while he does retain it. And howwill
ne exercise it in the settlement of the
great problems of this year?
Mr.. Tillman will go to Chicago as
chairman of a delegation which will
obey him to the letter. He will have
designated every one of his associates,
and they viii act in the fullest agree
ment with him. He indicates in his
speech what he and his friends will
demand of the convention in the way
OF a platform. But suppose he is dis
appointed. Suppose the convention
writes a platform unacceptable to him.
Will he bolt? Will he return home
and put affairs in order for transfer
Of the electoral vote Of the State to
new party, or to the Populist party!
And what would be the effect of such
a step on extreme silver men in the
surrounding States?
For all that, his refernces to Mr..
Cleveland and to Mr.. Carlisle are so
offensive the South Carolina Senator,
in his speech, shows the capacity of
diplomatic expression. There are some
shrewd appeals to the Democrats of
the South and to the Republicans of
the West. He soothes the one by tell
ing them that they are not to blame;
that they have simply been dragged
down to their present plight by artful
treachery, against which they can in
future be on guard. And when he
characterizes Mr.. Lincoln as the great
EST American of the nineteenth cen
tury, he gives his hand, without re.
servation, to the silver Republicans of
the West. This, indeed, is the tone in
which all of the serious talk about
union of the South and West for ma
tional supremacy is keyed. This isthe
purport of the utterances: Let bygones
be ebygones. Let each section, in rising
to the true conception of the duty OF
the present, rise also to juster and
franker appraisement of the past, and
thus let both sections become brothers
to the fullest degree, When Demo
cratic Senator from South Carolina
puts Abraham Lincoln next after
George Washington on the list OF
American heroes, something is un-
doubtedly shown to have been accom-
plished in that direction.
If new party should be the result
OF the years agitation, it will not be
ditiicuItto fix Mr.. Tillman'splace in it.
lie will become a national quantity.
Whether for good or Ill, men of promi-
nence express themselves freely. They
divide according to their views on the
pending questions. Men of the sound
money stamp deplore the bare sugges-
tion OF the further rise of a man of Mr.
Tillman's force and methods But
there are free silver Democrats, in
capable themselves of employing in
public debate Of the coarse and savage
characterizations OF Mr.. Tillman, who
think very much as he speaks, and
who could not be induced to take the
floor and rebuke his language for fear
of appearing in the light Of dissenting
from bis argument. He is an agitator,
and they consider that as an agitator
he states his case with premeditated
and carefully prepared extravaganza.
Agitation and discretion are not kim
Star.