The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-02-26
TlLLMAN AND HIS CRITICS.
Demands that His Speech be Published by
the Papers that Abuse Him.

Demands that His Speech be Published b.
the Papers that Abuse Him.
The following letter from Senator
| Tillman was published a few days age
in the New York World:
WASHINGTON, Feb. IA My uniform
rule has been to treat criticisms with
silence. I break that rule now for 8
purpose, and that is to challenge those
who have found so much to condemn
in my recent speech in the Senate to a
trial before the jury of their readers,
in which can have at least show oi
justice. The New York Times edito
rally terms me "a filthy baboon, ," the
New York Evening Post "a political
Anarchist" the World itself has used
the word "blatherskite," the Philadel
phia Record calls me ''the chieftain OF
Anarchists" and the Globe of st. Paul
says: "This fellow brings to the Sen
ate the unsavory record he made in
his State, character tattooed with
dishonesty"
These are few of the parliamenta,
ry 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 few
garbled extracts in which I used
strong language to express indlgna-
ton and contempt, they ask the peo.
pie of the country to render verdict
against me as coarse, brutal, igno-
rant, blackguard.
All the words and phrases which
occur in the speech to which they take
exception do not exceed dozen. They
neither add to nor take from the argu-
ments and facts as presented. Not a
single one of them is supplementary,
and frequently, in the same Senate,
language as violent. as coarse and as
brutal has been uttered in the past by
q dozen men whose names are written
high in our country's history.
If my language was unparliamenta-
ry and indecent, why did no Senator
call me to order2 If the charges were
untrue, why has no Senator answered
them, and why do my newspaper crit
les not even attempt to answer them2
Is it upparliamentary and indecent to
tell the truth2 Are we sunk to that
low estate that falsehood and treach-
cry and official dishonesty cannot be
mentioned without calling down an
avalanche of abuse and slander2
What other Senators have whispered
among themselves I have spoken
aloud and in plain words. What a
a majority of the people of the coun-
try have thought and felt have ut
tered.
This is the sum of my offending,
and the hireling editors and reporters
who now degrade the so-called free
dom of the press to so despicable a
level may fatter themselves that they
create and control pnblic opinion, but
the thousands of letters that have
poured in on me from every quarter
of the Union, mostly from the North,
and from men engaged in every pur-
suit in life, have given me assurance
that the scales are falling from the
eyes of the people and that the truth,
bravely told, has a sweet and whole
some sound. The American people as
a whole, "the great common people, "
love the truth, and they love their
country. 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 known on the day of
election.
So far as I am individually con-
cerned, and so far as my speech is con-
cerned, I care nothing for the abuse
heaped on me, and thank my critics
for directing attention to my utteran-
ces. When my facts and arguments
have been disproved I will apologize.
Until then decency demands that men
who abuse me for speaking the truth
should let their readers see it and
judge for themselves, or reserve their
epithets for men of their own kind
who dread the truth and love coward,
ice.
If there is no need of reform, reform
will not come. If I represent nothing
but ignorance and anarchy, why was
I elected Governor of South Carolina
twice by such overwhelming majori'
ties2 For four years as Executive,
fought and abused by corporations
and banks and their hireling newspa'
pers, why did my State send me to
the Senate by vote of 151 out of a
total of 160 in the General Assembly
During these four years the State ad-
vanced in material growth and in
crease of taxable values more rapidly
than in any previous period of its his
tory. It spent a half million dollars
in the erection and equipment of two
of the largest colleges for industrial,
technical and normal training in the
South-one for each sex. And the
Constitutional Convention, with
which I had a great deal to do, fixed
constitutional taxes so as to double the
free school fund; the saloons have
been banished from the State, while
three.fourths of the people, if not
more, are firm supporters of the new
method of handling the liquor traffic.
These facts, which are history, cannot
be sneezed at nor obliterated. Anar.
chists don't write such history.
l have never shrunk from the lash
ings of newspaper scribblers in the
arena of State politics, and will not
begin to do so in the broader field to
which my commission from the peo'
pie has transferred me. If it be the
fate of this great Republic to sink to
the level of Rome when the Praetori'
an guards were wont to put the EN-.
perorship up to the highest bidder; il
Congress is to become or remain the