The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-06-22
The PitchfOrk and the Rapier.

Senator TIllman rarely suffers in O
battle Of words. Before the masses in
an outdoor debate against all corners.
he wields his pitchfork and handles it
deftly. But in our house Of Lords all
sorts Of weapons como into play and
the keen blade and every pattern of
edged tool known to wordy warfare,
are employed. AS q rule our Senator,
although sprung from the great land
lord classes, and owning great cs-
tates plumcs himself upon being one of
the common people and upon his right
to speak for the masses. Three of our
Presidents, Jackson, Lincoln and
johnson, all Southerners, were so hum
bly, born as that the birth place of the
first has always been a debate, whilo
the last probably had for his infant
home u hut as humble as could be
found in the old North State. Yet
these were hardly harder hit
ters for the masses than Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison or James
Monroe. %"llonor and shame from no
conditions rise and talent, genius and
the trick Of rising to power belongs
to the masses as fully as to the classes.
We are led to these reflections by
what occurred in tho United States
Senate but the other day, when the
Tariff Bill was under discussion and
Senator Tillman and Senator IIoar, OF
Massachusetts divided the debate
The Massachusetts, Senator substan-
italy cOmbated the claim Of any one
man to m~onopolize the right of hum
BILE and lowly origin, stating that him
self had sprung from the "yeomanry,"
and that his associations were such as
to make him acquainted with the
views, the feelings and the aspira-
tions of the masses in this country
Senator Tillman is Il man OF ability
n strong in debate. and we trust his
little trick Of appealing to the passions
and ~preiudices of the less fortunate in
life, now that he is In high place and
station may be abandoned. 1t is un-
worthy of him. We have now in the
Executive chair OF this State a repre-
sentative OF the great landlord class.
We have in the other State House Of
fices, TO a man, representatives Of the
families who have been conspicuous as
property holders for generations, and
OF the college and %broadcloth stripe.
Our members Of Congress, Senators
and Lower House, belong TO families
who hold and have held as much prop
erty as tho Legislators Of any State in
this Union, or in any OF the States Of
Europe where the people elect their
representatives. If John Burns who
represents the working classes OF Lon
don In the British House of Commons
held "a thousand acres of land or the
smallest hut in London Town he could
no more be elected by his working
constituency than the Prince CT Wales
or the Duke OF ~Connaught. When the
fight comes in this country between
capital and property on one side and
socialistic and populistic demands it
will be seCl hat men Of education,
talent and intellectual power will be
chosen to represent the one and lordly
property holders the other. AS q con-
clusiOn to the whole matter We do trust
that the time must soon come in this
state when d~emagogic appeals by
politicians cannot be successfully made
to the great mass of our voters, who
really are of one class-an i%ndepend-
ent, intelligent constituency of fairly
equal intelligence and property.
Here is a sample Of the debate in
which we think Senator Hoar has
drawn a true picture Of the body of
the citizenship Of his country, a no
bio "yeomanry" not to - fooled or
bamboozled always:
Turning to the South Carolina Sena-
tor, Mr.. Hoar said there were some
men who seemed to think that down
beneath the body Of the people there
was a great mass Of seething people
eager for extremes. lie knew through
n through the character, purposes
n opinions OF the men who get their
living from the farms and factories Of
Massachusetts. He had sprung from a
yeoman, his associations had been with
that class and he knew what they were
talking about. "They are,n he pro-
ceeded, impressively, "simple, sim
cere, honest, liberty loving, God-fear-
ing men. They think no evil, and the
appeal to vile passions falls on deaf
ears with them"
will the Senator permit me?" broke
in Mr.. Tillman.
Mr.. HOar went on without pausing.
The men who make up tho farms and
the factories were the same the coun-
try over, he said. Their kinsmen had
turned westward, building up a now
empire there, a large and glorious
New England.
And | hold" concluded Mr.. Hoar,
that TO the great body of these peo-
pie these charges are not only prepos-
ferrous, but Infamous"
Mr.. Tillman again was ready with a
reply. AS to the soothing mass Of
ignorance, as the Senator from Massa-
chusctts had designated the masses,
said Mr.. Tillman. But the Massa-
chusctts Senator promptly interrupted
him.. II deny that statement" said
Mr.. Hoar. 81 said just the contrary,
and my statement Is perverted"
VERY we'll" answered Mr.. Tillman,
you are the last man I would be will
Inc tn misrpnrpGapf IN hie foco -