The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-01-26
w. EIlerbe.

w. ID. EilerDS, as u rcouit w WIS
election la November last, on yeeter-
day one week ago, was duly inaugurated
Governor OF South Carolina. He be-
longs 10 q race of wealthy landlord
planters OF Marion county in the east
ern part OF the State, and is a young
man, not forty. He received a liberal
education at Wofford College In this
State. These + bis antecedents. In
1890 he joined heart and soul into what
Is now known as the Reform movement
and shares with Tillman and other
leaders the responsibility and the
glory of what has been wrought and
achieved In the State in the last six
years. He was elected in 1890 as q re-
former and served in the responsible Of
fee of State Comptroller for four years.
In 1894 he aspired to be Governor,
but 1t Is understood was stood aside by
Senator Tillman and other leaders and
made to occupy q waiting stool, that
Governor Evans fortunes might be
pushed. In 1895 the cry'was general for
Eilerbe to be Governor and the con-
sentative Or anti-Tillman element pre-
senting no candidate, he went in with
the cordial enlargement of the entire
white element In the State. Thus
Governor Ellerbe commences his adj
ministration under most suspicious
conditions and the best promise of
hearty cooperation on the part Of the
whole people. This fortune is due to
these facts: he has never exhibited or
displayed In his public life or public
u~tterances bitterness or savageness of
spirit: his bearing in q period of in
tense ~partizanship has been equable
and moderate; he has shown no symp-
toms of radicalism and radical revolu,
tion; there seemed to re in his char
acter we'll founded justification for the
belief that he had respect for the past
of the State and that he might be ex-
pected to build upon, and improve that
past, adhere to we'll established land
marks, recovering al that was good,
and standing by the good name of the
State. Confidence in his character
and attributes, relying upon education,
training, and surroundings, all parties
were willing to trust him. and none to
challenge his fitness. His inaugural
address inspires confidence that
these hopes will be realized. The
readers will be forced to tho conclu-
sion that the speaker loves his State
and Is u full-blooded Carolinian. At
first he was doubtful of the %dispensary
experiment, but has come to believe
that it is the best solution OF the diff,
cult liquor problem and calls upon the
people Of the State 80 give it a fair
trial. In doing so he does not indulge
in the ~vulgarity Of d%enouncing every
man who happens to disagree with him,
as favoring the "whiskey interest,""
and other hard and hideous names
His temperate and gentlcmanlike ex-
pressions will 'isilence envious
tongues" and make friends for the dis
pensary among those who believe the
system undemocratic, unstatesman!ike
and corrupting. He sustains with
great earnestness and force our public
school system as necessary to the crea-
ton of a prosperous and civilized peo-
pie. Higher education should be
maintained, and a liberal support &C.
corded to our State Colleges for men
and women. He Is a graduate of a de-
UNCONVENTIONAL College, but being a
sound democrat he knows that State
and church should be kept as far apart
as the East is from the West, that
there should be no Jealousy between
the State and other institutions, secta-
rian or not sectarian, church or anti
church Upon this subject and among
other noble expressions we quote:
Can the free school fit for the high
est duties OF craftsmanship? Assuredly
not For the solution Of great and Of
tentlmes perplexing problems. ~involv-
ing the peace and prosperity of all the
people, the State stands in constant
need of men of the highest scholarship,
OF the profoundest knowledge Of law,
men whose mental grasp is large
enough to sweep the whole horizon,
men able to rise above local or even
State interests, and to act for the com,
mon good OF the people Of all the
States. n \
Colleges founded by the churches
and by private beneficencc have per-
formed and are still performing a
great and patriotic service, but no
State should surrender to private
philanthropy or UNCONVENTIONAL zeal its
sacred, ~inalienable right and solemn
duty of placing within reach OF all her
children the bread of knowledge.
We have said enough to Indicate our
entire confidence in the patriotism OF
the Governor just installed. We trust
he will succeed in bringing our people
all to dwell together in harmony and
work together for the common good
We will sustain him in this laudable
ambition, reserving to ourselves the
right to criticise when he is wrong and
to scold and laugh at him when in his
public administration there is lack OF
wisdom.