The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-06-02

Three YesIs Ago-Ccmments on the State
Government.
The Columbia State publishes The
following:
To the Editor Of The State. l o5-
serve IN the modified statement OF
3. R. Tillmsn published IN The State
of the 23d instant he lugs my name
into his lsbored effort st vindicatlon:
The statement from beginning to end
is more in the nature Of confession
and avoidance" than a vin6icatlon.
Expletives and ISLANDERS, his favorlte
weapons Of controversy, will not sat
isfy an inQuisilive public, which IS
getting down TO more serious 1orm
of inquiry.
He says when these staple ISLANDERS
about rebates under my administra-
ton were put Ito circulation by the
newspapers and taken up by General
Butler IN the canvass three years ago,
! met them promptly and vigorously
at Union and elsewhere, and last WIN
ter l Joined with Governor Evans IN
asking that the legislature should
appoint s committee to look into the
olspensarv's management and set the
charges Of corruption at rest forever.
This is very general, evasive and
erroneous. In the first place the
stale SANDERS were not taken up
by General Butler" by anything de
rived from the newspapers" Here
is what occurred at I MON. / had re,
ceiyed g communication from gen
tleman in Charleston, not anewspa
per man, informing me that by the
terms of the whiskey trust agree
ment, every member Of the trust was
bound to pay a rebate OF seven
cents a. gallon to all who pur.
chased thousand gallons or upward,
that is to say, was bound under
the trust agreement to pay back seven
cents on every gallon thus boug ght:
that the Mill Greek oistillery Of Ohio
was a member of the trust, and there
fore bound to return this rebate that
as Governor Tillmau, as chairman OF
the board of control, and understood
to be the sole responsible head, had
purchased large quantities Of liquor
from the Mill Greek distillery, he
ought to have received large sums
from the Mill Creek oistillery, run
ming up into the thousands OF dollars.
This is substantially the information
received from an entirely reliable, ex-
periencsd source.
This communication 60! into The
News and Courier and can be found
IN the files of that paper of that date,
before has an opportunity to use it
on the stump, in this way.
At 8 meeting preceding the one at
Union, i do not now remember where,
Mr.. Kohn, the correspondent OF
The News and Courier, asked me If l
had any manuscript expected to use,
! would let him have it in advance,
so that he could make copy at his
leisure, and thereby save him the labor
when sending off MS dispatches.
I give him the memorandum furn-
ished me as above stated, enJoinlng
him not to publish it until had en-
brace0 it in some subsequent speech.
Mr.. ,Kohn. through inadvertence, |
suppose, forwarded it to his paper,
and it was published before had an
opportunity to refer to It.
Mr.. Kohn afterwards told me ne
had informed Governor Tillnan it
had been published without my
authority.
Notwithstanding this information,
Governor Tillman having the open
ing speech at Union, made this puolica-
ton the text for violent, coarse, vul-
gar attack on me, stirring up the pas
sions Of few rufhans and black
guards in the audience, and then
when 7 got up to reply, the rufians
attempted to browbeat and howl me
down. When the excitement was at
its height and trouble seemed immln-
ent, Governor Tillmsn, as usual, left
the stand and sought place Of safe
ty. In the course OF his rlbaldry and
vituperation he denied having col
Iected the rebates and endeavored to
take refuge from the awkward ollem-
ma in which he found himself by rails
ing other and false issues, having no
relevance to the rebate question.
When ! replied, I said, among other
things, that there were but two alterna
tives, either Governor Tillman had
collected the thousands Of dollars Of
rebates from the Mill Creek distiIery
and not accounted for them. or had
been guilty Of grave and censurao!e
dereliction of official duty in no! col
lecting, the rebates and turning them
into the State treasury for the benefit
of the taxpayers.
No charges were made, but simple
emo 1iry which any taxpayer had
right to make, ard any honest man
would have invited and answered dis
passionately and frankly. There was
no occasion for such an ou.ourSt OF
coarse ribaldry and unseemly passion.
The controversy stands today where
it was left off at Union nearly three
years ago, except that the suspicion OF
crookedness in regsrd to the rebates
has been intensified by a remark
which Governor Evans, his friend and
colaborer in the dispensary business,
is charged with having made to Mr..
Mixson, late chief dispenser, to the eT-
feet that Ben Tilimau had lined his
pockets with rebates" And further,
by recent intimations and suggestions
on the same line from some OF Cover
nor Tillman's closest, and. SIS is gen.
orally supposed. most confidential per,
sonaI and political friends. Now, the
simple and only question as to this
branch OF the dispensary management
involving hundreds OF thousands OF
dollars to the taxpayers, is, were the
rebates of seven cents per gallon col
lected from the Mil Creek distlllery
and other whiskey dealers, and II not,
why nos2
Gov. Tillman cannot sidetrack this
momentous issue by TRADES Of abuse
against newspapers and any and
every body who choose to exercise
&1o,, 5crI& f~na oS,2