Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-09-24
aetiseellaneoas &eading.
CLEANEST RECORD OF THEM ALL.
What an Old Collegemate Has to Say of
Mr. Finley.

Mr. Finley.
Charleston Post, Monday.
The voters of the Fifth congress.
sional district did a very happy thing
when they nominated Mr.. D. E. Fin
ley, of York, for congress. They
gratifed the aspirations of an ambi-
tious man and enlarged the sphere
for usefulness of a plain, honest man
who will strive to do his duty by
those whose representatives in con-
gress he will be.
Mr.. Finley's course thus far is inter-
esting and encouraging to honest, am
bilious men. South Carolina college
men of the later sos remember well
the lean, lank fellow, Of six feet two,
who joined their ranks in the middle
of term. His preparation had not
been good but with steady applica-
ton to his books he made good prog
ress and graduated from the law
department creditably. He was known
chiefly, however, for hard common
sense and consistency of purpose.
He was older than the majority of
his fellow students, and "Old Finley"
he consequently soon was called. In
the college politics of the day, when
Ben Tillman was just coming from the
backwoods, Old Finley was a ''reform-
er" of a moderate type, and rather
favored breaking away from beaten
tracks, for even on the campus there
were alignments of more or less
political nature.
After graduation he opened his law
Office in Yorkville, and it seemed to
the younger men of his acquaintance
that he had phenomenal luck in getting
clients. His common sense and honest
ways did the work. The Reform
movement had started and found Mr..
Finley at that period in his career
when a young lawyer thinks he needs
the advertisement of going to the
legislature.
So Mr.. Finley went to the legisla-
ture as a representative from York.
Then he went as a senator. Of course
he went as a Reformer, or else he
would not have gone at all. But he
was Reformer only in those matters
which generally even straightouts
admitted might be good. The crack
of Ben Tillman's whip never worried
him, and we soon find the vicious
element, as John Gary Evans, Stan
yarne Wilson and the like denouncing
him as traitor of the cause of Reform.
That did not drive Mr.. Finley from
the even tenor of his way. We find
him nominating Wade Hampton for
United States senator against j. L. M.
Irby, and he was a member of the Old
Guard of 20 who rallied around the
veteran till the last. We find him
fighting the dispensary law. We find
him denouncing the metropolitan po-
lice law, and we find him standing by
Judges Wallace and Hudson and op-
posing the pot-hunters for the ermine.
We also find him pledging his support
to Judge Witherspoon and giving it
when he himself could have supplant-
ed his friend by the asking.
True as a die has Mr.. Finley been
to his convictions, doing what he con-
ceived to be right, and even in this
last race, when defeat meant political
oblivion for him, we find him asking
for the withdrawal of damaging circu-
lars which his friends, without his
knowledge or consent, were using
against his rival.
His course is full of instruction for
the youthful politician of the day, and
now when the Reform movement (ac-
cent on the "ment'O is becoming a
thing Of the past, when the voters Of
South Carolina are again choosing men
for their merit for positions of honor,
it can be said of Mr.. Finley as one of
the actors in the serio-comic political
drama of the last eight years, that he
has the cleanest record of them all.
Lancaster Review.
According to the official count, Mr..
Finley only beat Mr.. Barber in this
county by five yotes-his majority in
the district, however, exceeded 1900.
1t was impossible for Mr.. Barber to
evorcome the big vote given Mr.. Fin
ley in his own county, York. Each
candidate carried three counties, Cbes-
ter, Kershaw and Chesterfield going
for Barber, and York, Lancaster and
Cherokee for Finley. The Review put
forth its best efforts to elect Mr.. Bar
ber, and, though unsuccessful, we have
no reason whatever to regret our &C
ton. We have the consolation of
knowing that we did what we con-
ceived to be our duty. Like Mr.. Bar
ber himself, however, as will be seen
by his card elsewhere, we accept the
result with good grace, and recogniz-
ing Mr.. Finley as the nominee of the
Democratic party, we shall not only
Loyalty support him in the general
election, but when he enters upon the
discharge of his duties as congressman
it shall be our aim to uphold his hands
by all fair and honorable means.
Greenville News.
Everybody has something nice to
say of D. E. Finley who beat DIR.
Strait and Mr.. Barber for congress.
AS an old time insurgent with living
memory and some very firmly fixed
affections, principles and beliefs, The
r..