The Savannah morning news., 1900-09-02
cHARLEsroN.s POLITICS.
How She BENDS the Knee That Thrift
May Follow FawninE.

/ Editor Wallace Of The Grecnyillc News
I has a very correct notion OF the situa-
! ton. In the News Of yesterday he says;
Politics makes strange bcdfeliows, In
\ deed. Who would have thought few
I short years ago. when Gov. Tillman was
| raising hell on Chiccos street IN hts
| determination TO enforce prohibition upon
Charleston. ana when a year or two later
GOV. Evans. al Tillman's evident dicfa-
/ ton forced the tyrannical metropolitan
/ police law upon the city, that
( Charleston would ever 80 for T1liman, or
I for anything that Tillman wantedf
"Tnlman got into power largely BY
abusing Charleston and iis dude fac
| tory" and other shings dear 90 the mind
OF tho jewellers By the sea. How be was
| hated in that city Is mnttcr OF go re-
cent date as needs nos be- further reca-
pitulated here.
but now Charleston and Tillman are
/ cheek by iowl. The Senator Is le8ging
| for tire naval station Tor the city. and
the city - subscrvient 60 tho Senator'S
wishes. ana votes for the Senator's dis
pensary and tho Senator's candidate by
| the overwhelming vote Of i've to one.
what a Transformation. And why2 A
part OF the reason has already been hint
90 al IN The effort 10 get the naval station
from the nttle town Of Port Royal with
the best harbor on the Atlantic coast, and
| transfer u 10 Charleston. whore the me-
lodious notes OF the string band floats up
on the night air and the swallow-tau and
the decoiiete dress meet la the brilliant
halls OF Terpsichore.
But there are other reasons not hard
20 and. Charleston has accepted the dis
ponsary IN a spirit OF perfect resignation
because the dispensary does not inter
fcre with ChaFleston's nve OF the need
fuL So that everything is lovely down
On Chlcco's street. The blind tiger-no.
not the blind tiger, but the tiger with his
| eyes open-fourishes. lie gets his sup
plies, not from the railroads ana the
boats. where a too watchful consiobu-
larry might possibly. though not probably
pounce down upon the stun but he gets
IL from headquarters-the Charleston dis
pensary-buys Il by the quantity ana sells
| Il by the drink
Thus Il goes. The tiger plies hts trade
undisturbed; the dispensary reports big
sales. which 80 TO swell the clty's Golfers;
everybody gets his tod Ia his own pre-
| ferred way-and Charleston and the big
| gin mill az Columbia are working hand
and giove-the friends OF one being the
friends Of the other
And the Charleston vote goes to Nc
Sweeney over eco strong IL is a case OF
Tickle me. Johnny. tickle me- do:
| You tickle me, and III tickle YOU 4"
We have tried hard 20 have patience
| with Charleston ana 20 believe that Il
would pun itself ont OF it's slough. COM
mercial and political but we must con
fess 20 a great disgust az the selnshness.
1 the shortsightedness aud the inoptitude OF
| the men who control It's politics II they
had set themselves deliberately 60 forfeit
the respect and confidence OF the rest OF
the state u Is hard 10 sec how they could
have succeeded better than they
/ for their policies except on the theory that
they cannot see an inch before their noses
and neither know nor care Tor public opin-
| Ion IA other parts OF South Carolina.
As a rule Charleston. II Il does the
right thing. does Il al the wrong time.
aud ~ Il does the wrouR thinx--which IRE
quoniiy hauEs ns--it does Il so iagrantiy
that It's offensiveness IS doubled John
| Gary Evans was first bitterly attacked in
Charleston. but when he became Cover
nor he was dined and wined there In the
hope OF getting something out OF him.
| when this hope failed he was again as
sailed, ana the false allegation that one
/ q the best men IN the city, William T..
Huger. was favorable TO him was suf-
fscieut TO cause his defeat for the Office
OF Mayor Then the Charleston politicians
took up Ellerbe ana poured butter over
/ him lie did not remove the metropolitan
ro,ice as soon as was expected and they
| turned on him rancorOusly. although
| little patlence and tact would have gain
/ ed them what they wanted. McSweeney
succeeded Ellerbe and he IN turn was
courtod. with better success than the
| others Charleston got immunity FOR its
/ Illicit liquor dealers AMI has paid Nc
/ Sweeney handsomely Ia votes for fia-
grant sacrifice OF public duty 10 personal
/ ends.
The dispensary system has nowhere
Il been more hated than In Charleston, yet
| Charleston now accepts the dispensary
without a murmur and votes che dispen-
ssry ticket by big majorities. with tue
understanding that It - 90 be privileged
to violate she law al will ChaEIeston =
! friends in other parts OF the state were
| trying 70 ria South Carolina OF the abotn-
| lnation-but what was that 20 Charies-
| tOn7 selfish and self-absorbed. II has oe-
serted ns natural allies for shameful
| composition with a system II knows 70
be evil and heartily detests.
| And Tillman-the story OF Charleeton's
relations with Tillman is written in tho
same characters. Does Charleston dove
or admire or approve Tiliman7 No one
| will pretend to say so. But for ah that
| ne n fawncd on there snd given com
| piimentnry vote" and not a protest. h
made against his bo~sisn, his insults, hts
| false accusations, even against the editor
| OF the cnNet 1nafieestou heNHPaPFfs AN-
| cause Charleston wants Tillmans aid m
wrestling the naval station from poor lit
he Port Royal.
who can respect the spirit shown IN
these performances That we cannot DO
Il we freely confess. and there are. we
doubt not. many thousands in South Car
DINA who feel a great repugnance for ~.
Somehow, the dominant politicians iR
Charleston seem incapable OF far-sight-
| ediv pollcv They work for Immediate
selfish results and so grecdily and pat
entity that no disguise can be put upon
their motives. From one extreme to an
other. they execute a series OF fiops which
would be ludicrous II they were not hui
initiating.