Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-08-31

| canism, and Mr.. John G. Cary
Makes a Plea For Commercial
| PROCESS.
The political meeting at Spartanburg
last Tuesday was held in the court
house instead Of in the open air. 1t
was because of the rain which had fall
len during the night. and which con-
tinued, at intervals, during the day.
The attendance was not nearly as
large as had been expected. 1t may
have been because Of the weather and II
may have been because the people are
not especially interested; but anyhow,
no one who desired to go into the court
house to hear the speeches found any
difficulty in so doing.
The speakers Of the day were Messrs.
Hemphill, Henderson, George john
stone, Latimer and John Gary Evans,
candidates for the United States SEN
ate, and Mr.. John C. Carey, president
Of the Lockhart mills. The senatorial
quintette spoke against Senator Nc
Laurin and in advocacy Of their res
pective claims to the position he
holds, and Mr.. Cary spoke in advocacy
Of commercial progress and develop
ment along lines calculated to benefit
all classes in the south.
| Senator Tilman was not present.
He had the misfortune to get a cinder
in his eye while passing through Penn
sylvania, and he was suffering great
pain because Of the circumstance. He
gave out to the press, however, the fol-
lowing, which he had intended to in
corporate in his speech:
SENATOR T1LLMAN's STATEMENT.
| There has been more or less stren-
uous effort made in various quarters to
cast imputations on my Democracy
and to charge that have been disloyal
to the organization in the past. Sena-
tor .McLaurin's supporters seek to de-
fend his own treachery to the party by
making these charges. while on the
other hand some Of my old political op-
ponents who have never been able to
give me any credit for anything that
was worthy or good, have Joined in
this accusation. and I. therefore. feel
that 1t is nothing but right that
should let the younger. generation of
voters. who KnI Nothing of the facts,
hear the plain truth so they may know
how much credence to give to these
charges.
made my entrance into the political
arena at Bennettsville in 'S5, purely by
accident The agitation began there and
was followed up in the News and Cour-
Ter in a series Of letters and addresses
in advocacy Of a farmers college and
took political turn in 'S6. In the Dem
ocratic state convention Of that year
had large following: but we were
beaten by those in possession Of the
machine, (the ring. called them) and
I was among the first to move that the
nomination for governor be made
unanimous, and to pledge my support
to the successful candidate. Contin-
uing the agitation. which broadened
into a demand for general reformation
Of the state government, and the abol-
| ition of various abuses-we were again
beaten in 'SS by very narrow margin
because Attorney General Earle, our
candidate, refused to allow the use OF
his name after the balloting begun
and again moved to make the nomi-
nations unanimous, thus showing my
loyalty to the party In state affairs.
In 1890 I was put forward as the
nominee Of the March convention to
run as a candidate for the nomination
for governor in the regular Democratic
convention, and the system Of joint
discussion was inaugurated. I was
overwhelmingly elected in the Demo
cratic primary, and although there was
q bolt and effort to elect an indepen-
dent candidate, I was chosen governor
in November following by a large ma
jority. The Alliance had been organ
lied in 'S9, and was very potent fac
tor in the success Of the reform move
ment; but there was a very powerful
political current flowing before the AL
lance was born. In 81 I discovered
that Ben Terrell. the lecturer Of the
National Alliance, was Systematically
going from county to county sowing
the seed of third partyism and preach
ing the doctrine Of voting for Betsy
and the baby" rather than the Demo
cratic party or any other party. This
led to my challenging Mr.. Terrell to a
joint discussion on the subject Of the
sub-treasury and other issues upon
which he was basing his propaganda
and the debate was held before the
State Alliance in this city. I pointed
out in the debate the danger Of the
white people of South Carolina riskine
any division as long as we had such
an overwhelming Negro majority, and
insisted that nothing should be done OF
a political character outside Of the
Democratic ranks until we had held a
constitutional convention and taken
steps to safeguard white supremacy
demanded and secured a pledge in
that meeting to make the fight against
Clevelandism, and the other undemo-
cratic policies that were being urged
by the New York wing of the party
inside of the Democratic ranks, and
there are hundreds Of witnesses to the
fact. The result was in '92, notwith-
standing the Alliance was in absolute
control Of the political affairs Of the
state and there was an overwhelming
sentiment in opposition to the Demo-
cratic party tenets as they were thef
promulgated by Cleveland and hiE