The times., 1901-06-02
TILLMAN'S COURSE UPHELD
The Antitrust Leagues Local
Branch Passes Resolutions.

The Senator Landed as the Friend of
the Masses and Their Representa-
tive in the Senate-Primary Law
in South Carolina Commended
} Washington Branch, No. /, of the
American Antitrust League held a
meeting at it's headquarters 1929 Penn
sylvania Avenue northwest, last night
for the purpose OF taking some action in
the present trouble between Senators Till
man and McLauriD of South Carolina.
After the subject had been debated for
some time the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted:
Whereas owing to recent events the voters of
South Carolina will soon ilave an opportunity to
decide whether they endorse the official conduct
| OF Senator Tilnan or Senator McLaurin; and
| Whereas Senator THimans voice and vote in the
Senate have always heea on the sdr> Il the peo-
| pie and against the tfasss 7nd lawl$s combines
| which the greatest menace to the Republic
| at the present time; and
| Whereas Senator j. L. McLaurin's record has
been one of subserviency TO the interests OF the
ship subsidy seekers and other monopolistic COM
! bines who striving TO turn the Republic
into plntocTatie empire; Therefore be It 1t.
! League hereby endorses the official course of
| Senator Tillman that of true friend of the
| masses of the common people and an uncompro-
missing foe of the trusts, and we hope that the
| people of South Carolina will keep him many
wears in the Senate to defend the rights of the
| people of the whole nation as weil as OF South
| Carolina
| Resolved That we condemn the official course
| of Senator Mcl-aurin one which should be re-
! buked in the most emphatic manner by the peo-
| pie of the State of Soath Carolina.
H. B. Martin presided at the meeting,
with Cotter q Bride as Secretary.
A South CaroliniaD, resident of the+Dis-
trict, who still retains his citizenship in
ha Dali TOT in nf q
political situation In that Commonwealth,
| said:
Much of the outside comment on the
situation in South Carolina. provoked by
| the Tillman-McLaurin episode, is ex-
pressed in a nomenclature that belongs
rather to the politics of a State where
delegates are to be chosen and manipu-
lated, conventions to be controlled. and
| the will of the majority, as often as not,
to be defeated Such terms as boss the
machine political manipulation, ETC., are
hardly to be applied where the people
| have matters as absolutely in their own
| hands as III South Carolina. Nominations
for office in that State are not made by
| conventions or coteries of politicians, but
| by the direct voice of the individual
| voter.
Under the primary system of nomina-
| tion which prevails in the State, every
| Office, from {. county coroner to the Gov
y
| one who chooses being at liberty to en-
| ter the race, the only condition being that
| the person Offering as candidate shall
| pay the entrance fee, varying from s. to
| $50, according to the Office he enters for,
and. in addition, pleGgef himself to abide
the result of the primary majority of
all the votes cast is necessary TO nomi-
nation-a plurality not being sufficient
and 1t is not infrenuent for vote to be
| taken three and even four times before
| nomination is made, Gie rules of the
/ INN dqta n n he.
| hindmost candidates shall be dropped in
each race.
Under this system of nominating pub
| lie officers, which places the matter d.
! rectly in the hands of the people, without
| the intervention of bosses, or middle
men OF any kind, sentiment has grown
| heads, or bolters.' All candidates en-
terrng the lists are under pledge to abide
the verdict given by the voters at the
! primary and the / man who would vio-
late that pledge becomes a political sui
| eide in South Carolina
/ "A few years ago one of the candidates
the primary declined to be bound by
| the vote of the primary, and assumed to
run in the general election as an indie
| pendent, simon-pure Democrat He be
| longed to one of the most distinguished
! families in the State, had many times
/ been honored with public office, including
| a seat upon the Supreme Bench of the
! State, but when he appeared in the role
! of a 'bolter.' his native county, contain
ing over 4,006 voters. gave him seven
| votes,
This method of nomination is also used
! in the selection of United States Senators
| in South Carolina The Legislature of
| the State would not think OF electing
man other than the one whom the people.
in their primery' election, na,i nomi-
| mated for the office.
| Under the system, therefore, which
! prevails in South Carolina of selecting
| public officers, every voter from the very
| inception of a mans candidacy for pub
! lie ofTce having a voice directly affect
| tunity for the successful exercise of the
! malign influences which are SO corrupt
ing TO politics in some other places. You
| have in South Carolina as pure democ-
| racy, using the word democracy in its
| genealogical sense. as is possible in our