The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-06-12
LET The PEOPLE DECIDE.

last primary, tnlnhS II piece o.
belated news what we said about
the State committee, out of re
spect for Colonel Hoyt, ':stretch
ed the oath required by the party
rules to fit Colonel Hoyt's case
that he might be admitted" etc.
Perhaps we were mistaken about
the committee stretching the
oath required by the party rules,
we remember now it did not, but
the committee when asked to de-
eide whether a man who hac
been nominated by faction:
either publicly orprivately sug
gested, could under the rules o1
the party participate in the pri
mary, they evaded the question
by saying in effect, the rules Of
the party prohibited factional
nominations and they disapprov
ed of such nominations, but, If q
candidate fled a pledge saying
that he was not the candidate OF
a faction he would be permitted
to run. Colonel Hoyt is among
the number wanting to dictate
who shall be permitted to run in
the coming primary, and the
only way he and his kind can
work such a trick, is to manu-,
facture a pledge different from
the one in use. In the last pri,
mary the rules required pledge
which was, that the candidate
taking it, swore he was not the
candidate of a faction either pub,
licly or privately suggested, and
Colonel Hoyt fled such pledge,
and became a candidate in the
primary after having been nomi-
mated in a convention, OF which
he was a member expecting the
nomination. Judging from the ad,
dress he pulled out of his pocket
after his nomination, and read
before the convention.
The point we want to impress
is, that one of the very men now
clamoring to keep others out of
the primary by fixing the rules
and pledge to suit their cases,
did not let the party pledgestand
in his way when he was a candi-
date. The committee out Of re-
spect for Colonel Hoyt, for all OF
them like him as a man, would
not make a positive declaration
as they should have, nor did
they stretch the oath; the mis-
take we made was saying the
committee stretched the OATH
probably We would have been
more accurate had we said the
candidate stretched his con-
science when he took the oath
required by the party rules.
Colonel Hoyt denies that he is
indebted to the committee for
the privilege of entering the
campaign of 1900. "He was there
because he was entitled to the
privilege as a Democrat, and he
did not ask permission of the
executive committee, nor would
he do so under any circum-
stances. We do not dispute this
at all, Colonel Hoyt had the
right to participate in the Demo
cratic primary so long as he
obeyed the rules governing the
primary, no one disputes the
proposition that Colonel Hoyt is
a Democrat, but when the party
constitution or rules stamps out
factionalism by requiring a
pledge, to entitle a candidate to
run in the primary, setting forth
that be has not been nominated
or suggested by faction, and
the fact is, that public conven,
ton was held and put forward a
nominee, we cannot to- this day
see how such nominee could take
the party pledge without having
first refused the convention made
nomination.
But this is threshing over old
straw, the party did permit Col
Hoyt to run Notwithstanding he
was nominated by an organized
faction in a public convention,
and we believe some people vot-
ed against him for the reason
that they could not see how he
could take the party pledge un-
der the circumstances.
Now, Col. Hoyt and Mr.. Con
zales, editors of the Mountaineer
and The State, respectively, want
the State convention to adopt a
platform and a pledge which
some Democrats cannot take,
and they know it. These ed
itors do not want the pri-
mary free and open to any
white man who will swear that
he is not the candidate of a fac
ton either publicly or privately
suggested, and will abide the re-
suit and support the nominees,
which is the pledge of the party
now, and has been ever since the
convention undertook to stamp
out factionalism in 1894.
Mr.. Gonzales is the able edi-
tor Of the Columbia State and is
the man who was largely instru-
mental in putting forward the
Haskell movement in 1890, and
who fought the holding of a con-
stitutional convention, gave aid
with able editorials to the ele-
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