New-York tribune., 1902-08-07
ANnTHER TILLNAN VAGART.

Tho naenIa of this country are indebted to Sen
ator BENJAMIN r. TiIlman. of South Carolina,
for many strange conceptions of honor ana ac-
couutabiitv In public life. 1t is one of MI Hi
mans curious delusions that it is perfectly con-
sistent and logical for him TO boast IN one
breath of administering the sand cure 10
negro voters in his own State, and in another
breath to denounce his Republican colleagues in
the Senate as accomplices in the unspeakaole
brutality of administering the water cure to
obstinate insurrectos in the Philippines. 1t IS
also one of bis playful fancies that he can
openly attack fellow Senator as scoundrel
and corruptionist, and then hold his own honor
unwarrantably assailed when the charge Is
flung back as an unmitigated falsehood. Ac-
cording to Mr.. Tillman's elastic philosophy, It
was the retort, not the provocation, which con
stituted 1.-The first blow'-that blow which no
one hoping "to hold up his head in decent so
ciety' could fail TO follow up with rough and
tumble onslaught.
Public opinion in South Carolina has not
taken very seriously, perhaps, the senior Sena-
tors ideas of personal consistency, or rated as
of any great Importance his theories about the
properly strenuous conduct Of political joint de-
bates. Against a construction which he has re-
Gently put on his duties and obligations as
protest. In his latest departure. in fact Mr..
TilIman lays down a principle which not only
cheapens and degrades his office, but clashes
absolutely with the States rights doctrines to
which South Carolina has clung for generations
with SO much obstinacy and at so much cost.
The people of Charleston seem anxious to send
to the State Senate this fall one George W. Won
Kolntz whose candidacy for the Democratic
nomination has so far been unoppOsed Mr..
Won Kolnitz. it appears. failed to support the
Bryan-Sewall ticket in 1896. and even worked
for its defeat. The Tillman State Committee
recently considered the question of excluding
him from the contest in the primaries for the
Democratic nomination, but decided after
much hesitation, to let him make the race I'M
challenged. But Mr.. Tillman evidently consid-
ers Won kolnitz's possible nomination and cleo
tiOn deadly insult levelled at him by the
people of Charleston; and in his irritation he
has gone TO the extreme of warning them that
If they choose State Senator who lacks the
seal Of his approval Charleston can shift for
herself hereafter in any legislation at Washing
ton which affects her interests.
The irate senior Senator takes pains to make
his retaliatory programme thoroughly under
stood. In a letter dated August 3, and just
made public he says:
The election OF MIR. Won kolnitZ would indi-
cate to my mind that majority Of the citizens
Of Charleston no longer Democrats. and I
should be bound TO take steps to see that the
Republicans who elected him were barred from
the Democratic primaries in the future, and
should not be recognized in the next Democratic
State Convention. If Charleston is a Re
publican city. L shall leave the Republicans to
take care of its national legislation
Mr.. TflIman's thunderings may or may not
terrorize the people of Charleston. But his
threats of vengeance only demonstrate the
cheapness In which he holds the Office South
Carolina has twice bestowed upon him, and
emphasize his incapacity 10 master the tra-
ditions of State unity and State sovereignty
which were so long the moving force in South
Carolina politics. Nr. Tillman's latest vagary