The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-07-23

Senator I1llman frequently complains
that the weekly papers do not give the
state political news. THE ADVERTISER
prints q three column story of the meet
inu here Friday-not to please Senator
Tillman-but because the subscribers
of THE ADVERTISER are entitled to
this important news. This report is
THE ADVERTISERS own report. 1t is
not taken from the daily newspapers.
x<s
A Matter OF Men.
The question of selecting candidates
for the offices this year appeals in a
strictly personal way. The understand
ing is that fractional lines are not to be
drawn and so far as THE ADVERTISER
is concerned it will live up to it. The
editor of this paper expects to vote for
Tillmanites and Ants indiscriminately.
No principle is involved. 1t would be no
satisfaction to us to sneak In an cold
Anti" merely because he was once an
"Anti." We are not disciples of "peace
and unity" We believe now as always
that the Reform Movement did the
state of South Carolina incalculable
nurt-hurt that the farmers, the me-
chanics and all others are suffering
from. Meanwhile other men whose
opinions are equally entitled to weight
with ours believe differently. We do
not hesitate to say that If the lines
were drawn and strong, true men were
disposed to make a stand-up fight on
the old issues. pointing out that the
~dispensary is a fraud and a humbug,
that the cry of reducing taxes was
greater humbug and that the old
charges of "oligarchy," "bam-
boozing' and "debauching'' and all
that sort of nonsense were nonsense, we
should vote with them and support
them with such vigor as we could COM
mand. But the leaders or former lead
ers of our old faction appear to have
have gulped down the great booze in
stitution with all it's r%ottenness and
they have consented not to further
fight the astonishingly absurd and RI
diculous propositions that many Of u
good people have been voting for.
They, these leaders and candidates,
tacitly accept the old issues as settled
and on matters of political principle
and policy your former can't" or
"Conservative" is as good a Tillmanite
as man in Anderson county hat
helped to pull old Ben around in Il
buggy ten years ago. On the other
hand, the former Tillmanites who are
running for Office are just as eager to
get q h~igh-collared, striped-shirted,
oily-haired town vote as they are to get
the backing of the horny-handed son
of toll. The whole business is down to
matter of men. Some of the former
candidates we have known and liked
for years and the former conservatives
running against them We have not
known. In those cases we shall vote
and "holler" for the Tillmanites. Some
of the former "Antis" are our old
friends and in those instances, we are
for them. One man is about as good as
another this year, SO far as merit
counts. Here's DR.. Zimmerman, a
former Tillmanite and as honest a rem
tleman and safe as lives and yet he will
not receive 10, former Tillmanite
VOU6S. lneTe VIII DS lOT1ueT ftlUlS dllu
e. former Tillmanites too who will talk
mighty smooth about buried differ
ences and dead factions and slip up to
the polls and vote for all the Ants
they can find and vice versa. THE AID
vERTISER is not of that kind. When
our ''old Anti" candidates say they do
not believe in fac%tionalism we take
them at their word and regard our
selves cut loose from them and at
liberty to vote for the most rabid old
Ben-Tillmanite that ever trotted on
the turf or howled at a campaign meet
ing, provided he's a pretty good fellow
and W. like him pretty we'll. And that's
the sort of platform that, to say the
least of it, lis clear # duplicity and
sneakery.