Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-04-30
The Manning Meeting.

The Manning Meeting.
In :today's paper is a pretty full re-
port of the proceedings of the Manning
meeting last Friday, including the in
cident between Applet and Tillman,
and all that Tillman had. to say in re-
gard to the policy he would have pur-
sued with reference to the senatorial
colleague who has had the temerity to
rebel against his ironclad rule.
The Applet matter, while interesting.
is of very much magnified Importance.
In his editorial attacks on Tillman, Ap-
pelt rehashed every charge that had
ever been made, from the free pass
scandal to the Texas oil curiousness.
including the shady transactions with
the penitentiary and the rebate mys-
terry. With regard to the rebate mat
ter, he repeated the alleged statement
Of John Gary Evans to the effect that
Tillman had lined mis- pockets, figured
out that there were something like $1O,-
900 of rebates unaccounted for, and
left open the question as to whether
Tillman had allowed the Mill Creek
company to swindle the taxpayers or
had taken the money himself. AS a
matter of fact, he did not. at any time,
claim to have documentary evidence on
this question and voluntarily he so
wrote to Tillman in advance, putting
it within the power Of the senator to
vindicate himself without leaving
Washington.
| But for some reason, it seems, Till
man has seen fit to explain this mat
ter after maintaining silence for eight
years. "It is true" he admits, that
the Mill Creek Distilling company al
lowed rebates, as did the other COM
panies in the whisky trust; but the
state was without means with which
to buy a stock of liquor for the dis
pensary, and 7 allowed the Mill Creek
company to retain those rebates in con-
sideration of it's generosity in extend
ing credit" This, in effect, Is the long
deferred explanation and on it's face it
is both reasonable and plausible. One
may believe it or not as he chooses;
but unless he can furnish proof to the
contrary, he should hold his peace.
However, he still has right to specu-
late whether the Mill Creek Distilling
company was the only member of the
whisky trust, as then constituted, that
was willing to grant such terms to the
wealthy state Of South Carolina;
whether in granting such terms the
Mill Creek Distilling company violated
it's agreement with other members of
the trust; whether, If such a statement
as Senator Tillman makes now had
been made then, the Mill Creek Distill-
ing company would have had to show
that it allowed the regular rebates;
whether in Withholding an explanation
until now, Senator Tillman was gov
erned more by consideration for the
Mill Creek Distilling company than for
himself.
Among the questions that Mr.. APP
pelt asked Senator Tillman, there are
some that are very perplexing-quite
as perplexing as this rebate problem;
but no one need ever expect conclusive
adjudication of these questions from
the stump. The thing is impossible in
such an atmosphere. The proper place
for the most important of them is in a
jury room, into which there is no rea-
son to hope they can ever be gotten.
OF course the whole incident was pol
itical; but the most significant portion
of Senator Tillman's speech is that
in which he discloses the main object
of his visit to Manning. 1t may be
that the senator is governed purely by
patriotic motives in his fight against
his colleague, McLaurin. 1t may be
that there is nothing personal in the
matter whatever; that there is no con-
Germ about his endangered dictator
ship: that the senator's sole object
is to prevent n "thinly disguised Re-
publican" from being elected by DEM
ocratic votes. But even if all these
things be true, it seems hard to think
that the people Of South Carolina are
to be forever denied the right of eXer-
cising their choice as between men and
measures; that instead of being allow