The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-03-18
BILL ARP ON THE FIGRT.
He is Not So Disguised With Tillman Be-
cause OF 1t.

- 10 WI PNNRoJ
has the right to talk about it. Till
man did wrong in jumping over three
desks to strike McLaurin. About
one desk was the limit of propriety.
Three desks give man time to cool
and that makes it against the law to
fight. As to the time and place,
that is of no consequence now.
There was time in the days Of
Webster aud Calhoun and Tom Ben
ton and Henry Clay when the United
States senate was as sacred almost as
a church, but now large majority of
it's members get their places by con-
duct infinitely more disgraceful
than fighting. Bribery and corrup-
ton have got SO common that a
man can't get there without using
big pile of money and making a
lot of promises. OF course, I do not
include our southern senators, for
they haven't got the money. If we
had some millionaires in Georgia,
Clay and Bacon would have to
step down and out. And I am not
so disgusted with Tillman for fight
ing in the senate chamber. He had
reason to believe that his partner
had received promises, and I reckon
he had. He certainly had great ca
pectations or he would not have
Topped over to the Republicans 80
suddenly. Politicians have to be paid
for their votes. Tillman is true man
but he is not great and good man.
admire him for some traits in his
character. He cannot be bribed or
intimidated. He dares to say what
he believes and he uses his pitch
fork with impunity. He is impet-
uous and combative, but he is sin
cere and everybody admires sin
cere man. Sincere is one Of the
strongest aud best words in our Ian
guage. 1t literally means unsealed
without wax-for in the olden
times letters we're sealed with wax,
but if it contained no secrets it was
not sealed at all, for wax cost money.
Tlllman is bold, defiant, stub
born man, but he is not great. A
great man like Webster or Calhoun
would have said to McLaurin: "Well,
sir, if I am a liar I deserve the cpl
thet. If l am not, then you deserve
it, but shall not stoop to give i"
I wish we were all that great.
This thing of resenting the
charge of lying with blow
is strange perversion of pro-
priety. A man may gain his ends
by cheating, swindling, over-reach-
ing, hypocrisy, bribery or conceal.
ing the truth, but you must not
call him liar.
He may break all the command
ments but don't call him liar,
though that is not in the Decalogue
All that I regret about the fight is
that Spooner did not call Tillman a
liar and get mauled for it before
McLaurin came in. I want some
body to whip Spooner. He was the
teaser that brought on the fight and
was delighted that it occurred be-
tween the two Carolina senators.
With his party it is no crime to shoot
down ten thousand Filipinos, who
refuse to give up their country, but
it shocks them awfully to have lit
tie fracas in the senate chamber.
Well, there are some great men
and there are many good men, but
greatness and goodness are rarely
combined. Addison says it takes
both to make a man complete. Such,
for example, as Washington and
Robert E. Lee. JOB says great men
are not always wise and he might
have added most of them are mean,
selfish, heartless and ambitious.
Lord Bacon, for instance, who took
brlbes while on the bench, and Crom
we'll and Napoleon. Webster was
very great man and long has been
my ideal of greatness. He was called
the Godlike, but sometimes his hu-
man nature overcame him. And so
with Henry Clay and Bob Toombs.
The great weakness of the people is
idolatrv. partisan or sectional or reli-