The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-06-25

was well received and he made goot
speech, which was frequently applaud
ed. Col. Halbert addressed himself
vigorously to the discussion of questions
incident to the occasion and was ap.
plauded when he stated he was in favor
OF the dispensary law and would try to
enforce it in Charleston should he be
elected Governor. Col. Talbert had
some sparring with one or two individ-
uals in the audience, who were asking
questions. One especially insisted upon
knowing If he was in favor of letting
the mill presidents have entire charge
of educating our children"
The audience was still large when
Lieutenant Governor Tillman began
his speech. With brief preliminaries
concerning his other opponents Tillman
went for Talbert and his long record as
an oflice.holder. In the first place he
considered him dead now, so far as
this race was concerned. 1albert, he
said, had held Office ever since he could
remember. He again assailed him for
not being on duty at Washington,
where, though much needed, South
Carolina now has only one Congress
man-Johnson-on duty. He is draw
ing So, 900 annually to look after the
interests of his constituents and here
he is looking after his own, he said
About the cnly time he ever shows
up in Washington is ON pay day, he
added. Reading from transcript
which he had just received Col. Till
man cited Congressman Talbert's rec
ord as follows +" In the 53d Congress,
introduced six bills none reported
none passed. The 54th Congress, two
sessions, five bills Introduce, none
reported; none passed. The 55th Con-
gress. three sessions, four bills intro
ducee none reported none passed.
lu the 5Gth Congress he did manage to
get in small bill to pay deputy col
lector of internal revenue. Possibly il
was in view of the fact that he thought
he was of no value III Washington that
Col. Talbert now INDUCED this vacation
at home. Col. TalberL talked of favor
ing an appropriation for your Exposi-
ton. He did, but unfortunately every
speech he makes generally kills bill.
Ask your committee who went to Co
lumbia what did as Lieutenant Gov
ernor. L aided them in securing S5O,-
600 and with others did valuable work
for your grand Exposition in Edgefeld.
A bill is now pending in Washington ,
for $l5O,OO0 for the relief of your Ex-
position deficit, and where is my dis
friend, Col. Talbert To-
night L am the ring master of the
circus, but the star performer who just
preceded me snrpas sed JOHNNIE Lowlow
in his lalmlest days" Col. Tillman
referred to his services in the Horse
Greek Valley labor troubles; answered
a question regarding his work on the
bi | putting vestibules on street cars
and he closed a fine effort, splendidly
put, amid applause.
Immediately at the conclusion OF
Col. Tillman's speech Congressman
Talbert stepped forward for reply.
Col. Tillman stated that he had no OBJ.
lection to reply at the proper time,
but objected to this regular thing of
Talbert's making another speech in re-
ply when his time was up. The audi
ence was leaving and amid some con-
fusion Col. Talbert continued a state
mcnt, saying he had been on duty ten
years, and had never been absent, ex-
cept when he or some member of his
family was sick. He further stated
that he was paired, which was equiva-
lent to vote, and mentioned several
bills he said he had passed. He add
ed that he did not object to having his
record ventilated, and was willing to
be judged by it.
Col. John II. Sloan made good
speech and paid a high tribute to
Charleston, where he said the first
impulses TO patriotism had been stirred
in his heart when the first gun of the
war was fired. Col. Sloan told of his
war record and his record in the Leg
islature, where he had always been
firm friend OF Charleston, which had
given him over 1000 votes in the last
election, and he felt sure would do
even better for him this time. In re-
ply to questions propounded Col Sloan
said that he believed in the right of
every one to organize and he thought
that child labor bill should be passed
to prohibit the employment of children
under twelve years of age.
Mr.. Cole T.. Blease was the next
speaker. He did not wait for any
questions to be asked him, but declared
at once that he was in favor of child
labor bill, of biennial sessions of the
Legislature and of the laboring classes
organizing to protect themselves from
the oppression of trusts and corpora
tions. In regard to the schools Mr..
Blease said that he believed In the
white mans taxes being devoted to
the education of white children. He
favored the dispensary law as it stands
today and if he was Governor he
would enforce the law in Charleston
as well AZ in The country.
Mr.. B!ease at this point got into a
wordY combat with Mr.. Gary. Mr..
Blease having called on Mr.. Gary to
define his position on the dispensary
question, Mr.. Gary said that as each
county got the profit from It's own dis
pensary sales there was no reason why
any county should have a dispensary if |
it did not want it. elf you don't want
a dispensary in Charleston" said Mr..
Gary, "you oughtn't to have it,"
There was great applause from the au-
dience at this, and Mr.. Blease then
declared that it was the first time Mr..
Gary had ventured to declare himself |
on the subject. Mr.. Gary, in reply,
said that Mr.. Blease had formerly told |
him he was in favor of local option,
but now he had chanUed h;a tnno