The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-14
SENATOR TILLMAN,
DESPAIR OF ANALYSTS.
Deliberately Places Himself in u
False Light with the Public.


1t is good time to tell the truth about
TiIlman, though he will not tell it about
himself, and though he delights to say
things that make it wel-nigh impossi-
Bile for even his we'll wishers to ascar-
tain it. Deliberately he paints him
self as a savage, wearing a breech-
clout and brandishing 4 spear and de-
liberately he shocks and paralyzes de-
cent sentiment in the North and the
best part of the South. Even in his
own home Of South Carolina there are
good mothers who tonight hush their
offspring of to sleep with the name of
Tillman.
And all the time he is as good a
fellow, as sensible and decent citi-
zen, and as wise a man, as one could
wish TO meet. The proof? If proof be
asked, what more convincing could be
offered than the fact that his warmest
admirer in the Senate is George FrS-
bic Hoar of Massachusetts Like
seeks like. even though il be disguised
by rough outside and a savage mask,
and Hoar knows Tillman TO be a man.
The Pilgrim answers to the Palmetto
as old Butler and Hampton and all
those cavaliers We're never able to
make him do.
Why did Tillman deliberately seek
to spread abroad the impression that
he retired from banquets in delirium.
that his sobriety was only for the Sen
ate? The question is the despair Of
his admirers all the more their de-
spair for the reason that the man is
absolutely sober temperate in every
way decent and respectable But the
deeper question is. Why does he
spread abroad the idea that he is
wild man politically; that he drinks
blood and eats raw meat. when he is
as level-headed and sane a man as the
world ever saw? Why does he pose as
a Wilkes, and seek that place in his
tory, when his friends know better?
1t was the unsolvable mystery of
this complex character. 1t is prob
able that "Silas Larrabee." that wise
old Maine philosopher, solved the ques-
ton in the Times some years ago
when he said that the lion Tilman
loved the jackass hide, and that it
was pity. He does seem to love 1t
II is not long ago that Tillman. ris-
ing in his place in the Senate, declared
that Abraham Lincoln was the great
est of modern men. And l." he said
and then paused and looked upon the
men who remembered South Carolina's
outbreak which established the South
ern Confederacy-"and /, from South
Carolina"-and he emphasized the
name of his state, and paused and
waited-"I from South Carolina, tell
you so, and feel honored i'm doing it,"
Does any one think this mere clap
trap-that South Carolina to-day ae-
cepts Lincoln as the greatest of mod
ern men. and that Tillman voiced a
platitude? The bloody shirt will wave
in South Carolina, if nowhere else. and
II is much to be doubted If any MEM
tAnr If hn old u,
which Tillman endorsed. would feel
safe in saying that.
And having said it, with his friend
Hoar's face lifted admiringly and
gratefully toward his Tillman plunged
into more excuses of speech and tore
the welkin into ribbons.
Such man is the despair of analy-
sis. Men come here bitterly prejudiced
against him. hating his name; they
meet him and go away his admirers,
puzzled about him, but trusting him
unalterably. He is the most extraor.
binary compound in the United States
Senate.
He walked out of the Senate into the
Marble Room ono day after a speech
which set the whole North raving
against this man who ate the flesh
and drank the blood of negroes; and
what he had said well justified the raw
ing. Even his Southern colleagues
looked shocked.
Well" he said, meeting the writer.
81 suppose I'll be a demon IN the pa
pers tomorrow. They'll leave out all
the serious things / said and publish
the hifalutin. It's my fault, though,
and I don't mind il. Still would
like to get my real ideas before the
people"
This man, the bitter enemy of the
negroes, according TO common report,
is better loved by negroes than any
man in Washington. There is not a
negro who has ever met him whose
face will not light up If you mention
Tillman's name. In moments OF UNI
usual candor Tillman has himself adj
mitted that he loves the negroes and
that he is proud of their love. That
he is more liberal toward the North, in
his candid moments, than any other
Southern senator, is a fact well known.
Is it not strange, then, that some Pc
culiar mental twist impels this man
Of gentle life of broad views, and Of
Soft and kindly character to hold him
self out as the worst representative Of
savagery and the reactionary element
In civilization? Yet it would be unfair
to call Tillman uncandid and poseur;
when he is uttering these things he
believes them
strange combination of characteris
tics Is Benjamin Ryan Tillman, now
recovering from his illness on his
south Carolina plantation amid his
foyed and loving "darkies. A strange
man little known even by his col
kagues He will be fortunate II this
generation learns him Alright: ii viii
te miracle n uoqtarffr. .x.r ly,,orve