The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-04-13
AWAKE To YOUR INTERESTS.

throughout the oIaJe on Oatur-
day, April 23rd, and for that
purpose the county chairman
has issued his call for the clubs
to assemble in this county. At
these club meetings, delegates
will be elected to a county con-
vention which meets May End,
and also to elect a member of the
county executive committee. We
are peculiarly situated IN this
State, there being only one par
ty, and that party has absolute
control of the government; every
officer from United States Sena-
tor down to constable is a mem
Der of the Democratic party, and
: whatever issues arise must be
determined by the Democratic
voters. These conditions make
it necessary for the members Of
the party to take an active inter
est in it's organization, hence ev-
ery man should attend his club
meeting, and aid in having his
club well represented in the con-
vention, also on the executive
committee. There should be a
careful revision Of the rolls to
prevent double representation,
and there should also be care
taken in the selection Of a coun-
ty chairman, a man who will
preside over party affairs with
impartiality, in order that every
candidate who offers himself be-
fore the people shall be given
Justice which he is entitled to. In
our opinion, no man should be
chosen for the Office Of county
chairman who will be candl-
date in the primary, nor do we
think it fair that a candidate
in the primary shall have a
membership on the executive
committee. If the executive
committee is made up Of candi-
dates in the primary, and the
contest is so close that the COM
mittee has to determine the elec-
ton, these candidates who are
members of the committee are
Judges and jury of the cases they
are personally interested IN, and
naturally biased in their own IA
vor. The rules of the Democratic
party are silent upon this very
important matter, but the county
convention can by resolution
adopt rule which will prohibit
candidate from being member
of the executive commltte; fair
ness demands such action to be
taken by the convention.
We urge the Importance of a
full attendance upon the club
meetings, because our political
system has become so lax that
the meetings are not attended
with the result, Indifference has
brought about a condition that
few outside of prospective can
didates take any interest in
the party organization. It will
not do for the people to wait
until they have to face a condi-
ton of corruption before they
realize the Importance of their
political duties, they should act
now, and prevent if possible, en-
barrassing conditions. How Of
ten do we read in the newspapers
where a County Treasurer has
defaulted, take the recent cases
at Bamberg and Richland where
the defalcations run into the
thousands of dollars, not alone
with treasurers, other officials
have also defaulted, and when
the bond is sued upon, the county
has a hard fight to recover, if it
recovers at all. These defalca-
tions if not made good by the
bond must necessarily be made
good by the taxpayers, because
it takes money to run the govern
ment and that money must come
out Of the pockets of the people
by taxation. Clarendon has been
fortunate, the taxpayers have not
been called upon to make good
defalcations, but unless the peo-
pie interest themselves to see to
it that none but good men are
elected to Office, there is no tell
ing what the future consequences
may be. Indifference is calculat-
ed to open the political doors to
incompetency and corruption,
and whenever the people by their
inaction copdone corruption in
our election methods, they can
not expect to reap other than
they have sown. The represen-
tation in the convention two
years ago IS sufficient proof that
there was corrupt methods en-
ployed; just think Of it, a con-
vention Of $500 voters, when it
is a known fact, Clarendon has
not over two-thirds Of the num-
Der; Notwithstanding this false
representation, a ballot in that
convention showed a vote in eN-
cess Of the falsely enrolled dele
gates. Who is responsible for
such condition: The people
who donot seek to remedy it. So
far as that particular convention
is concerned, it resulted in coun-
tenancing corruption in the pri-
mary which gavea vote thatmany
believe was very considerable