The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-11-09

act did we intimate desire to be elect
ed clerk. nothing was said about 1T un-
til one of the Commissioners asked US
if we would act as clerk for them.
Fourth: There is no foundation for
The Farmer to say we had the audac-
itv to denounce as offensive the very
civil and courteous action OF Captain
Davis" etc. We challenge proof for
one line from US wherein we ''denounc-
ed as offensive" the action of Captain
Davis. but on the contrary we express
ed the opinion that Captain Davis had
no idea of giving offense to the com
missioners.
Fifth: We did not, as The Farmer
would have it appear, scheme in ad-
vance to deprive The Farmer Of this
little bit of official Advertising" nor do
we care continental how much official
advertising" The Farmer gets. nor do
we have to ''scheme in advance" to Sc
cure patronage, that is method en-
ployed by little stock companies. when
they float stock among those whose
patronage they wish to secure, and re-
serve for the promoters OF the scheme
a controlling interest, which virtually
makes contributors Of the smaller share
holder. The TINES has not had to pass
around the hat for contributions, as its
advertising columns will show: and this
handsome patronage has come to 1t, IN
spite Of a few boycotting stockholders
of The Farmer. It is not schening, but
merit which fills our columns.
Sixth: We deny emphatically that
we sought Ito make the commissioners
assume the responsibility by poisoning
their minds with the idea that they had
been insulted by Capt. Davis" Not one
word was said about Captain Davis un-
til after the boards adjourned. The
commissioners will not confirm The
Farmers unwarranted statement. nor
will Mr.. J. NJ. Windham. who was
present in the interest of The Farm
er, say that we said anything to
the boards to create the impression
that Capt. Davis action was offensive
or Insulting. The commissioners are
men capable of judging for themselves,
they are worthy citizens, and to paint
them as plant tools is unjust. We
know these men, the editor of The
Farmer does not, he probably has not
had an opportunity to become &C
ouainted with them, but when he does,
he will realize how unjust he was to
then-anyway we did not by word or
act attempt to poison their minds
against Captain Davis or anyone else.
The Farmers article, we concluded the
editor must have been misinformed as
to the conditions and circumstances, or
that some of the controlling interest IN
the corporation had poisoned his mind
against US when his services were en-
ployed: for this reason we shall not use
harsh language in reply to his mlsrep-
sentations, and as long as we have the
consciousness Of doing no wrong, we do
not care snap what kind of an opinion
the editor of The Farmer entertains OF
u.s. We can afford to ignore his unjust
charge of ''perfdious piece of double
dealing" The people will not be I'M
pressed with such a charge, coming
from one employed by an antagonistic
corporation, who has only been here a
few months: the concern now managed
by him has, from its birth, all through
its checkered existence, and numerous
managers, manifested an antagonistic
SplE1U LON ctl OS OS pCISOAd14s 1I PSt'VASSi |
and in business, and the people know
it. Our life here of nearly thirty years,
and twenty-five of those years has been
in the public contact and gaze, and we
would feel very much mortified did we
think such charge would be endorsed
by unpreiudiced people.
We must apologize to our readers for
6evoting so much space with a matter
they care nothing about. We endeav-
ored to be courteous to the stranger,
when we furnished copy of the list of
for him, we did this too, with
out authority, but since he has not ac-
cepted it in the spirit intended, we
shall be more guarded in the future.
What we desire to make plain, is that
we did not scheme in advance" to
hoodwink the County Chairman, and
we hardly think it complimentary to
his known sagacity to intimate that he
could be so hoodwinked; nor did we
manipulate the commissioners into be-
levin g they were offended for the pur-
pose of depriving The Farmer OF lit
tie patronage. These gentlemen are not
the gullible creatures The Farmer
would paint them.