Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1905-07-12
THE OCCASION.

THE OCCASION.
Upon the advice Of President Harvie
Jordan, of the Southern Cotton Asso-
citation. the Fourth of July was cele-.
brated in Greenville by grand rally OF
farmers. A telegram was read by Mr.
G. n. Mahon, mayor Of Greenville,
from Theodore H. Price, giving it as his
belief that in view of an expected crop
of not much over 100000 bales, cot
ton twill Immediately 60 to IL cents
a pound and stay there" This, together
with the rise in the past few days, was
sufficient to insure the good humor OF
the crowd and an enthusiastic atten-
ton to anything which was meant to
"whoop them up" or "pat them on
the back"
About 1000 people heard the speeches
out in a grove, down in hollow, away
off in the woods, where you could get
only by walking mile from the FUR
thest end of the car line or paying
the traditional quarter for hack fare.
Yet people went, even a, goodly number
besides those who heard the speeches,
for barbecues, picnics, horse races, base
ball. were among the festivities OF the
Fourth. The Piedmont fair grounds
was the place The speaking began at
about o'clock and lasted till 3: 80.
At the close Mr.. R. Mays Cleveland
presided over the meeting. After a
brief speech stating the object OF the
meeting he introduced Senator Tillman.
Next followed Mr.. E. D. Smith, after
these two regular speeches, Mr.. G. H.
Mahon, mayor of the city, addressed
the crowd a few MINUTES. Then fol-
lowed Mr.. ]. T. Johnston, Member OF
Congress from that district. Then, at
ter little impromptu collection for the
association from which about hat full
of nickles was realized, the meeting
broke up.
SENATOR TILLMAHJ'S SPEECH.
Senator Tillman, after few pleas
antries about the crowd, the occasion
and the weather, and after declaring
that this was not the time or the place
for him to make political utterances,
starter in to talk to the farmers as
farmers. 1--WE are not here as citizens
of the United States, but as farmers"
he said. He spoke first of the Southern
Cotton Association and said that while
he was willing to concede that it had
done some good in helping on an agita-
ton, he did not think it could rightfully
claim all the credit for the present rise
in the price of cotton. He said: TON
Smith, Bill Johnston, John Williams,
and the others saw something was
wrong. so they joined the cotton asso-
citation and went to resolving and re-
solving, and resoluting and resoluting,
but Old King Grass was the man who
came along and choked the cotton out.
That's what raised the price" Then
he added, amidst the hilarity. so Prov
idence takes care of it's own
Senator Tillman ambled on, appar-
emily somewhat at a loss what to talk
about. Some one suggested corn, I've
got the best corn crop in South caro-
lima; don't care who he is"
You amt seed mine, is you?" cried
tall, hearty-looking man in broad
brimmed straw hat. The Senator
laughed, so did the crowd. mo, l
haven't seen yours" he said.
t~-~"Well, you come up to Chick Springs
and lemme show you some sho nutt
corn as is corn" said the man.
Even if the speaker had had a set
speech to make, he could not have
made it in that crowd, for some one
was constantly trying to side-track him
into politics or something in which ne
might have occasion for his pitchfork.
He did finally touch just little upon
the dispensary and his former friend,
John L. McLaurin," though very little
about the latter, saying, with a laugh.
@"De mortuis nil nisi bonum." He said
McLaurin was dead, even If he did
manage to get his many speeches these
days in the newspapers.
But speaking of the present move
ment and politics, he compared 1t with
the former farmers movement in South
| Carolina. "These newspaper men, he
said, "think they smell fire whenever
the farmers begin to organize. = Inc
crowd laughed boisterously when he
explained the difference between the
two movements, saying that other
movements years ago was quiet diner
ent. We openly declared then that we
were going into the swim, and we went
in. They said we would get into deep
water. We did get into deep water,
end we drowned more politicians than
any fellows that ever went a-1shlng.
THE DISPENSARY.
About the dispensary Senator Till
man said the time and place to settle
any issues on that score would be the
next Democratic primary. The Legis-
lature, he said, had been tampering
with the dispensary, and he indicated
very clearly that he thought somebody
had got it into somewhat of mess,
for, speaking of it, he said, We've
got to clean this thing. If necessary put
it in a pot and scald it. If we can't
do that, 1 say kill it." He made it
very clear that when the next election
comes around and the people are elect
ing another Legislature to clean the
dispensary, he would be on hand. "1'll
be a candidate" he said, 'unless my
health fails. I'll meet the men who
manage the dispensary face to face, as
I'VE always DONE" He said, too, that
he would do this in the same old way,
saying, 81 have always called a spade
a spade and thief a thief, and |
haven't got forked tongue or been
lulled completely to sleep up there In
Washington" Then he declared again:
"The LEGISLATURE has to re-organize it