Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-07

dent, sits a large. burly, surly-lookins
man, with a tremendous square head
set upon a pair Of broad, square shoul-
ders, the corners OF his mouth drawn
down nearly to the lower rnargin OF his
heavy, square jaws. He is clean shaw
en-that Is, he Is shaven; perhaps II
was day before yesterday that he
shaved His thick. slightly gray hair
is dishevelled, and he wears just such
clothes as you would expect to see on
a man who says on the floor OF the
senate, II am a rude man and don't
care" But when he rises from his seat
and addresses the chair in high
pitched, almost whining voice, standing
somewhat nervously, one shoulder
slightly raised above the other, his
one daTk-brown. glistening eye flashing
through the room like a searchlight,
the other senator's put down their
newspapers and slowly turn in their
seats: those walking about instinctive-
ly tread more softly or stop in their
tracks; the many necks in the visitors
galleries are craned to get better
view, and there is a movement in the
press gallery to get little nearer the
front "The only thing that ever hap
pens in the senate" wrote corre-
spondent one day, "is Senator Till
man." Beyond doubt he is the most
interesting figure in that body Of ex-
ceptionally interesting men.
Il may not be able to shed much
light In this body, Mr.. President" he
observed one day as he interrupted a
debate between two great constitution
al lawyers with a homely, direct ques-
ton which went straight to the point,
but sometimes manage to break the
glass" But, however conspicuous he
esting as well as the most significant
part Of Tillman's career was before he
was ever able to introduce his pitch
fork" his "cornfleld law" and many
acts not In accordance with the code
Of senatorial courtesy" into that
most august deliberative body in the
world" In order to get into the SEN
ate, this rude man who doesn't care"
an uncouth, unknown, uncredited
backwoods farmer, without political.
social. or financial influence and wholly
without training-had first to break
the glass" in one OF the most aristo-
cratic. most conventional. most "cere-
moniops and traditional states Of the
Union.
1t has been said that once every
thirty years South Carolina goes crazy:
In 1882 1t was notification; in 1860 1t
was secession; in 1890 1t was Tillman-
ism And for real downright craziness,
neither of the first two was comparable
with the last. Notification and seces-
sion were conflicts between the state
and the national government; Tillman-
ism was an internal conflict, and
though nominally a fight between the
masses and the classes. 1t was so COM
plicated that in many cases brother
was arrayed against brother and faith
er against son. 1t may have been a
tempest in a teapot, but there is no
denying that II was tempest, and a
violent one. To understand 1t fully one
must recall something Of the history
of this peculiar state, for it was not the
power Of Tillman's personality, great
as that power was. which made his
achievement possible.
Prior to the Civil war South Carolina
aid not have a Republican form of gov
ernment, did not pretend to have; ref
erence is made altogether to the white
people Of course. The state was gov
erned by an oligarchy, one Of the most
benign and just the world has ever
known, perhaps, but still an oligarchy.
In 1860 less than one-tenth Of the
white people Of the state owned slaves
and considerably less than one-half of
the whites even belonged to the slave
solutely. In all essentials the rest were
in such a state of serfdom that the ne
groes in the cotton fields sang, I'D
ruther be g. nigger dan po' white
and established a Democratic form OF
government-nominall but these
lower classes were so accustomed to
being serfs that they failed to realize
1t, and there were no United States
troops, no Freedmen's Bureaus, no New
England school mains to take hold OF
the poor whites, and tell them that
they also were free, and put wild no
tions into their heads about "dethron-
ing their oppressors" and taking
charge of the government themselves
1t was left for Tillman to come along
fifteen years afterward and do this
The patriotic "reconstructors" and be-
nevolent missionaries had but one idea
gro should rule the white man. The
poor white man, the serf, the forgot
ten man." had no more a part in their
scheme of government than the depos-
ed aristOcrat.
And when, in 1876, the white people
again came into possession Of the gov
ernment, these deposed leaders were
naturally returned to the offices. The
division was no longer between aris-
tocracy and peasantry; these had
passed away, leaving only the best
people"-and the others. These 10Th
ers," accustomed to be ruled, bowed
down by the weight of centuries" just
voted, enjoyed their part of the yelling
and went back to their hoes. In time
as the white people felt more and more
secure in their control of the govern
ment and the negroes ceased opposi-
ton, differences began to assert them
selves.
There were not enough offices to &c
around not enough even for aspiring
exponents of the best people" Sore
heads" began to incubate and pervade
the atmosphere with their vaporings
of discomfort, which found easy lodg-
ment and rapidly multiplied. Industri-