Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-04-13
Friday, April l3, 1905.
OLD BEN AND YOUNG LYON.

Mr.. Editor:

Mr.. Editor:
Like the crawfishes, I'm getting
"scareder en- scareder, en- madder en-
madder," as this thing goes on. / tell
you, feel II In my bones" that we are
going to have high old time" this
summer. The fur Is going to fly, and
many of us will have to supply the fur. >
Not that I'm at all afraid, but that Old
Ben will come out on top. No, sir. not
that. But what I'm afraid Of, Is that
while we farmers are saving the state
and Old Ben and the dispensary, that
cotton will just tumble down to no.
where, and then we'll be!
Mr.. Editor, it's a plumb shame that
we can't have peace and the chemically
pure in the dear old state; but that
this inquisitorial committee, and espe-
cially those callow youths, Lyon and
Christensen, must be forever stirring
up strife. Old Ben had just settled all
things with his manifesto, and from the
Businesses of Caesars Head to the bat
Elements of the battery In Charleston,
holy peace Qike the chickens) was
beginning to brood-when here's a
Lyon In the path! But it's not a real
lion after all, only one of these little
fellows that will Ly Qie) on to the last.
They have the effrontery to charge
Old Ben with rebates" Why every
fool knows that there were no rebates
and how could they be charged? Let's
look back little. You and your read
ers all know how things stood in the
| early nineties; that the old aristocracy
had bankrupted the state and laid her
proud emblems in the dust. Something
had to be done, and done quickly; our
children must be educated, our credit
restored and the Old Palmetto seal
made honorable once more. Old Ben
did it all. He tore his hair over 1t for
time In utter despair All! twas a
crisis my countrymen! But then ap-
peared light In the west" here came
the whisky houses, those big-hearted
concerns, with generous offers Of help;
they would credit the Old Palmetto
State IL no one else would: they would
educate the children; they'd do Ii and
give rebates" besides.
Old Ben was touched. God bless
you, my noble friends" he said 20,
don't speak Of it," they chorused. But
what have you there% broke In Old
Ben, eyeing certain bags suspiciously.
These" they answered, patting them
affc ctionately these are a little mat
ter of rebates"
Don't speak Of them, my noble
friends: let me never see them again.
burst out our noble governor. And
where's the record, I ask, that he ever
/ saw them again? Or, where's the rec
ord what ever became of them? I'm
sick and tired, Mr.. Editor, with all this
little bookkeeping business when II
comes to great affairs of state. II Is
al very we'll to make Mccall and Nc
Curdy and Bliss and Cortelyou produce
their books, but to drag Ben-and the
State-and the dispensarys accounts
into the light after this fashion-sir. 1t
Is unpatriotic-it Is sacrilege.
| And they complain that Old Ben has
not helped along their little three-for-
a-quarter committee. Why, sir, can
not imagine what they want. Wasn't
| Old Ben the very first one to smell
something rotten up the creeks" And
didn't he come all the way from Wash
ington to testify? ask, sir did he not
sit upon the very tiptop Of the speak
er's desk, where, all friends and foes,
could see him. and give them a piece of
his mind? Not the kind of witness we
want" did they say! Verify. He gave
them enough, much more than they
wanted, and they wont bother him
again.
| That piano?e o, bother the piano!
Well have music enough this summer,
without its sweet strains.
Mr.. Editor, please let me tell young
Mr.. Lyon a few things:
1. All your so-called facts" won't
amount to a row of pins in this cam
paign. 2. "Go, west, young man. 60
west" Gas the immortal Horace Greedy
said.) 3. One look, young friend, and the
picture OF South Carolina today is
enough for the people; and you are just
wasting your time trying to have 1t
| otherwise. When the people see our
humming mills; our elegant schools, all
crowded with eager young faces; our
| credit restored; our land at peace; and,
above affs the proud Palmetto emblem
raised to honor and affection once
more. close to the beating heart OF the
ratriot with the bottle), when things
look on the like OF that, there's nothing
more need be said or done Old Ben's
got the coonskin and gone on.
CIvrTAs.
Rural Retreat, s. c..