The Irish standard., 1906-03-10


the power to regulate freight charges
and railroad practices generally should
be vested in some governmental author
ity. A few weeks ago the suggestion
that Mr.. Tillman should occupy that
position would have been received with
shouts OF derisive laughter. 1t was
made the motion that Senator Tillman
should be in charge Of the bill. But
1t is no longer u joke, and there is
every reason to believe that Senator
rillman's judgment that a substantial
rate bill will be passed is well founded.
Benjamin r. Tillman has been popu-
larly supposed to be an ignorant,
vulgar ruffian. who, coming to the front
on a wave of populism. seized the gov
eminent of the grand old State of
South Carolina for his own selfish ends
and for ignoble purposes. He has been
depicted as foul mouthed swash-
buckler in the Senate. ready to COM
NIT acts of violence on the slightest
provocation and prone to go to ex-
IRENE lengths OH almost every con-
ceivablc occasion.
Yet Senator Tillman has the respect
of nearly all his republican associates
i'll the senate. Most of them deplore
his passionate outbreaks. hut most Of
them now believe that his motives
are good and all admire the natural
ability Of the man. He is {; rough
diamond, but much of the roughness
has been cut of since 1890, when he
first achieved great national notoricty
by being elected governor of South
Carolina. after Il series of struggles UNI
exampled for fiercencss and acrimony
Senator Tillman comes of good blood,
man clan that settled on the Eastern
Shore Of Maryland several centuries
ago. He does not exactly know how
they got to South Carolina, and he
does not know why the change in the
spelling of the name was made. And
he does not care about that or about
armorial bearings or heraldic devices,
or things.
II suppose they made the change
because it was easier to spell it
T-i-l-l-m-a-n." he said the other day
Senator Tillman's father died when
the boy was two years old. His moth
er had q plantation of between four
and five thousand acres and between
two hundred and two hundred and fifty
slaves. The Senator's early education,
il it could have been continued ON
the lines mapped out. would have been
an ideal education for Southern boy
who was going to cope with national
questions. His govcrness was a sister
Of General Chester A. Arthur, subse-
Huently president Of the United States.
Her instruction lasted only about three
years, when young Tillman was sent
to the Bethlehem Academy. Following
the fighting instincts of his race, he
fled from the academy when he was
He did not join the army, because he
was taken i'll and during that illness
lost his eye. He had to return to
the farm. take charge OF things for his
mother, and from the time he was
eighteen everything in connection with
the Tillman estate devolved OH Ben
jamin.
Young Tillman had Il very good head
for business and fair executive ability.
He can get more work out of three or
four clerks in the committee room to-
day than any other man in congress
because he maps 1t out and knows
exactly what he wants. There never
was man VINO tried to manage his
plantation who could get anything like
the work out of his hands that Senator
Tillman can.
He remained on the farm, managing
1t for his mother until 1884. BY that
time the acreage Of the Tillman estate
had increased from the four or five
thousand acres that the mother had to
fifteen Of sixteen thousand acres. Till.
man was running between thirty and
forty ploughs when the seeding time
came.
Bad crops. bad times and general
hard luck brought about a crash, ana
this seems to have been the turning
point In the career of the young farm
er. He began q campaign in favor of
the more liberal treatment Of the farm
Ing class and for a change In con-
ditions In South Carolina. Reconstruct
ton had created lewiston between
tho classes In the eastern and western
parts of the state almost as complete
as that which the war had created
between the land proprietors and the
slaves. Until reconstruction occurred
South Carolina never had q real popu-
lar government. 1t was so in form
only. The coast counties had been
settled first, aid, under the parish sys-
tenn, organized after the manner of the
Church of England. Each parish had
u senator, while the interior counties,
large In area. only had n senator each.
In this way there was n one-sided
and unfair representation, and the city
Of Cha rlnstnn md tho %orr,+on,, 49,.