The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1906-04-18
SUPPOSE HE DIDa

oHNs
Abbeville has taken offence at express
sions of the Hon. Ben r. Tillman of the
Roosevelt Rate Bill, and has replied
with q letter to a lawyer, in which he
insinuates that he heard hat the Hon.
Ben r. Tillman accepted a piano as a
present from a liquor house, but adds
that it may not have been a present but
may have been purchased with the Hon.
Ben r. Tillman's hard cash.
Whether the Hon. Ben r. Tillman re-
ceived and accepted the present of the
piano or not is of 10 consequence. He
says he did not, and we believe him.
If he did, it was merely to avoid being
impolite, and his acceptance of ten
thousand %calliopes, two train-loads of
@olians and an ocean liners cargo of
Jewsharps would be no sign that he had
been corrupted. The important consid-
Grafton is that the suggestion of the
Hon. Fraser Lyon is a species of high
treason.
But suppose, for the sake of the ar
gument. Senator Tillman during his in
cumbency as head whiskey lealer for
the State of South Carolina d accept
this musical instrument for his drawing
room, what of it? He had a peculiar
and exclusive right to do it. Such acts
are not wrong in Senator Tillman, how
ever wrong they may be in another
man. If you can prove that a member
of the State Board of Control accepts a
bone-handle umbrella from a brewery,
1T is time for him to be thrown over
board. 1T you can establish that a dis
pensary underling in Columbia accepted
the present of a pug dog with or with
out a curl in its tail, it is time for the
underling to be cast into outer darkness.
If you can demonstrate that a sub
dispenser in ~Spartanburg accepted some
extra bottles of "booze" in a case of
booze" ordered through the State
Gispensary it is a scandal and a public
shame. But it should not be forgotten
that eight years ago a United States
Senator of South Carolina had printed
In a letter in the newspapers, over his
own signature, the fact that he had re.
ceived samples of Intoxicating bever-
ages. 1t will be remembered that he
treated the matter in a light and airv
style, and that nobody seemed to think
the less of him.
In other words, it is fully settled in
the affairs of South Carolina that SEN
ator Tillman may f~iercely condemn the
acceptance of free passes and SAMPLES
III others, that ne may %denounce the ac-
ceptors as dishonest, and at the same
time protect his spotless reputation for
punctllious politeness. The fact that
the value of the passes covering a long
period OF years mounts far into the
thousands of dollars has nothing to do
with the case. Everybody believes in
the rugged, firm and impenetrable hon
sesty of brave Old Ben and the facts
that shake public confidence in lesser
men have no application to him what
even. Hence the Hon. Fraser Lyon
should have held his peace.
Moreover, it ought to be remembered
that in Senator Tjllman's opinion,
which ne held until long after the re-
malnder of the people knew the dis
pensary's ~rottenness, the dispcnsary
was formerly clean and pure. The old
anti papers and politicians, most of
whom have doubtless been in the pay of
the old bar-rooom and blind tiger ele-
ment n other mighty powers of
Chicco street, declared year after year
that dispensary dishonesty was com
mon. 1t was limited even by a reform
candidate for the United State Senate
as early as 1897, but in 1900 Senator
Tlllman stumped the State in the dis
pensary's defence, intimating that the
accusations were the result of y con-
spiracy between the whiskey men and
the preachers. In 1901 when a State
constable wrote the Senator a letter
calling his attention to scandals the
senator was careful not to make il
pubic. In short the Senator believed
so firmly that the whiskey men who
dealt with the ~dispensary and the dis
pensary men who dealt with the whis-
Key dealers were so strong in their
honesty that his great influence became
q screen for the ~concealment of such
frauds as had never before been prac-
tced IN South Carolina except during
inc radical negro regime. If the old ants
had not continued in their rebellious be-
haVior everybody would have been con-
Vinced by Senator Tillman that dishon-
esty IN the dispensary business was i'm
possible.
Truly, the Hon. j. Fraser Lyon has
perpetrated an awful blunder. If he
can prove than pianos were given by
whiskey houses to dispensary consta-
bles and members of the State Board of
Control, it will have some pertinence.
but if the instrument had been given to
Senator Tillman it would have been a
birthday remembrance and nothing
more.
We have no idea that the Senator got
the piano.