The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-08-08

not one child Cut OF ten ever alleu:s-
ed college. iie wants to see a hcsr
class high school in each district. He
said thas when he was elected some
wears ago he found the county $4,000
/ in debt, the schools running only
| four months in some districts, that
when he retired from Office this
debt had been paid and by means OF
special levies the schools were kept
open from six to nine months ana
many districts had a surplus in the
bank at the end of the school year.
If elected this year he would perform
tbs duties of the Office as he had in
the past.
Mr.. S. D. Cain, VINO is a candidate
for reelection, said that two years
ago he had no opposition and felt
that i. was the highest honor that
had been paid him. He had tried hard
to discharge the duties Of the ONCE
and he felt that the record and the
| present efficiency of the schoois
| throughout the county proved that ne
| had given efficient and antellgent
superyision of the educational system
| of the county That he had been able
To 40 so was due, he believed, to his
| practical experience as a teacher. he
had given his best efforts to the offlce
and had spent one more day each
| week in his Office than the law re-
ouired. The first year he had been
in his Office three days, each week
instead of one as required, but he
found that he could not visit the
schools and give them the supervls-
ion they needed if he had so many
Office days. He is running on mis-
record and his merits and asks for
reel ection on these terms or not at
all.
Senatorial Timbers.
Mr.. J. H. Clifton, who has served
two terms in the House Of Repre-
sentatives, and now seeks promo
ton to the upper house, was the
first of the senatorial candidates to
speak. He made strong and elo-
ouent srsech and as the time limit
was not enforced he spoke at length.
He favors, as do all other men, good
roads. good public schools and edu-
cation in general, but he is strongly
opposed to a compulsory education
law. Parents have right to say
wheIne1 their children shall attend
school or remain at home, and be-
sides a compulsory education, law
will, if enforced, honestly, drive the
negroes into the Schools. If it is not
enforced honestly and intended only
for the whites, it will be fraud and
lie and should not be put on our
statute books. On the liquor question
he stood unequivocally in favor OF
the dispensary system honestly con-
Quoted and rigidly enforced. He had
a high respect for sincere prohibi:
tionists, but thought their judgment
at fault. They are not even logical
in their claims. In one breath they
assert that prohibition can be en-
forced, while in the next they say
the dispensary law cannot be. The
dispensary honestly administered
curtails the use Of liquor and min
irnizes it's evils, but at the same time
provides a legal source Of supply for
those who will have liquor legally If
they can but have it they will. He
gave a pithy outline Of the Raysor-
Manning bill and showed how it
would prevent graft and corruption.
He discussed the Brice law, exposing
its defects and pointing out how the
law restricted the vote to the qualified
electors and th.~efore prevented al
who participate in the Democratic
primary. He said he was willing for
the people to say whether we should
have dispensary in a county, and
had voted for the bill as amended to
levy tax in Brice law counties for
the enforcement Of the law. He gave
his reasons for opposing. the county
dispensary system and favoring the
State dispensary, saying that the
county dispensary system would be
a cumbersome and costly and unsat-
isfactory experiment that would
create opportunities for graft in ev-
ery county. If it is hard to watch
one purchasing board in Columbia,
how much more difficult it will be to
watch one in every county? His chief
objection to the county dispensary,
however. was that it would be step