The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-07-11
SHALL THE PEOPLE OR TIE POLITI-
CLANS RULE.

Senator Tillman's speech at
Sandy Flat, which we give our
readers in this issue, must be a
disappointment to those who
were expecting hot, sensational,
matter, or something new;
It is about what he sad
at Anderson before the leglsla,
tuce met, and about what ne salo
in all of his other speeches before
that BODY assembled. The Man
ning-Raysor bill which pur-
ports to be a measure to purify
the dispensary was prepared
along the line of Senator Till
mans suggestions made while
the candidates were keeping 81
lent, and according to the sena-
tor she had something to do
with preparing the Manning
Raysor bill; nevertheless Senator
Manning claims the credit, and
makes that bill the main feature
orplank in his platform. We con-
tended from the start that the
position assumed by Senator
Manning was not original, and
that he remained as dumb as an
oyster until after Senator Till
man blazed the way, and now
the Senator in his Sandy Flat
speech confirms all that we have
written with regard to Senator
Manning's position.
An unbiased reading of Sena-
tor Tillman's speech will dis
close that it is an admission of
the dispensary's corruption,
with an adroit appeal for a con-
tinuation of the Institution under
a promise of getting honest men
to purify it. The Sta tie
dispensary has been running
over 13 years, and from the first
year Of it's existence it has been
under suspicion. The suspicion
began when the people discoy-
cred that the books of the insti-
tuition had no rebates recorded
upon them, and it is conceded by
the authorities, the State was
entitled to rebates at that time.
The suspicious becameso strong,
the legislature sought means to
reinstate the concern in the pub
lie confidence by legislating the
State officers off from the board
of control, and electing a board
by the general assembly; under
this arrangement the dispensary
got no better fast, but to the con-
trary it got worse, the corrup-
tionists became more and more
politically intrenched, and hence
more bold. The conditions be-
came so bad that again the gen
eral assembly made another
change by legislating out of Office
the crew then in control, and
made a board of directors. Has
the publication process been
beneficial? We think not, and
we believe a vast majority of the
voters Of the State believe the
lcancerous sore has eaten deeper
into our body polite, SO deep
that it's poison is through the
entire system.
Purify the dispensary! Honest
men in control! We have been
promised this ever since the
Observation-Disclosures b O a r d
as kicked out of Office. Now
we are told by the founder of
the institution that the thing is
corrupt, there has been a lot of
stealing,a and that all of the prom
ises made in the past were bro
ken, but we must forget and for
give and acceptmore good prom
ises bysgiving the institution an
other trial.
The people have borne pa
tiently with the State dispen-
sary, because they hoped it
would put enough money into
the treasury to Tighten their tax
es. It has not done it. The only
benefits have come to those who
were in the purchasing ring;
they fattened like pigs at a swill
trough, but the people whose
confidence they betrayed con-
tinued to live on hope and prom
ise; at the same time their taxes
were getting higher and higher;
their public roads and bridges
getting worse and worse, their
public schools falling short for a
lacko funds, and our courts being
weighted down with crime. The
people are fast realizing that ev-
cry branch of the government is
becoming lax; our jury system is
menacingly dangerous, incom-
Npentency has made its stamp up
on the county government, and
that because of lax. unbuslnes-
like methods in conducting the
public affairs the condition is
growing from bad to worse.
When Captain B. R. Tillman
made his famous speech at Ben
nettsville in 1886, he claimed then
the people were asleep, things
were becoming lax, incipient rot
tenness had taken possession Of
the body polite, and the people
must be aroused to save them
selves from a condition worse than
serfdom. He continued along this
line, aid his agitation aroused
the people from the mountains
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