The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1906-06-06
CHRISTENSEN AND LYON.

CHRISTENSEN AND LYON.
No two young men in South Carolina
have done more for the people than
Senator Neils Christensen and Repre-
sentative Fraser Lyon in a quarter of a
century. One can think of no more
unpleasant and no more thankless task
than that of the dispensary investigating
committee.
Mr.. Christensen is the editor of q
weekly newspaper in Beaufort. He is
a young man of upright life, a gentle
man every inch, the son of a Danish
gentleman who came to Beaufort many
years ago. He was never in politics
until he was elected senator, and he was
chosen by his fellow citizens because
they respected him and valued him for
his brains and character.
Mr.. Lyon, a gentleman of the same
stamp, is a young lawyer of Abbeville,
and a graduate of Wohford College.
His father is a one-armed Confederate
veteran, who has a clerkship in the
State treasurer's office. He is q Wof-
ford College man, and, we are informed,
was a pronounced ~dispensary man until
after his discoveries as a member of
the investigating committee. Person
ally we scarcely know him, but we have
always heard him spoken of in the high
est terms by those who do know him.
No man can charge that he cherished
any prejudice against Senator Tilhnan,
and our impression is that he and his
father have been in former days at
tached to the Reform faction, though
the fractional bitterness had perhaps dis
appeared for the most part when Fraser
Lyon came to manhood.
Certainly, neither of these gentlemen
had any motives to break down the dis
pensary. Both live in ~dispensary coun-
ties. Abbeville was always a strong
Reform county, and Beaufort in recent
years has been controlled by those who
were Reformers.
Lyon and Christensen are fighting the
battles of the decent and honest people
of South Carolina, not less of those who
favor the ~dispensary than those who
oppose it. If the dispensaryis to be pre-
served, it must be cleaned. Its best
friends, such friends as Senator Raysor
and Senator Manning, agree in this.
These young men who at great per-
sonal sacrifice are doing this work, who
are exposing themselves to threats from
persons who are or have been connected
with the business Of buying and selling
liquor, at least ought to have the sym
patty and the moral support of the law
abiding, the self-respecting, the Chris
tian men, the men who want their little
girls and boys to grow up in a country
where honesty and clean living prevail.
Sometimes we doubt if it pays for
men to do as Christensen and Lyon are
doing. We have seen more than one
good man throw away services which
cost him years Of his life and thousands
of dollars only to be misjudged, miscon-
strued and blamed and abused by the
people for whose benefit his endeavors
we're freely given. Sometimes you
who read this wonder why your neigh
Dor who Is an earnest, honorable and
uncommonly intelligent nan does not
offer for the legislature. "He is self
ish," you say, 'his heart is set on max
ing money, and he is too much wrapped
up in himself to mingle with the people
and serve them" Perhaps that man
reflects that his efforts would not be ap-
preciated. Perhaps he understands that
unless he swallowed his convictions of
right and joined in the clamor for some
passing political hobby in which he
could not believe, he would be hooted
at and insulted. We have known men
here in this county of the highest char
acter and among the foremost i in brains.
leaders in their churches and leaders in
their businesses and professions, who
would not go to a county convention
because they did not care to undergo
the extreme discomfort of speaking
thei opinions against majorities not in
clined to yield them a respectful hear
ing.
Your strong, clear-headed, educated
man can generally take care of himself
outside of politics. 1t has few rewards
for him. He can always, under any
conditions, whether the trusts rule,
whether the money power is Expressing
or not, earn a living and laugh in his
sleeve at the crowd bowling and whoop-
ing for some fashy politician loaded
with a stock of stale anecdotes, mis-
shaped and half-baked ideas. Yet these
are the men needed in public life, these
are the men able and willing to help the
poor and the struggling, these are the
men who can put into legislation Che
same force and energy and power to
achieve results that lift them to the
highest places in professional and in