Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-07-31
Tuesday, July 81, 1906

But times have changed, I say.
Gone are the "Reformers," the Con
servatives," the "Tillmanites," and
the "anti-Tillmanites." Some few
scarce distinguishable remains OF
them are seen here and there, but
they are known as former Reform
ers" and former Conservatives"
And this year there are eight can
didates for governor none of whom
have been formally nominated by
anybody but himself or these eight
candidates for governor, only one,
Mr.. Blease, was distinctly aligned
with the Tillman forces in 1890 and
1892; that is, unless Mr.. w. A. Ed
wards was. Mr.. Edwards was so
little known outside his immediate
community in Saluda county before
he entered this race, that IL is diff
cult to learn how he stood In the
heated fights of fourteen and sixteen
years ago. The significant point OF
this is, that neither he nor any one
else during the campaign has thought
ii worth while to refer to his past
record in this respect. And Mr..
Blease, he is not the candidate OF
the former Reformers." Mr.. Man
ming, who. perhaps, as much as any
other, from birth, environment, To-
| cality. personal and political inheri-
| tance and iamily affiliations, was
| aligned WITH the ti-Tillmanites-he
Is the man said to be supported by
Ben Tillman. So there Is nothing of
the old factional alignments in this
"ampaign-so far as the candidates
are commemorative this exception:
Rlease has been trying to rally the
| former "Reformers' to his standard;
which, with the head devil of the
| whole Tillman business Ito use one
of Tillman's own pet expressions)
supporting Manning. OF course Blease
| is unable 10 do.
AS the old parties or factions are
dead. the old issues are dead, and this
| campaign is largely matter of per-
| sonal preference among the eight can
didates. Many people have no personal
preference; no preference Of any kind,
being willing to support the candi-
date whose personality pleases them
| on whose friends ask them to vote
/ for him. In Cheraw the other day,
| when the candidates were there en-
| route from Chesterfield, the business
men-merchants, clerks, workmen,
md loafers-along one of the princi-
| pal streets made an agreement that
they would vote for the first one Of
the candidates for governor who
came down the street. Yet, although,
down to a Misunderstanding campaign,
each one of the eight candidates has
a platform, which each individually
with the possible exception Of Ed
/ wards-has Matched up out of the
murky, fuming, sinking odors aris-
ing from the seething caldron Of
corruption on the banks OF the Con-
garee, known as the state "dispen-
saree" Mr. Edwards, single-handed
and alone, makes bold to declare
that the dispensary is not the only
corrupt institution, but that there
are others. But the platform of all
the others are based on the dispen-
sary question. 1t Is not campaign
of education" as this itinerary sys-
tenn has been wont to be called, but
| ii is distinctly campaign Of Kicker"
/ OF course, each candidate vociferous-
| ly proclaims that he stands, as Mr..
Ansel in particular puts it, for some
thing higher and nobler than liquor"
and Col. Sloan has the sympathy Of
all when he eloquently declares,
Since I have been in this campaign
1 sometimes feel as IL never want
to see another glass Of whisky, but
drink water the rest Of my days"
Most of them devote a small por-
ton of the twenty minutes allotted
to them to the enumeration of these
higher and nobler" things for which
they stand, and several of them emu
merate and describe, with varying
degrees of elaboration, their personal
merits-their records, their abilities,
and their charms but the backbone,
the muscle and tissue, the body Of
their speeches Is flicker" And every
mothers son of them has made HIM
self believe and Is trying to make the
people believe, that he has a plat
i form, distinctively, unique, Of his own
construction, upon which he alone
stands and upon which depends the
"bests interests of the state-espe-
cially IL he is elected governor. And
all Of them about Ticker" all except
two about dispensary flicker" and In
i favor of dispensary flicker"
Il Mr.. Joel E. Brunson and Mr.. A. c.
Il Jones are prohibitionists, though
each denies, in one way or the other.
that the other is. The strange part,
and really funny part about 1t is
that these two prohibitionists, who
declare that they want the dispen-
sary abolished, instead of fighting the
other candidates who are in favor Of
the dispensary, spend their forces
fighting each other. Likewise the
dispensary candidates spend most OF
their time-their flghting time, 1
mean-fighsing one another.-Zack
McGhee in Columbia State.