The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-05-16
no CONVENTIONS REPRESENT The
PEOPLE:

DO CONVENTIONS REPRESENT The
PEOPLE:
The Sumter Herald in COM
menring upon the results Of the
various unity conventions
throughout the State says:
studying the results OF the various
conventions there can be but one con
clusion. and that is that the anti-olS-
pensars people We're very weak IN tne
convention. As the convention Is mage
no from clubs. and the clubs are Ine
voters themselves, it seems tna3 thls Is
:, pretty good index OF how the matter
really stands.
There is much doubt mixed up
in the Herald's conclusions: we
would remind our contemporary
that while the convention is
made up from the clubs, the
clubs are not made up from
the voters themselves, and
therefore h e convention is
really not "a good index Of how
the matter truly stands The
conventions are made up on a
basis OF club rolls, and not from
the voting strength, nor from
the actual attendance at the
meetings, but altogether from the
number of names right or
wrongfully placed on the
CLUB rolls, whether the same
names be on a number of rolls
or not. In ninety.nin per cent
of the clubs. the attendance was
not over tive per cent of the en-
rollment, and the CLUB enroll
ment exceeds more than double
the voting strength. This con.
dition. is not confined to any par
ticular county;but in all the court
house towns where rings are
formed, and caucusses held, 1t is
more noticeable.
Those in with the ring, just
before there is to be a convea-
ton, receive instructions to Sc
cure delegation for the rings
purpose; if the president Of a
club away from the county seat
is in sympathy With the ring or
is an aspirant for public favor,
and would like the help of the
ring, he tricks his club by ad-
vertislng it's meeting at a certain
hour, and with half dozen friends
repairs to the meeting place an
hour earlier, appoints himself
and his, friends delegates. The
club had no hand in this selec-
ton, and yet in the convention
they are supposed to voice the
sentiments Of those people. The
people have gotten in the habit
of staying away from their
clubs. until the politician now
has it his own way.
We doubt exceedingly if ten
per cent of the convention dele
gates represent anything but
their individual sentiments; very
frequently the. delegate are in
different and they are misled into
voting in a convention contrary
to the way they would vote in a
primary. The LEADERS, in con-
vention can assemble in a livery
stable, and formulate schemes to
carry out their purposes, and
delegates go with them; the
average delegate is not let in
to hesecret, but when it comes to
an individual vote in the primary
the people are to be reckoned
with.
We claim therefore, the con-
ventions are not a test Of the
sentiment Of the masses with re-
gard to the liquor question, nor
are the conventions a test with
regard to Senator Tillman,
at the same time, We believe Till
man will be reelected to the
United States senate without op
position. He is a conspicuous
member of that body, a recog-
nized national leader, and the
indications are, a large majority
in the State endorse his conduct
as senator. But then, this is
different from the liquor ques-
ton, what we wish to show is,
that the conventions are not s'a
pretty good index Of how the
matter truly stands" on the Il
quor question.
Marlboro defeated resolutions
condemning the dispensary, yet,
the Herald will not attempt to
argue that Marlboro would favor
the dispensary, when it knows
that county to be now: and tor
over fifty years past, prohibi-
ton. The people of Marlboro
would fight the establishment Of
dispensary within its borders
with the same zeal that Claren-
don would fight bar-rooms. Gov
ernor Tillman recognized this
and did not dare to force a dis
pensary on that county, and yet,
Tillman, on vote for himself
viii carry Marlboro overwhelm-
ingly. York county is by a large
majority opposed to the dispen-
sary. but in the convention it re-
fused to adopt resolutions en-
dorsing Tillman, in doing SO, we
do not believe those delegates
express the sentiment of the vo-