The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-09-11
Zach N Ghee on Tillman,
Charlotte Observer,

Ihere are some men about whom
The public never tires of reading or
hearing Such man was Napoleon,
such man was Lincoln, and such a
man is Tillman. The scores of biogra-
phles and character sketches of the
two former find ready sale. and all
the magazine and newspaper talk
about Tlllman, since his connection
with the rate bill forced him into
llveller national attention., has en-
Joyed an eager hearing from the pub
| lie.
Or all the Tillman sketches the most
engaging and intimate appears in the
current Worlds Work and is written
by Zach McGhee, formerly for brief
time of The Observer staff. Mr.. Nc
Ghee is South Carolinian. His work
as newspaper man makes him famil-
lar with the history of Tillman and
Tlllmanism in that State, and his ex-
perience as Washington correspond
ent puts him in close relation to the
'stormy petrol from South Carolina"
IN his career as national legislator.
The style is as vivid as the narrative
and description are true. Here is
the opening paragraph:
"Near the centre of the Senate
chamber, directly in front of the Vice
President, sits a large, burly, surly-
looking man, with tremendous
square head set upon pair of broad
shoulders, the corners of his mouth
drawn down nearly to the lower mar
gin of his heavy, square jaws. He
is clean shaven-that is, he is shaven:
perhaps it was day before yesterday
that he shaved. His thick, slightly
gray hair is dishevelled, and he wears
just such clothes as you would expect
to see on man who says on the floor
OF the Senate. Il IN rude man and
don't care But when he rises from
his seat and addresses the chair in
high-pitched, almost whining voice,
standing somewhat above the other,
his dark-brown, glistening eye flash
ing through the room like a search
! light, the other Senators put down
their newspapers and slowly turn in
their seats; those walking about in
their tracks; the many necks in the
visitors galleries are craned to get
better view, and there is a move
ment in the press gallery to get lit
tie nearer the 'front.'
After brief account of the oil
garchy which governed his State, be-
nigly and justly, before the war, and
resumed it's government upon the
overthrow of the carpet-bagger, Mr..
[ McGhee reaches the point where it
is necessary to state the issue on which
Tillman mounted into power. He
chooses to do so by illustration, drawn
from the Senator's later life.
"I should like to ask, Mr.. Presi-
dent, what is before the Senate7"
said Senator Foraker one day as he
rose for parliamentary inquiry
while Senator Tillman was making
fierce attacks in desultory way on
number of things and number Of
men.
"'I am before the Senate fairly
screamed Tillman.'
Mr.. Foraker insisted on knowing
what Tillman was discussing. "No
particular subject,' was the reply. 81
am just making few remarks on
the general cussedness Of the situa-
| tion.' So the issue before the peo-
pie Of South Carolina in 1886 and af-
forwards was Tillman himself, and
his campaign was an attack upon the
general cussedness of the situation.
The article decribes the picturesque
hustings, when Tillman, seated in a
farm wagon draped with agricultural
products, was drawn to the stump by
his devotes and escorted by bowling
procession; describes some Of the
quaint characters that the revolution
swept into temporary prominence
traces Tillman's s growth in statecraft
life. Mr.. McGhee sums up:
Gas a public man; it is difficult to
estimate Tillman. There are those
who think him a demagogue Of the
worst type; there are others who think
him great stateman; still others who
think him little Of both. His life
has been lived in the open, so the pub
lie may pass Judgment upon the facts
that is, up to the present. What he
will do tomorrow no man knows. He