Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-06-21


rate care and precision-and he was
very impatient of Charleston, which
was new and trying to him.
In those days they yet rang the cur
few bell from st. MichaeIs tower. 1C
o'clock on summer nights and 9
o'clock in the winter. The change OF
time was one Of the important semi
annual local items.
All Claimed Democracy.
While the newspapers of the state
had practically been unanimous In
calling themselves Democratic, there
were serious and radical differences
among them, as among the people, on
questions Of the policy Of the party
National issues and questions did not
engage our thought except as parties
or men promised " help or hinder In
saving the state from the government
Of iudicrous incompetence and reck-
less debauchery with which we were
afflicted. South Carolina was known
throughout the world as the Pros
trate State" and her children were
desperately and piously intent on rid
ding her Of the shackles and the
crushing burL ems and raising her to
her feet, that she might once again
take her old proud place among the
commonwealths. Their thoughts and
hopes and prayers were all to that
end, but her thought varied widely
Compromises and combinations had
been tried and failed. The white peo-
pie had caught eagerly at every prom
ise, however faint, Of better things
had given their aid to every indication
of a purpose of honesty and economy
and had been beaten steadily. The
white counties in the up-country were
almost solidly for straightout fight
under the banner and name Of De-
mocracy, for one supreme effort to
overcome the $4,000 negro majority
and a hostile count, under laws franz
ed to make fraud easy for the party
in possession by sheer force and weight
of moral power and physical courage
In the lower and middle counties many
Of the people shrank from such ar
issue, and with reason. A race wal
would mean death and worse thar
death to white men and their families
where the negroes to the whites were
three or four or ten to one.
Never in history has people beer
confronted with a problem more fear
Iful-confscation, degradation, desola'
tion+cruelly slow. but ssure destrpc;
ktionsof- -civilization and material ruiz
on one side; on the other the immi'
nent horrors Of race and civil wal
in which no prisoners would be taker
and nothing would be sacred or spar
ed. If there was war the prospect wa!
that we would have against us the
power Of the Federal government ant
the north, for many wolves were bay
ing with barred fangs for the very life
blood of the state, under the banner
Of the bloody shirt. The negro wa:
yet an idol and the southern white
man the object Of fierce detestation tc
millions beyond the Potomac.
By daring a desperate chance, the
most desperate any people ever dared
South Carolina won in the grim game
in which life and honor and hope
were staked, and the odds against hel
tremendous. She won by daring al
dangers, facing undaunted the fright
full consequences. The daring thing
once more was the right and safe
thing; and it was done under the lead
ership and by the guidance OF the
state press.
| My old friend A. U. Speights, bluf1
and genial, type Of the old time hap
py-go-lucky, devil-may-care newspa
per man, trained when the trade wa!
a romance and a thing followed from
love and instinct and not for the dol
lars and on business principles. as we
have it now, always claimed that the
Greenville Daily News, under his edi
torship, was first in the state to hois
the straightout flag, and call fol
Hampton for governor, in 1875. Hi!
claim was disputed; but, as I recol
lect in May, 1876, the Greenville New:
and Columbia Register, the two daily
papers in the state outside Of Charles
ton, were straightout and the up
country weeklies were almost uranim
ously likewise, while the lower anc
middle counties, except In Edgefeld
the press was divided, dubious or wa
vering.
A Power In the State.
The power OF the News and Courier
was tremendous. AS a newspaper 4
had no rival or even pretence at rival
ry in the state. Charleston's influence
was yet supreme. The people Of South
Carolina had not forgotten the habi
Of turning to it as sunflowers to thu
sun. The old city was the centre o.
thought and learning and social ant
commercial power and, as everybody
knows, must be relied on to finance
the fight, If there was to be fight
There and to meet the emergency, the
Journal Of Commerce came. I never
have known exactly how or hence ol
why. ltS origin, 50 ldT DIS hio"' Il
as mysterious as it's purpose. But
came.
Trueheart had to study the state
map, but he had fire in his heart anc
could put 1t in his pen. He was Vir
ginian and a Democrat to the core
and loved the south and Democrac!
and white supremacy, understood
broad principles and knew facts. HI
wrote editorials which rang through
, the state like a bugle in the sleeping
camp and the country newspapers an
swered and rallied and one by ont
, the reluctant and the doubtful ranged
themselves. / was boy then and di(
not realize. Looking back now as
man passing maturity and with some
opportunity for thought and observa
ton. I am filled with amazed admira
ton for people and papers. Poor
| down -trodden: oppressed and burden
. ed as they were, the people supported
their local newspapers. With stat
and local governments and patronag'