The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1907-11-13
SHOULD S RUN?

IernapS DelOre CniS arClcle Is pup
lished the doubt as to whether Cover
nor Martin Ansel will be a candidate
for the United States Senate will be
settled, and we hope that it will be.
Gov. Ansel has an inalienable right to
run for the Senate, if that be his wish,
and it will have to be considered in his
favor that he has, so far, made an ex-
cellent governor. He has attended
strictly to his business, the business of
his office, and he has made mighty few
mistakes. He has been a very positive
man in office, and his record has utterly
COMPOUNDED those of his critics who in
sisted when he was a candidate that he
lacked frmness and decision of charac-
. ter. We have had few governors who
have been so careful and just in the
exercise of the pardoning power, and
we think he has been moved by patri-
otto considerations in all of his import
ant acts.
Should Gov. Ansel become a candi-
date for the Senate, he will disappoint
his friends, including thousands of
those who are chiefly responsible for
his election as governor. At the be-
ginning of the campaign of 1906 he
was taken up by the advocates of local
option because he was deemed to be the
strongest candidate who stood for that
principle. On this point his views were
over South Carolina in a poster, and
wherever a voter was to be found who
believed that decent government de-
pended Upon the destruction of the
State dispensary and the substitution
of local option for it he chose Ansel as
his man to support-a choice which
nearly every newspaper in the State
opposed to the State dispensary COM
mended.
But the local option principle IS not
yet safe. 1t will be attacked in the
next campaign. If Gov. Ansel is not
its defender, and is a candidate for an
other office, he will be accused of run
ming away from a fight after having
collected the rewards when it was half
over. We do not think he will be a
W. SiioSO wv w iloC Z
how he can bring himself to be, and,
entertaining for him the highest regard
now as always, we declare our conf
dence that he will stand by his princi-
pies through another campaign and not
retire from the go%vernorship at a time
when retirement will plunge the people
into an unpleasant contest for which
they are not hungry. Of course there
are plenty of good men who might be
elected governor, but nobody wants a
gubernatorial race next year. Should
Gov. Ansel announce himself promptly
as a candidate for reelection, he would
have no serious opposition; we do not
think he could be beaten for governor;
his record is too clean and strong and
good for the people to refuse him an
other term; but his refusal to run
again would be explained by his enc
mics as due to cold, calculating selfish
ness that puts the public interest in
second place beside his personal ambi-
ton.
We do not know yet who will be the
candidates against Senator Latimer.
AS between Latimer and Ansel THE
ADVERTISER would probably not be es-
pecially solicitous about the result. We
cherish nothing against Mr.. Latimer,
though we do not regard him as a
heavyweight, but we could not be en-
thusiastic at this time for Gov. Ansel
as a candidate for the Senate, though
we reserve the privilege of changing
our mind every day or two until the
election is decided. If Gov. An
sci should be a candidate for Senator
the credit that he won by an excellent
administration as governor would be
endangered. In no event will the
chioce be limited to Latimer and Ansel.
Should Mr.. John Gary Evans, Mr..
George tombstone, Mr.. Daniel S. Hen
derson, Mr.. Joseph A. Mccullough and
Congressman Asbury F. Lever be can
didates, each of them would, in our
judgment, stand az good a chance to
lead in the first primary as would either
Mr.. Latimer or Mr.. Ansel. OF course,