Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-01-23
Governor Marlin T. Aassl.

new Governor took the oath OF Office
Tuesday, January 10Th. The inau.
guration ceremonies were brief and
simple, as the new Governor is not a
man for show and display.
! Governor Ansel is native. of
Charleston, but was reared in Wal
halla, whither his parents moved
when he was child. lie attended
the schools of that town. He never
enjoyed collegiate training, but the
early training he received was an ex-
cellent foundation upon which to
build in after years. He learned to
work early in life and the outdoor
exercise and manual labor in the
shop developed q vigorous manhood
which has stood him well in hand
through the intervening years.
He entered the law office of Major
u. III. .Whitner, of Walhalla, and
was prepared for admission to the
bar and was admitted before he
reached his majority. For short
while he'practiced law in Franklin,
N. G.. In January, 1875, he moved
to Greenville and entered upon the
practice of hia chosen profession.
Slowly, by diligence, close attention
to business, patience and persever-
ance he built up good practice.
His cordial, courteous manners and
bis exemplary habits won for him
the confidence and respect of the
people, who we're not slow to recog-
nize his ability and worth. AS an
evidence of this they elected him to
the Legislature in 1882, reelected
him in 1884 and in 1885. In 1888
he was elected Solicitor of the
Eighth judicial Circuit, which posi-
tion he held for twelve years, when
he voluntary retired from office Janu-
ary 1, 1901.
In 1902 he made the race for
Governor in the primary election
and received handsome vote. His
friends persuaded him to enter the
race again in 1905, and although he
was opposed by men of great ability
and popularity, he received the nomi-
aation, and today has entered upon
his duties as Governor of all the
people. He was on platform that
was vigorously opposed, but the ma
jority of the people stood with him,
favoring the adjustment of the State
dispensary, and providing for local
option as between prohibition and
county dispensary. 1t was evident
all during the campaign last summer
that there was vigorous and deter
mined opposition to the views of
Governor Ansel on this subject, and
that opposition has not surrendered.
The friends of the dispensary will
continue to fight for its continuance
and Governor Ansel and those in
sympathy with his views will find
that those opposed to his views will
do everything in their power to de-
feat his purposes and make his ad-
ministration in this respect failure.
The majority of the House of Rep
resentatives seem to be against the
dispensary, but the Senate is almost
evenly divided. This is not an en-
couraging situation, and it is possible
that the friends and opponents of the
dispensary may effectually block each
others way.
Whatever may be the action of
the Legislature the people of South
Carolina are fortunate in having
Martin F. Ansel as their Chief Ex-
eoutive. He will endeavor at all
times to do his duty. He is honest,
he is impartial, he is fearless, and he
is conservative. He is man of good
habits, pure life and Christian gen.
tleman. He will be the Governor of
all the people, regardless of parties,
or races, or conditions. He is not a
man of unusual prejudices, and we
predict that he will deal fairly with
the moneyed interests, and the labor
ing classes, and will protect corpo-
rate as we'll as individual rights. He