Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-11-16

BECAUSE it will do doubt be read with
very great interest, we are reproducing
the statement that Captain Gonzales
has given out with regard to the Co
lumbia luncheon affair. AS one of the
papers that exercised the right to crit
icise the incident, we beg leave to dis
claim any malicious intent" however
thoughtless or uninformed we may be;
but at the same time we confess that
we are unable to see the matter diff
ferently even with more light. In the
first place, we are unable to follow the
reasoning that seeks to make the
luncheon any more Of a state affair
than was the banquet at Charleston.
ton, so were Senators Tillman and
Smith, and several congressman, state
senator's and representatives. Several
of these distinguished state officials
wore reception committee badges, and
all were presented with guest" badges.
AS to just to what extent these officials
were guests and to what extent they
were hosts, we shall not attempt to
define; but we did understand, as
matter of fact, that none Of them from
outside the city were asked to pay SIS
a plate, the commonly reputed cost of
the banquet, or any other amount. AS
we understood it, and as many Of those
who received invitations understood it,
the Columbia Chamber Of Commerce
stood sponsor for all the invitations
that were sent out, and now RESPONSE
bility could be shifted to the state, we
are unable to see. We have not raised
any objection to the method pursued
by the Columbia Chamber of Com
merce. We have conceded that If 1t
wanted to get up an entertainment and
have the guests foot the bills, it had
a perfect right to do so, and it was
nobody's business outside Of those con-
cerned. We did, however, make the
point that the Columbia Chamber of
Commerce made a very bad break in
further pursuing its proposition to Sen
ator Tillman after the senator had ig-
nored that proposition, as he clearly
had a right to do under it's terms, and
as others had done. This would apply
to such an invitation under any cir
cumstances, and it applied with especial
force in view of the known relations
existing between Senator Tillman and
those having charge of the luncheon.
Again, it IS very well to recognize
that although the whole incident was
supposed, upon it's face, to involve mere
ly question of social ethics, to both
sides it was charged to tie bursting
point with personal feeling ard politics.
We have not considered that phase of
the situation heretofore, and do not
propose to do so at this time. That
there are many vulnerable places in the
record of Senator Tillman we do not
deny, and we would not want to deny
it unless we could do so truthfully: but
we are unable to see that the senator's
boorish treatment Of the Charleston
people on a former occasion. his con-
nection with the Oregon land transac-
ton, or numerous other things that
might be mentioned have anything
whatever to do with the merits of the
particular question at issue. Elmi-
mating everything that is irrelevant to
the real question and we have a situa-
ton like this individuals in Columbia
wanted to give Columbia the credit for
"a big blowout by inviting other individ-
uals from throughout the state and
making them pay the fiddler. If all
had come down with their assessments
and said nothing, Columbia would have
been i'm n position to throw flowers at
herself and cover herself with glory on
account of her splendid hospitality.
The plan. however, having failed,
through this Tillman invitation Incl
dent there was nothing left but to try
to give the whole thing. the color Of
state function, which, from the nature
Of the case is as absurd as it is i'm
possible. Had the president been en-
tertained by the governor, with the
other state officers as hosts. such a
function would have been entitled to be