The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1911-03-22
SCORES BLEASE
The Governor Is Taken to Task for Vete-
ing the Commission Bill.
BY The COMMUNITY CLUB

BY The COMMUNITY CLUE
Accused OF Prostitutipg Office tx
the Purpose Of Petty Spite ant
Peanut Politics." and Of the Ambi
ton That Charleston Should bt
His Political Door Mat.
The Charleston Community Clut
at a we'll attended meeting on Thurs
day night adopted a letter to be SEN
to Governor Blease as the oficia
protest Of the club against his veto O.
the commission government bill. Thi:
letter is now released for publication
and is as follows:
"Charleston, S. c., Mch. s, 1911.
.sHis Excellency Cole L. Blea@ Gov
ernor of South Carolina, Columbia
S. C.-Dear Sir: By vetoing the
commission government bill you have
seen fit to abuse the powers Of
responsible Office, never expected tc
be exploited for private or politica
advantage, and arrogate to yourself
the right of limiting the franchise oi
the people of Charleston, and Of say
ing that our citizens are to have nc
further voice in the choice OF thel1
form Of government. You have
without justification or pretext, other
than the selfish interests Of a small
minority in this city, who have done
you signal service at the polls, IN
dertaken to veto a permissiTe. local
option bill, passed by the General
Assembly of the State, at the re-
quest of fifteen hundred responsible
citizens of this community, represent
ing over ten million dollars Of prop
erty interests. This petition repre-
sented the desire of substantial
number Of Charlestonians, IN all
probability a number greater than
gave YOU their votes last summer,
FOR a form of government which
would give the people Of this city a
larger voice in their own home gov
ernment and which would make OF
the 100000 to be yearly admins
tered in this city business response
bility and not jack pot, or the
waste material Of an experimental
laboratory. Why you have chosen
in the limelight of your Office as
Chief Executive, to abandon even
professed adherence to the principle
of local option, which you made
much of in your campaign, and to
blazen abroad your opposition in
toto to the Democratic principles OF
home rule embodied in the terms OF
the Act you have set aside and your
disapproval of any attempt to safe
guard the public purse, (where it did
not contemplate the salving OF pro-
vate sore,) is for yourself to under
stand. The purpose OF this COM
munication is not to demonstrate
against an act that was partially an
ticipated and is for the present ire
yocable. It is only to acqualnt you
with the indignation and censuTe
that your autocratic and partisan
conduct has aroused among the Cit
liens of that city to which for your
own reasons, you pretend TO owe
your election. Your utter disregard
OF their rights urges either a degree
of insincerity in your former protes-
tations of friendship, which should
henceforth make your utterances IN
this respect less likely to deceive, OF
else a frank admission that your
Charleston friends are not so numer'
Gus or outspoken as you or they OF
the official count would have US be-
Eeve. We are quite ready to admit
that the form of government we ad'
vocate would prove disastrous to the
political fortunes and ambitions ol
your friends here. But that form Of
government could not be adopted
without a vote of the majority Of the
citizens of Charleston. You are moi
misled, Mr.. Governor, it would seem
by the top-heavy vote Of the summer
primaries, and not so confident in th<
fnality of that verdict Of six to one
in your favor. Is it that you thlnF
that under the careful restrictions o1
the commission government prl
maries your friends would not fare
so well?
"Your fears are well founded
However, be assured, most honorable
sir, that commission government Il
not dead because you have vetoed the
bill, nor is the vitality Of this move
ment powerless to restore this city u
a plane of political decency. A mora
issue cannot be killed by your MT
We know of nothing more effective
toward bringing the people Of Sour
Carolina to their senses than the 90
ject lesson they now have of a dignl
fed public office prostituted to tht
purposes of petty spite and peanu
politics.
"Other cities have waited long fo1
the coming of their political freedom
You will find that the ambition o
our people for clean, free city vii
outlast yours that Charleston shai
be your political foot-mat. 1t shall
also survive your brief opportunit.
to hamper their efforts. You have
confessed to your grievous fear o
the majority Of the citizens Of Char