The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1912-08-16
C0LEY BLEASE TO BE The MOST
SURPRISED MAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA
(By Joe Sparks.)

Columbia, S. c., August 1O.-A
prediction on a political contest is
always more. or less problematical
and should be taken as the personal
opinion of one man unless certain
facts well known to the public are
presented. A political contest pre-
diction in South Carolina is danger
GUS for even the wisest of seers never
know just what is going to happen.
The political situation in South
Carolina this year presents some un-
usual features which go to make it
more difficult to solve. Cole l..
Blease has been the governor of the
State for two years and he has made
his record. That record can not be
erased. 1t is familiar to large ma
jority of the citizens Of the State and
the people as general rule have al
ready made up their minds. Ira b.
Jones, the chief opponent of the gov
ernor, has been out of politics for a
number of years. This however has
not disqualified him for he has made
a most excellent campaigner.
There are several features that
stand out prominently in this cam
paign.
Ira B. Jones made the tactical
blunder in the outset of the campaign
in permitting the governor to put him
on the defensive for even a moment.
Gov. Blease entered the campaign
with one of the most vulnerable rec
ords that has even been made by an
American official. His one thought
was to direct the public mind from
that record and it must be confessed
that he made good for the first sew
eral weeks of the campaign. How
ever all of the people are not fools.
The principal charge against Judge
Jones was that he favored social
equality. The governor used this
charge to advantage. Judge Jones
has already explained his vote to the
satisfaction of thinking people. He
has shown that the law proposed was
unconstitutional and that a measure
of that nature was not constitutional
until after the constitutional conven-
tion in 1898.
The latest puncture in that great
big charge by the governor is the
letter of Senator B. R. Tillman in
which the senior senator stated that
no sensible man would believe that
Judge Jones stood for social equality.
The senior senator further stated
T,.l, x,&1 lev
qualified" to be governor of the
State. Several months ago Senator
Tillman said that he would not take
sides in this fight and in his letter
he reiterated his former position. The
letter of Senator Tllman will serve
to turn many who had been made to
believe, by the governor, that Judge
Jones favored social equality.
Here are some of the reasons
which are given for what they are
worth to show that Cole L. Blease
will not be elected as governor of
South Carolina on August 9th.
He was elected two years ago by a
majority of 5,645 over C. c. Feather
stone, the prohibition candidate.
At least 10000 voters of South
Carolina cast their vote for Blease
because of his views on the whiskey
question.
Here it might be stated that thou
sands of South Carolinians have stat
ed that Mcleod would have been
elected if he had been in the second
primary. They both favored local
option.
In the campaign this year Jones
and Blease are both on the local op-
tion platform. However the whiskey
issue will cut a small figure.
In the last election Blease received
1866 votes in Charleston county to
Featherstone's S29. The governor
will not carry Charleston in the next
election.
The governor has insulted practi-
cally every friend that he had in the
State who would have been able to
swing votes for him in this election.
The utterances of the governor on
several stumps in the State have
been so vile that hundreds of votes
have been turned away.
The issue between Bleasism and
anti-Bleaseism has been clearly
drawn in practically every county in
the State and so far as is known
there are comparatively few Blease
candidates for the legislature and the
county offices. If the sentiment for
Please wes SO strono and over
whelming it is certain that there
would have been a full ticket in ev-
cry county.