Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-07-30
CANDIDATING.


working for votes is all one sided pleas
ure. just let them try It," said one Of
the candidates in conversation with
the reporter a few days ago. 1T is
true that there is good deal Of pleas
ure and enjoyment to be gotten out Of
the task" he went on, "but 1t 1t Is not
all that way by any means"
The reporter claimed enough knowl-
edge absorbed through long observa-
ton to feel assured that the speaker
was entirely correct in his remark, and
the candidate went on to suggest that
If man did not believe this thing Of
making votes for himself involved some
puzzling work, let him go out and try
1t.
Suppose you should undertake to get
votes for any given county Office other
than the senate or house. where there
Is supposed to be little or no stump
speaking, how would you go about It?
Maybe you figure that you would Just
announce yourself a candidate, then
drive along the roads to give people an
opportunity to hurrah for you; but II
would not take you long to find that
this would not work.
The average candidate can walk
from one side Of the county and get
no more attention than any other re-
spectacle citizen. People would pass
the time Of day with him and maybe
some would cut a watermelon or invite
him to take dinner or stay all night;
but If he said nothing Of his candidacy
just as like as not they would not eth
er. Now where man Is pretty well
acquainted with the people and knows
more or less about politics gener-
ally and the politics Of various in
dividuals in a given neighborhood es-
pecially, the task Is not so tedious. He
always has something to work on and
finds opportunity to go about his work:
but If he ever gets anywhere before he
has acquired some experience along
those lines he may account himself
lucky.
But I'll give you a pointer" the
candidate went on. 1.-THE best places
for the still hunter to operate, Is
around country blacksmith shops.
country stores, corn and grist mills,
and town livery stables and barber
shops. Now a green man would not
know that; but 1t Is so. He would figure
barber would not know much, and he
would not give the country store keep
er credit for knowing great deal. That
Is where he makes his mistake. Large
numbers of people go to the black
smith shop to get their horses shod
and for other things, and many people
go to the mills as we'll as the stores.
Well, as a rule they have nothing else
to do but talk politics. and the miller,
the blacksmith, the barber or the liv-
eryman, as the case may be, picks up
quite a good deal. When one or the
other Of these talks to you he Is pretty
apt to give you not so much what he
thinks himself as the concensus Of the
talk he has been hearing and II you
have pretty shrewd judgment you can
generally draw a pretty correct con-
clusion as to how things really are.
"Then another place to which every
candidate, whether a new beginner or
an old hand at the game goes Is the
cotton mill. There Is always more or
less politics about every cotton mill,
and II Is generally easy to get at II you
know how. But don't make the mistake
Of thinking that anybody controls or
buys up the cotton mill vote. II you
make that mistake you will regret 1t.
OF course there are some men about
the mills, sometimes an overseer or boss
sometimes an ordinary operative, and
sometimes q storekeeper, or even a
man with no regular employment, who
have considerable influence. These men
are sometimes able to switch from two
to a dozen votes, sometimes many
more; but the best way to canvass
cotton mill Is to go after each individ-
ual voter, just as you would go after
the farmers or other classes, and often
you will have occasion to be glad of 1t.
But don't you go CHASING the cotton
mill operatives as a bunch of anarchists
who follow some trifiing vagabond who
sells them out like so many sheep
There are stories of such things having
been done in times past, and 1t may be
true that it has been done, but 1t Is not
done anymore. Cotton mill operatives
generally vote together, it is true; but
they don't belong to anybody. Every
mothers son of them prizes his vote as
highly as does any other class of citi-
zens and he always puts 1t just exact
ly where he wants to put It, And what
Is more If you are broad enough and
liberal enough to look at the situation
broadly and intelligently you will gen.
orally find that the cotton mill opera
tive comes about as near as any other
class Of citizens to knowing exactly
what ha Ia voting for and why"