Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-03-26

traffic as criminal and as the prolific
source of many other social and civic
disorders, and they are opposed to 1t
for that reason. They do not hope to
eradicate the liquor traffic all at once
any more than they hope to eradicate
any other crime all at once: bat they
insist that the government should have
mo more partnership in the traffic than
In any other crime. That Is about all.
But while the Prohibition element Is
an element of conviction, still there Is
lacking in 1t the qualities that are es-
sential to political domination. The
ideal Prohibitionist has no personal po-
litical aspirations. AS a rule he gives
his thoughts and energies to useful
pursuits that make for the upbuilding
of the state along solid and substantial
lines. He is not looking for personal
gain except such as comes to him
through his own honest efforts, and
has no training in or taste for the
methods that are necessary to give
him the political position to which he
is entitled or even to protect himself
against the designs Of those who would
use him for their own purposes.
Shrewd politician that he was, Till
man in the early days Of his move
ment recognized that the Prohibition
element was one that had to be dealt
with, and the trick he played Is one
that is pretty generally remembered. In
order to keep the Prohibitionists out Of
the way as a dangerous factor, he ar
ranged that the prohibition question be
voted on in a separate box at the pri-
maries, with the understanding that
the Reform party's policy would be
governed by the will Of the majority.
A majority Of the votes cast on the
whisky question were for prohibition;
but the desire Of the people thus ex-
pressed was ignored and the state dis
pensary was established. The excuse
given for ignoring the prohibition vote
was that although a majority Of the
votes cast on the whisky question was
prohibition, still the prohibition vote
was not majority of the total vote
cast. The absurdity Of the excuse, of
course is apparent, for in effect 1t
meant more Difference to those who did
not express themselves than to those
who did.
But this incident gave a practical
Illustration Of the political innocence
of the Prohibitionists. Although the
vote at the ballot box showed their
power, there was not enough leader
ship, not enough aggression, not
enough cohesion to step in and take
charge of a situation that was clearly
theirs.
The leadership Of Mr.. Featherstone
was the ablest, probably, that the Pro-
hibitionists ever had, and the Prohibi-
tionists would have won two years
ago If they had not been euchred by
the McLeodites.
The old dispensary crowd and the
liquor element generally was split into
two parties, representing practically
the same principles, the only difference
being that Of degree. Opposed to both
Of them, as usual, was the Prohibition
lists, and both were opposed to the
Prohibitionists.
The logic of the situation was like
this: The party led by Mcleod believ-
ed that If 1t could get into the second
race with the party led by Blease, 1t
could win, because 1t assumed that 1t
having been a little more compromising
on the whisky question, the Prohibi-
tionsts, with their candidate out, would
go to Mcleod rather than Blease. Some
of the Prohibitionists hoped that in the
event Of a second race between Feath-
erstone and Blease, the Mcleod party
would go to Featherstone for the same
reasons that the Featherstone party
was expected to come to Mcleod; but
Blease himself, the acknowledged real
leader Of his party, looked upon the
matter differently. He understood, bet
ter even than the Prohibitionists, that
his real enemies were the politicians
who were behind Mcleod, and that
undoubtedly accounts for the declara-
ton he made in Columbia early in the
campaign to this effect: IF I am not
governor of South Carolina, a Prohibi-
ZIONIST will be-"
The meaning of Mr.. Blease's declar-
alton as II could have been reasoned
out then and as it can be seen very
clearly now was this: The fight is be-
tween Mcleod and me. The enemies
who are after me and the enemies I
have it in for are behind Mcleod. If
the second race Is between Feather
stone and Mcleod, am going to throw
the weight of my influence to Feather
stone"
When the race came between Blease
and Featherstone, Blease's personal en-
emies in the Mcleod column would
have naturally preferred Featherstone,
and they threw what little influence
they had left to Featherstone. Because
they had already knitted Featherstone
to their utmost, however, they were un-
able to divert many votes to him at
this late day. The great body of the
political element saw, or at least they
should have credit for seeing, that the
success of Featherstone would have
meant the domination of the Prohibi-
tion element through a long period.
This would be because the Prohibition
element would give the state the best
and cleanest government that has yet
been seen. Selfishness, therefore, die
tated that the practical thing was to
elect Blease, with the idea that he
would not last so long and the poll
ticians of the Mcleod party would get
back into control that much quicker.
AS matters now stand the fight Is
just where it would have been two
years ago as between Mcleod and
Blease; Jones standing in the shoes of
Mcleod and the Prohibition element
holding the balance of power. There is
no reason to doubt that under such
circumstances two years ago, the Pro-
hibition element would have voted for