Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-12-13

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vorces. If man leaves the state OF
South Carolina, or a woman, and goes
| into another state and obtains a d.
| vorce from his wife, he may come
! back into South Carolina and live, but
If he again marries and moves back
within the state with a second wife
We hold him and his wife guilty OF
adultery and punish them according
ly; and If there are children born to
the union after the divorce the su-
preme court Of South Carolina has
stated in their opinion that they are
, illegitimate and can not inherit the
property Of the parent That, 1 say,
may seem to some of you a hardship;
but, my friends, 1t Is far better that
In few instances some good woman
may suffer or some men may be caus-
ed to suffer. than to lay down law
which would bring, and which is
bringing today, in disrepute, the SOL
emn bonds Of matrimony, which only
under any conditions or any circum-
stances should be contracted for love.
sanctioned by a divine power.
In Other States.
Mr.. President and brother govern
ors, we do not apply to your states
anything wrong. It is your way Of
looking at the proposition. We do not
mean for a moment to condemn you,
mr. ro
Carolinians for a moment set itself
up as the only or the proper guardian
Of the morality Of the American ma
tion; but we are glad of the distinc-
tion that we hold; we are proud that
It is written in our fundamental law,
so that no legislature, elected possibly
by a wave Of excitement or from
other causes, can change It; 1t Is so
written that It Is impossible to change.
and Of that we are proud.
Now we can not follow this rule
Of desertion all the way through,
but In South Carolina when q white
man deserts his wife and children, or
II he deserts his wife and they are
without children, 1t IL criminal offense
not to support that wife, or to fail to
support the children, II there be such.
Consequently the wife can go into a
court Of justice and prosecute'her hus-
band for non-support Of herself and
for non-support Of her children, and
we punish him as a criminal for fall
ing to do his duty to that woman, to
those children, to society and to his
state. Therefore we have but little
trouble on this score. Sometimes we
have a citizen who drifts to Reno;
crosses to Augusta, only going across
the Savannah river, but when he real
ICES that when he comes back into the
state that a criminal prosecution will
hang over his head for the desertion
Of that woman, who has sworn, not
only before man, not only for her love
for him not only for the devotion
which she has for her state and her
nation, but for her belief in the here
after and in the God that gave her
life, that she would stand by him in
health and sickness, old South Car
olina says to him, AS she stands by
you, you have got to stand by her.
We are proud Of it.; we love the dis
tinction.
Now there is a race Of people in
my section Of the country-and I am
pointed to the world sometimes as
their enemy, but I am not, and II
the governorship Of South Carolina
depended upon an election next Tues
day and they would leave it entirely to
the negro vote, disfranchising for the
time the white vote, could receive
without trouble rs to 80 per cent Of
the negro vote Of the state to be their
governor, and Notwithstanding that !
stand alone in this conference and in
other places Of this great nation, not
as governor of South Carolina but in
my individual capacity believing there
is but one punishment, and that must
be speedy, when that negro lays his
hands upon the person Of a white
woman. Such a thing happened a
few days ago in a certain state, can't
happen in South Carolina; the boasted
hero Of the black race who claims to
be the superior Of the white man In
the prize ring could not disgrace South
Carolina by having himself united to
a white woman within its borders.
thank God, and If 1t did happen the
law provides a punishment for him
and a punishment for her, and the
only reason that the law would be
called in to protect them would be
the location of the place in the state
in which the crime might have been
committed. Otherwise there might be
no need for a grand jury to present
true bill, Mr.. Chairman, Of that we
are proud.
"Of course, we can not apply that
to this individual race, and why not?
Because, my friends, you do not un-
derstand those people. You condemn
US of the south, and yet Ohio fol-
lows the example; in Springfield they
followed It; New Jersey follows It;
Pennsylvania will follow it. All other
states Of the American Union will
follow 1t, because, no matter where
II be, north or south. east or west,
whenever you touch the Caucasian
blood 1t Is the same, and 1t will prove
itself to be the superior and the his
tory of the world has proved 1t (both
Bible and profane history that
whenever the inferior race gets in
the way of the superior that the su-
perior will rule and control, even
though 1t be necessary to wipe the
inferior race from the face OF the
earth. Some men condemn this, and
that is their privilege, but in the
southern states we love a woman;
we hold them higher than all things
else. and whenever anything steps be-
tween a southern man and the de-
fense of the virtue Of womanhood OF
his nation and his state, he will tear
II down and walk over 1t in her de-
fense, regardless Of whatever may be
the consequence or whatever may be
III, ,,,,,isbrnant or the result to him