The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-08-14
yHHTT JONES WILL YIH.
REVIEW OF BLEASE.JONES CON.
TEST.
Augusta Chronicle Gives Facts and
Figures That Indicate the Certain
Defeat of Blease and the Election
OF Jones by Large Majority.
Augusta Chronicle.

dicuon on political contest is al
ways more or less problematical an,=
should be taken as the personal Opin-
ION OF cne man unless certain facts
well known to the public are present
eo. A political contest prediction in
South Carolina is dangerous 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 r
Blease has been she governor of the
State for two years and he has made
his record That record can not be
erased. 1t is familiar to a large ma
Jorlty of the citizens of the State who
nave already made up their minds.
Ira Il. Jones, the chief opponent of
the governor, has been out OF politics
for number of years This however
has not disqualified him for he made
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 ever 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-
ton Of 1895.
The latest puncture in that great
big charge by the governor is the let
ter Of Senator b. X. 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 shat
Judge Jones was "eminently uuaii-
fled" to be governor of the State. S,y-
eral 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 Tillman 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 -.
He was elected two years ago by a
majority of 5,645 over c. G. Feather
stone, the prohibition candidate.
At least 10000 voters of South
Carolina cast their vote for Blease be-
cause of his views on the whiskey
question.
Here it might be stated that thous-
ands 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
option platform. However, the whis-
key issue will cut a small figure.
In the last election Blease receiv-
ed 1866 votes in Charleston county
10 Featherstone's S29. The governor
will not carry Charleston in the next
election.
The governor has insulted prac,i-
cally every friend that he had in he
state who would have been able to
swing votes for him in this election
His utterances on several stumps in
the State have been so vile that hun
dreds of people have been turned
away from him.
The issue between Bleaseism and
anti Bleaseism has been clearly drawn
in practically every county in the
State and so far as is know there are