The Calumet news., 1912-08-23
South Cardinals Governor Sole
Issue Of bitter Primary
Campaign
TO HOLD ELECTION TUESDAY
Senators and Representative A.
most unoppossd

| Noiufhbld, =. -, Ahs. - lpeit'tte'
Of South Caroline In a primary eiec~
ton next Tuesday viii nominate "a
state ticket, one United Stateg senator
and seven representatives In Congress
Nominations are equivalent TO elec-
tion.
All OF the present representatives are
renominated and several OF them viii
be named without opposition Sene-
tor Benjamin n. riilman is opposed by
y. r. Dial of Laurens and w. JAS
per Talbert of Parksville Owing 10
the condition of his health Senator
! Tillman mas taken no active part In
the campaign. Nevertheless his friends
believe that he is certain 10 defeat his
two opponents In the primaries.
oubernstoriai Contest
The bitter fight for the governor
| ship between Governor Cole l.. Blease
and Judge Ira B. Jones' is monopo!iz-
ing public attention To the exclusion Of
all other contests To be settled by the
primaries. There is but one issue
shall the administration of Governor
| lSlease be sustained and continued or
be condemned and ended. on this is
sue the entire state is divided into hos
tile camps. while the bitter cherries
hurled at Governor Please by his pCli-
tical enemies have attracted the atten-
tion of the entire country.
Governor Blease Is regarded as
result of the old dispensary system
which was established In South Caro-
lima by Tihman, and which has caused
innunerable scandals in the past fc~
years. AS member Of the legisla
ture. he was IN close association with
the commission which ran the dispen-
sary system and il is charged that
he shared the large rebates which
wholesale liquor houses We're forced. 1t
is alleged, To pay on all purchases %
liquors for the dispensary.
The Dispensary System.
The dispensary system became 50
notorious that the state decided To
abolish the commission. In winding
up It's affairs. however the State en-
tered suit t. recover from wholesalc
liquor houses in various cities large
sums Of money alleged to have been
paid In rebates In all these suits the
name of .3lease who was then State
senator, was mentioned Several Grim
inal prosecutions were brought against
officials but no one was convicted
Blease ran for governor two years
ago and won. although opposed by al
most every newspaper in the State and
the charges against him were placard-
ed everyw here. After his Inauguration
4 he started ont 90 punish his enemies.
/ At the outset of his administration he
began 'ssuing pardons on a scale never
before known in the South. More thar
400 pardons have been sigred by him
since he became governor.
Burns Figures In Case. q
/ Governor Rlease had warrants sworn
out against Attorney T. Il. Fielder of
Atlanta who represented South Caro-
lima in winding up tie affairs of the
dispensary commission, but the COVER
nor Of Georgia refused to honor the
lrequisition papers. To protect himself
Fielder hired Detective William j.
Burns to prove the charges against
Blease.
Detective Burns and his men offered
q legislative committee testimony to
show that Governor Blcase had re-
ceived money for the pardons granted.
and had accepted money from the bind
tigers for protection and mad signed
on vetoed railroad legislation which
came before him for consideration
Attorney Samuel J. Nicho ls was
named as the agent of Blease in these
transactions Burns had used the die
tagraph on Nichols and its records
were offered as evidence Nichols ad~
mltted that he had had dealings with
Burns men, but said that he was
drunk and that the records Of tho
dictagraph were the sayings of an in
toxicated man
Governor Defends Self.
Many thought that the. revelations
would put Rlease out of|the RUNNING
for second term, but he has turned
them to account by saying that they
they are lies told by the artstocrats
TO discredit man whom the common
people elected governor. His frienus
! contend that the statements about the
governors personal character are. the
ISLANDERS of his political enemies. They
say he has headed a vigorous admins
, tration according to his own way of
thinking. and that i'm the degree that
, Il has been vigorous. in that degree
has II displessed and angered his OPP
ponents. They point to the fact that
: the governor has strict ideas of State
economy: that he succeeded In having
the department OF State geoloslst and
? the office of chief game warden abol-
lshed in view OF the fact that he CON
sidered them unnecessary and use-
less expense; that he vetoed many OF
= 1.-The items of the appropriation bill