The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-01-17
a Bad Case OF Exaggerated Ego.


expenses and to veto eXtrava y.,,ca
and have done everything that 7 said
l would do in my campaign prom-
.ses, and have not done anything that
| said | would not do.
The above paragraph from the an
hual message Of the governor of
South Carolina to the Legislature Of
that state, now in session, betrays
two things
FIRST and foremost, the most acute
case of Exaggerated ego" on record
the pronoun Il" appears five times
IN seven hAes-and, next, a palpable
effort to make the word economy"
cover a multitude of sins.
But this is not the first time the
present governor of South Carolina
has betrayed aggravated symptoms of
exaggerated ego" nor will it be the
'ast-for he threatens to send sew
eral other messages" to the South
Carolina Legislature. at intervals.
II is really, sad caSe-one more to
be pitied than censured"-and we
Tear II is hopeless one Since the
day that political accident happened
in South Carolina which placed in the
governors chair a man who, by the
widest stretch Of the imagination,
could hardly be deemed qualified,
for the position, the result" of the
accident began to take himself Sc
rlously; even more seriously than
ever.
boy with new toy was never
half so ardent and energetic in show
ing 1T off as Cole Blease has been try
ing to impress people with the fact
that he is ''sorle governor" And a
sorry mess he has made of it. Not
that he has suffered, or could suffer
much, by the performance; but the
people everywhere have, naturally,
wondered what sort Of a State poor
old South Carolina can, possibly, be,
after all And, it must be confessed,
Cole Blease has managed to keep
himself and South Carolina very
much in the limelight all the while
II 1t SO be any one can relish being
placed in that sort of light"
But, maybe, We are prejudiced:
maybe We are too much Of a stickler
Tor dignity and bit of modesty in
our governors and that we do not
place a proper appreciation upon
fireworks-and economy" That
dear old campaign word, ECONOMY"
with which the voters is so often
beguiled. However, we are not 50
preJudiced that We would deny Cole
the privilege of giving in our columns.
over and over again-once yesterday
and again today-his estimate of
himself as a governor. And here is
the modest, self -effacing va in which
he does it,
IF you will take into coae:d ration
the amount of money which hai been
save" to the State by my ve;oes Of
the last appropriation Lii, the
amount saved by not appointing :; ec-
ial judges, by cutting off all nawspa-
pers. by requiring each county t. pay
for it's own acquisitions, refusing to
Issue useless rewards. refusing to hire
1 Il
detectives to do the work which
should be performed by regular Off
Gals. the amount received from the
appointment Of notaries public, the
low rate of interest at which money
was borrowed, the securing of interest
on this money while on deposit. the
amounts of contingent fund. stamp
and stationery fund. and fund for the
enforcement Of the law and order
which have not been used. and in
other ways you will find that during
my twelve months of service. | have
saved the people of the State more
than 100000, by practicing economy
and holding down expenses"
Assuming that the above is a true
and correct statement of the case
Which we do not, at all--and that
Cole has, really and truly. saved the
good old State Of South Carolina a
cool hundred thousand dollars. we
would still be forced to the conclusion
mat IT was poor economy" consider
ing the kind of advertising she has
had with Cole as her governor.
| Doubtless, however. there are cor
tam xmas OF people in South Carolina
VINO VIII prefer To look at Coles
economy record, as stated by him
self-rather than his pardon record
ana ms lynching record. and his dis