The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-06-05
Fourteen Reasons for
TiNman's Election
Editor Press and Banner:

Senator Tillman by electlng MIN W Ihe
Senate:
First: He has been a leader OF the pro-
pressiye movement in the Democratic
Party longer than any other Democrat III
fine United States. His first speech OF ma
tional Importance was made four years
before Mr.. Bryan's great Chicago deliver
ance. He was the target for the assaults
and scornful cartoons Of the reactlonar1es
for years until insurgency" became fash
ionable. He has lived to see Iheodore
Roosevelt taking up the best OF his con-
tentions, when twenty years ago that
statesman was calling him a ."popullst'
and u dreamer" He secured a primary
election twenty-five years before they a
become a universal demand.
Second: During his long career his pri-
yate character has never been successful
ly impeached. In the fierce light whlch
beats on high places in these days OF mi
croscopic analysis OF character in the pub
lie press his moral integrity has stood I'M
shaken and undimmed.
Third: His incorruptibility In public
service has been such as to be the despair
Of his enemies and to warrant the implicit
confidence of his constituents. In a SEN
ate of %millionaires, he is still the tribune
of the..people, as unimpeachable as ever
was the Gracchi.
Fourth: The impregnable strength OF
his will has been and still is a tower Oh re-
sistance to the insidious efforts OF reac-
~tionarips In the Democratic party who
now hope to use that party as their allies
in the other camp have so long used the
Republican party.
Fifth: The higher order Of his intellect
enables him to see and to analyZe condl-
tions at the present time in a way to be OF
the highest benefit to the people OF the
state and nation. The complicated state
of political affairs makes 1t fortunate that
South Carolina has a big brain at WASH
ington.
Sixth: Past services are not the best
reason for keeping ia public servant his
post, unless those services indicate a cha
acter likely to be OF further service. SEN
ator Tillman's work has been exactly OF
this kind: It was not one sporadic act OF
blazing briiliance but a series constituting
a remarkable whole. Among these, one
| of the most important was his activity IN
educational matters. An enumeration OF
what he did cover almost a generation OF
the life of the State. .
Seventh: He founded and developed
Clemson College.
Eighth: He did the same thing: for
Winthrop College.
Ninth. He l~probably saved the South
Carolina College and the Citadel Academy
from disintegration at O time when they
might have been seriously injured. can
bear personal testimony to this myself,
for when he had just been elected Govern
or in 1890, he asked me to come to see ain
when l was at the head Of Junior class in
the South Carolina College, and earnest
ly urged upon him the election OF DR..
| Woodrow as President of that Institution,
a step which I think will be admitted to
have been of the utmost advantage to That
College in the existing state OF affairs
DR.. Woodrow knew how to keep his mouth
| shut as few men did, and he Darlgated the
old College through the shoals OF political
ly troubled waters as perhaps no one else
might have done.
Tenth: He began an era of active and
4.... al -a ,k;n;D,f; IN nnhlipt0 fin ifS on
the part OF the whole white people Of the
| state whose steady influence ever since
has been to keep the state in the forefront
of intelligent progressive political actlvi-
ty. Mr.. Bryan once told me personally
that Senator Tillman had done more to
awaken the South to new life in political
lines than any other man in the country.
Eleventh: He saved the Democratic
party in the state from disruption by Sc
curing q white primary referendum nearly
a quarter Of a century ago. He later kept
the state free from the attempted intro
ductlon of the new-republicanism as rep
resented by John L. McLaurin.
Twelfth: He chrystallized white mans
government in the Constitutional Conven-
ton, and built upon the foundation laid by
Wade Hampton in the redemption OF the
state from radical rule an editice so solid
and enduring that it is hardly ever likely
to fall again.
Thirteenth: He taught the people tSat
they were stronger than the corporations
He proved his contention in the state, and
took the lesson with him to Washlonton,
where he has been teaching the nation the
same thing. Only a small 1.-THE OF what
he has done in this respect ever gets into
the papers. They n J not publish what
he says always, but they go to hear him
and they quote him and his words find an
echo one way or another from Maine to
California.
Fourteenth: His experience in public
affairs has been such as to make a few
words from him now Of greater value n
force than a years work of a less able or
well-known man. Alexander H. Stevens
was an invalid for the best years ofhis life,
but he wrote q book with his trembling
fingers which will live as longias the mem
DRY of the pen OF Davis or the sword OF
Lee. John Milton spent his powerful
youth in helping Cromwell to reform Eng
land, and wrote the immortal Paradise
Lost when aged and blind. AS long as
Ben Tillman can lie Oh a couch in the Capt.
toll and tell those around him to keep the
fire hot, South Carolina would do well to
keep him there. AS u matter OF fact, he