Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-05-09
GRACE RAISES ROW
Charleston Mayor Undertakes to un-
seat Mr.. Whaley.

seat Mr.. Whaley.
Mayor John P. Grace, of Charles
ton, has been in Washington during
the past few days, laying plans to
embarrass his political enemy Whaley'
who received the most votes for con-
gress in the contest with Hughes
On Tuesday Mayor Grace gave out the
following statement to the Washington
correspondent Of the News and Cour-
Ter: ...........
when I was elected mayor OF
Charleston, the press dispatches to
newspapers throughout the United
States, will entitle him to a seat in that
yolution had taken place. 1t was the
first time in the history Of the city,
that a man called to be its chief ex-
ecutive who never pretended to deny
that he was made Of ordinary hesh
and bone. That aristocratic class,
who so long considered itself divinely
appointed to govern over US, went into
deep mourning and bewailed the emu
of an ideal political state. .-.. ......
"Since my election, have frequent
ly been embarrassed while away from
home to have strangers proclaim the
fact that they knew Charleston as a
city where the best traditions are pre-
served and where citizenship is a
source of pride. My embarrassment
has always sprung from the knowl-
edge that our ola political rules per-
mitted us to sail under false colors.
With all my heart have wished that
we might, in fact, be what we were
reputed to be. but the truth Is thai
political conditions in Charleston, and
in the neighboring counties, are rotten
to the core, and the time has come
when throughout the country this
truth is recognized. I'D a.-.
Recently we had in Charleston
what was called an election for con-
gress from the 1st South Carolina
district. 1t was not an election-it
was an auction. The man who will
receive a certificate which, II unre-
voked by the congress OF the United
States, will entitle to a seat in that
body, assumes an air Of superiority.
He boasts Of his lienage and he claims
to be a gentleman of the old school.
And yet, 1t Is a notorious fact that
the seat in the national house of rep
resentatives, which he claims, was
openly bought, and a large number of
the electorate, which he is coming TO
Washington to represent was brazen-
ly corrupted. In the office Of the
clerk Of the house of representatives,
there is on file an official statement as
required by law, to the effect that IN
the recent Democratic congressional
primary there was spent by the alleged
successful candidate the sum Of $4,000.
Multiply that sum by ten and the sum
thus obtained would be thousands
short Of the amount expended to OBJ
tain this so-called election. %. ,...'
Because of the numerous scandals
growing out Of the use Of money in
primaries and in elections, the con-
gress of the United States some time
ago wisely fixed by law the sum OF
$4,000 as the maximum that might be
spent in a congressional contest in any
district of the United States. At the
last session of congress. the Democrat
ic house threw out Of office man who
had won his seat because there was
spent in his behalf more than $4,000.
Enlightened public sentiment demands
that the man who comes to Washing
ton to represent our people should
truly be their representative. No man
can be such who has bought seat In
congress or for whom such a seat has
been bought. In Charleston, and In
South Carolina the charge is openly
made, and not denied, that the seat as
signed to the First South Carolina
congressional district has been knock
ed down to the highest bidder. Such
a state Of things should be investi-
gated. The truth should be known. If
an election in this district has been
corrupted, then not only for the sake
Of purity in politics, but for the sake
of our own publication, that fact
should be disclosed. .. ..
II am loyal to Charleston through
and through, but I recognize the fact
that the only people in all history who
have suffered by hypocrisy are the
hypocrites themselves. For their own
sake, we need to have the truth known
and for our own sake we need to have
the congress at Washington declare in
unmistakeable terms that a seat gained
by corruption Of voters is a seat that
shall not be held. I am in favor Of a
sweeping congressional investigation Of
this so-called election, and I believe
that If, as a result of that investiga-
ton, the election is declared null and
void, the time will never come when
anyone will again assume to buy with
dollars the right to pretend to rep
resent a South Carolina district in the
halls Of the national congress"