The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1913-10-02
B R TILLMAN'S OPINION
OF JOHN P GRACE.
BELATED BUT INTERESTING LET
TERFROM SENIOR SENATORPUB-
LISHED IN GRACE'S PAPER.


My dear Mr. Grace: | have just
received your letter of May 9. In
reading it, l am reminded of Talley-
rand's admonition about writing let
ters: Keep all you get and write
none"
While | confess | have not very
much confidence in you, there are so
many elements of good in you that
l am staggered to know how to
make up my judgment about your
character and personality.
| have heard more that is mean
about you from men that thought
| could trust than almost any man
in Charleston. Among them none
were more outspoken and bitter
than George LeGare himself. There
seem to be an instructive aversion
to you on the part of LeGare. He
never hesitated to unbosom himself
to the fullest in talking with me,
When you speak Of my being pre-
iudiced against you, will interpret
according to its exact meaning
prejudged-for l have to confess
most of my knowledge Of you is
from hearsay and from the news
papers, never having had the op-
portunity to talk with you much
until recently. You are an anomaly
and mystery in way, and l have
not yet fully made up my mind as
to what you really are.
You are very much mistaken if
you think ] Elmore Martin alone is
responsible for my opinion of you.
long for the time to come when |
shall bring you two face to face
with policeman nearby to separate
you and hear you have it out by
word of mouth.
My dear Mr. Grace, you have so
much intellectually and there are
so many possibilities ahead of you
that it is pity you have not got
more moral fibre. You may have
the moral fibre, but you succeed
most admirably in making people
believe you have none. You have
so much courage, both moral and
physical, that it is a sin not to have
some love of truth along with it.
For instance, you boldly acknowl-
edged to me that you had used
money to buy votes and seemed to
think it was no harm in you to do it,
but for Whaley and his friends to it
was unspeakably vile and criminal.
Your mental makeup leads you to
Judge yourself by another code of
morals than you judge your an
tagonists. The only true method of
analyzing men and their motives is
to put yourself in their places and
be entirely honest in the conclusion
you reach.
Almost the last time George Le-
Care and l talked together, he spoke
of his unspeakable disgust and con-
tempt for you and your methods,
which was just after the last State
convention when your doings in the
Charleston county convention had
been ventilated in Columbia and the
entire State convention had turned
you and your delegation down and
seated the Barnwell delegation. You
had used the police who were under
you, they charged, to control the
convention; and George Legare was
full of it and described the sensa-
tion caused by the reading of my
letter to Martin after you had read
my old letter about Won Kolnitz
written years ago.
If you had clearer perception of
the obligations of honor in politics,
you would not accuse me of "wob-
bling and wiggling" in the Peters
Storen case or the Murray case either.
What you say about the Charles
ton people swallowing Martin be-