The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-01-08

Columbia, Jan. 3.-Gov. Blease
has revoked the commissions as no
taries public Of the following:
Henry j. Hardy pressman of the
Columbia State; Capt. Dibert Jackson,
affiliated with the reportorial staff Of
the State; Col. August Kohn, head Of
The News and Courier's Columbia Bu-
reau; Alva NJ. Lumpkin, Representa-
tive-elect from this county; A. J..
Bethea, private secretary to Governor
NJ. F.. Ansel during his term of office;
David Harper Means, clerk of the
State sinking fund commission, and
Of George Powell Miller, Walter Tay-
lor Love, William d. Love and Will
liam stephen Hough, all of Columbia
Commissions to notaries public are
issued during the Governors pleasure
and can be revoked at will.
Noticing the revoking of commits
sions Of so many notaries public, Gov
ernor Blease was asked this morning
why it was being done or what it
meant, and in reply made the fol-
lowing statement:
You remember when l first came
into office | revoked the commissions
of al notaries public, my reason for
so doing being explained 1T the time;
also on tie stump during the recent
n a moi Cyn :~I,
| opponents would yell, every day, He
cut off the heads of all the notaries
public His protests had no effect
upon the people, for they realized that
| was right in the step that l had
taken. l said then, and repeat now,
that under the Constitution, the COM
missions Of every appontive officer
should be made to expire with the
term Of the Governor who makes the
appointment l still believe that, and
in carrying out that policy / have
called in the commissions Of all de-
tectives and consta bles working under
me, January /, 1913, and am revoking
the commissions of many notaries
public along the same line.
Il would have issued a general or
der, but two years ago this was very,
much objected to, and / was asked
not to enforce the order because it
would interfere with the banking in
stitutions and others in handling their
business affairs.
There are some commissions
throughout the State that I shall not
revoke, and / am satisfied that there
are some who will be glad that their
commissions are revoked, because I
have heard of them saying that they
did not want to have any commission
signed by Blease; that they were
ashamed Of them, but that they had
to have them on account Of their
business affairs; therefore, as far as
/ can, / am trying to relieve them of.
their shame.
Furthermore, l do not think any
man should hold a commission under
the State Government who openly vio-
lated the laws Of the State last year
by betting on the result of the pri-
mary election. i know Of no better
| way to stop such gambling than to
| carry out the law and deprive those
Of their commissions who were guilty
| of that offence, as provided for un-
der our Constitution and statute laws.
Therefore, when 1 have the positive
| proof, shall revoke commissions for
| this cause. This in short is what it
| means, and this is all it means
Il furthermore stated that no man
need apply to me for a position unless
| he be Blease man; l mean that. l
was censured for it, yet now some Of
the same newspapers who condemned
me SO severely for my position, are
hollering to the victor belongs the
spoils when it comes to the appoint
ments to be made by the President
elect Of the United States, Woodrow
Wilson. If the 'spoils' belong to Wilson
| and his crowd, why should not the
Blease men reap the rewards or the
'spoils' from their victory. Yet they
praise Wilson for sticking to his
friends, and condemn Blease for stick
ing to his Truly it can be said, oh!
consistency, thou art jewel and l
beg to add, a clear-cut diamond
"Of course, where appointive offices
were submitted to the primary and
elections were held by the people, the
will of the people should and must be
carried out, unless some good cause is
shown why it should not be, but when
it comes to appointments in ny dis