Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-12-12
TriblIte to Tillman.

In South Carolina where, after the
war, It seemed uncertain for a time
whether the cotton fields would once
again give way to the pine scrub, po'
litical rivalry was one of the leading
factors in bringing about the eVolu-
ton. The old line families in politics
were all planters with methods some
what old-fashioned. Governor after
governor, senator after senator came
aristocrats. Then came Ben. Tillman
Swiftly he made himself leader
among the poorer classes. They made
him governor, a poor mans governor
and he began forthwith to develop the
state for the poor mans benefit. In the
great agricultural school the existence
Of which he made possible, poor mems
sons have been taught modern farm
ing methods. Now they are dissent
mating their knowledge, each In his
own community, and the state is wide
awake and progressive from the sea to
the mountains.
The wealth developed in the north
made a market for southern fruit
This has affected many states, but
none more than Florida, whose
oranges have become a great COM
mercial institution; Georgia, whose
peaches are first in the market each
year, and North and South Carolina,
which literally hum during the berry
season when the ice In the Maine
woods still clings, deep under the
dense hemlocks.-Major Arnold Mack
enzie, an Englishman, in Pulitzer
Magazine.
All of that sounds pretty good as
reviewing developments since the
war; but we think the Englishman
gives Tillman more credit than he is
entitled to. The revolution of social
sentiment and industrial ideas referred
to are chargeable more to the credit
of the Farmers Alliance than to Sen
ator Tillman. The truth Of the matter
is that Senator Tillman's struggle for
leadership commenced about the time
the Alliance wave was reaching It's
flood. The two movements were op-
Grating along independent and very
different lines until there was mer-
ger that was more Of the nature OF
the Alliance swallowing Tillman than
of Tillman swallowing the Alliance. 1t
is we'll known fact, borne out by
published records Of the times that
Tillman differed very materially from
the Alliance in many important par
ticulars, and that he seemed to think
he could dominate the Alliance. He
met certain Alliance speakers behind
closed doors at a farmers meeting in
Spartanburg, where he took issue on
various essentials Of Alliance doctrine.
AS the result he came away whipped
completely whipped, and acknowl-
edged subserviency to the Alliance. He
afterward got the reputation Of being
a leader of Alliance doctrine; but as
a matter Of fact he never was such a
leader. He continued to hold to his
original views and as the Alliance or
ganization dissolved, he began to re-
assert his own individuality. But
while all this is true, we would not be
understood as denying that Senator
Tillman was a tremendous factor In
awakening the laboring and producing
classes to the fact that they had a
right to a say-so in the management
Of the government and that they
should exercise that right. That he Is
deserving Of undivided credit, how
ever, for any constructive legislation
in behalf of the people who were thus
aroused, we are not at all convinced.
We know of nothing that could be un-
reservedly credited to his account.