Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-09-23


my office became a sort OF clearing
house for men in the south who want
ed to build railroads. develop mineral
properties, etc. Why, they got to writ
ing me about patents, and things ol
that kind-not so much from South
Carolina as from Georgia and Alabama
Then capitalists in the north began to
look me UP to know about these mills
timber, iron and coal that I had been
talking about. was overwhelmed
with these sort of things, but helped
many a meritorious southern enterprise
in those days, and never got one cent
from anybody for anything / did. My
acquaintance with Mr.. Archbold was
the direct outgrowth Of this effort to
help people in the south who were seek
ing eastern money to develop their
country.
about this time Senator Earle died,
and then my troubles began. Every
effort had been made 20 get me to run
for the senate; Senator Earle said ne
would not enter the race If I would, but
my instincts were all against going to
the senate, and I never went against
my instincts in my life that / didn't
make a mistake Governor Ellerbe OF
fered me the appointment, and could
not resist the temptation to don the
senatorial toga. ought to have stay
ed contented right where was, on the
WAYS and means committee, and gone
on with the good work Of southern de-
velopment. My whole life until l went
to the senate was an uninterrupted
success, and everything went wrong
there from the jump. When the jani-
tor showed me my Office In the senate
annex, it had No. 1S on the door. i
took a ruler and knocked 1t of, but the
'hoodoo' stuck. After my appointment
instead Of staying there quietly and at
tending to my duties, left and came
to South Carolina and went into a
heated campaign with Ex-Governor
Evans, Senator Irby and Hon. s. G.
Mayfeld. There was no use In 1t,
would have been elected anyway. They
attacked me on my tariff views, al
though Senator Tillman shared them
with me, and we voted alike on all the
amendments. got oyer-heated at
Yorkville and had lclg spell OF brain
fever. When I got back to Washington
I was nervous, sick and irritable, better
fitted for sanitarium than the heavy
brain work that my duties called for
The relations between Senator Tillman
and myself had become strained.
don't know why 1t is; two senators
from the same state should be the best
friends in the world, but 1t is very
rarely the case. One good, frank talk
would, / expect, have Strengthened
things out, but I thought he wanted
John Gary Evans for colleague and
couldn't control myself just at that
time to overlook it. So much by way
of preface, now I will come to those
letters.
Among the many schemes Of devel-
opment in the south, there was not one
that appealed to me so strongly as the
proposal for a railroad connecting the
iron and coal fields Of Alabama, with
deep water at Brunswick, Georgia. The
men connected with the proposition,
originally, were southern men; but
they had to take in q New York man
Co. i,, nd
It was a perfectly sound, honest enter
prise, and If we had gone on as we
started, it would have succeeded. AT
first, I had no idea Of becoming per-
sonally interested, but with the death
of Mckinley, and with Tillman abso-
lutely dominating the machine in the
state, saw that had small chance OF
remaining in the senate unless I allow
ed him to dominate. There Is where
made a mistake; 1t was more my pride
than Tillman's desire to rule. I had
found out that had ability to grasp a
situation and then present it strongly
Several big business men had also
found this out, and determined either
| to control or get out and make a new
career in the business world. / knew
that H. H Rogers of the Standard Oil
was building monument to himself In
the Virginia tide water road from the
western coal fields to Norfolk, and
Flagler doing likewise with his Florida
proposition. Here was a road from
Birmingham that nature made down
grade to the sea, which would be as
great as either Of these. at only a small
fraction Of the cost. Some of the mer
interested had introduced me to Mr.
Archbold, and it was my deliberate
purpose to induce him TO back us.
looked him up, he didn't look me up. II
there was any spider-and- fly busi-
ness, tried to be the spider; but go
caught in my own web, not by Mr.
Archbold's fault, but the rescality o.
others. Tillman and had met on the
stump at Gaffney, S. c., and had very
acrimonious debate. l think any ont
| who was present will say that I turned
| d HOSlllS duulclCc III lily ldNOT, dHl
when we offered our designations 4
was in good faith on the part of both
and I have always thought that
would have beaten Tillman before tht
people, If Governor McSweeny had no
refused to accept the resignation, pro-
vided l could have made the canvass
this doubt; as l was still suffering at
tacks with my head, which left m'
PROSTATE. The letters published abou
that were written to Mr.. Archbold ant
others, who either wrote or wired
There was great curiosity about tht
fight between myself and Tillman.
see they speak of the phrase, prompt
ly and generously supported, as mean
ing that expected a campaign contri
button. That is not SC. had just hat
conferences in Greenville with certain
gentlemen, and surely, with all the ma
chinery in Tillman's hands. unles:
somebody promptly and generously
supported me, stood no chance. How.
ever, we did not make the campaign
and when I went back I went ahead