The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-04-23

ago, when there was such a flow
Of money used in buying and
controlling votes. The workers
showed the rolls publicly, max
ing no secret of the purposes to
which it was being put"
In the city of Charleston this
sort Of disgraceful and criminal
conduct is not a new thing out 1t
is common report that the Char
lesion method has been extended
in some measure to the rural
counties of the district.
If the report be true, it means
that some men who hitherto have
been honest though poor have
now to carry TO their graves the
guilty knowledge that they have
sold themselves, their selt-re
spect and their title to the re
spect of good men for a few dol
lars. It means that decent coun
try communities have been be
foulded.
Where lies the fault?
None will excuse the miSer
able bribe-taker. What about the
gentlemen" who furnished the
dirty money to corrupt the clean
men-or to corrupt again the
men already dirty?
Supposing that the charge be
true, whence came the ''rolls"
publicly displayed at the polls?
Perhaps they were contributed,
all of them, by ward heelers,
sbllnd tiger" and "dive" keepers
and not by any mice" kid.glov
ed, educated and tailor made
gentlemen with credit in the
banks-but if that be believed.
fools are not less numerous than
rascals. Surely, the gentlemen
that draw checks and in the pri
vacy of their offices hand the
money to their discreet friends
who. in the back-room of the
whlskey den, divide it among
the workers" are not guilty
how we'll everybody knows that
they are innocent and ignorant
of the foul purposes to which
the money will be put! Certain.
ly, we may blind our eyes to all
that is ugly.
What about the man who i'm
ports the boil weevils for distrl-
button? To stick a ten dollar bill
under the nose of some poor rus
tic and convert him into bribe
taker and a traitor to his State
is small ofense. To slip two hun
dred dollars under the hat of
some farmer or country merch
ant of consequence in his neigh
borhood that he may use it to
pollnte the morals of his neigh
.bors may be overlooked or it will
be forgotten in a few days. To
spread political leprosy IN a com
munity is a small crime-but a
spiteful negro hussy who pois
oned a we'll would be lynched.
Hear the defense, wise and con-
vinciug: "Why, don't you know
that if my friends spend no mon
ey the other fellows will? If a
man is going to be 'tight-wad
he had better stay out of poll
tics" So say they all, in the
First District.
Men were accused of illegal
voting and sent before the Mag
istrate out 'sas usual, the chars-
es were not sustained and they
were dismissed" )" So it has come
to be always in Charleston and
rapidly is coming to be elsewhere
in the State-the sons of men
who faced shot and she'll for the
sake of a cause are afraid to
stand up for common honesty in
public elections at home, Com
munities stink with political cor
.ruption and not a man protests.
The twenty or fifty who SOW it
and fatten on it continue to be
received as gentlemen and ''6ne
fellows" Who in the Charleston
district has the courage to fold
his arms when the hand stained
with bribe.giving and the hand
of the benefciaries of the degra'
dation of the poor IS offered?
Where is the man brave enough
to make effective the protest
which he privately spea k S
against corruption by denying
respect to the corruptor?
But "Why this outbreak"
some one inquiries. ''The recent
election was little worse than
Others" We reply that in that
the corruption was carried out
side of Charleston it probably
did set a new low record. Be that
as it may, it is time that the peo
pie think upon these things. The
whole State seems to We moving
iu the same direction and If such
things may be and cause no won
der, it is stupid to complain that
tho danna oou.1a fnl1 riShGS that