The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1914-07-17


tegrity, said to the writer re-
Gently, "If l could get my mon
ey out of the cotton mills busi-
ness l would jump at the chance
and not one dollar would l ever
allow to go back into the mill
business" This from a man
who has given his whole life to
the mill business and who has
practically every dollar he owns
invested in the mill business.
He is not a Yankee" nor
"furreigner" but a native South
Carolinian. The mills, the en-
terprises of all kinds, the banks
in fact, invested capital in ev-
cry variety of business is tar
get for the ignorant or morally
perverted office seeker. 1t is
time for halt, or we will Sc,
the invested capital of the State
destroyed. The very people who
so Justify cheer the fierce on
siaughts of the politician would
be the first to suffer want with
the destruction of the invested
capital. Let us face the facts
it is better to do that than go on
to utter ruin.
There is another matter that
should afford food for sober
thought. The spirit of lawless-
ness is in the very air. The two
conditions stated above are, if
true, evince such conditions.
The utter disregard, the
spirit of irreverance, the mutt
plication of blind tigers and the
open Haunting of vice apparent
on every hand should cause the
people to pause. There is no
longer a spirit Of reverence il:
the heart of the people. 1t be-
speaks a dark and forbidding
future. Let the people pause.
And when the Chief Executive
of the State openly espouses the
cause of the lawless and the
criminal, aye! goes further and
boasts of his attitude, it is a
condition that may well caus,
thoughtful people to ask:
whittier are we drifting?"
Under conditions now exist
ing our people are, moreover,
drifting into intemperance to a
degree that is hard to reconcile
with safety. We point to our
dispensaries, authorized by law.
run by citizens, and boast of
me fact that a few thousand
dollars each year find their
way into the city and county
funds. But we have overlooked
the fact that we are building up
a political machine that will
rule us with the arm of despot.
1he biggest question before the
people of South Carolina today
IS the iniQuitOus and deadlY
7Ohiskey problen 1t is DESTROY
ing more aCedlth, more men and
more sOuls than any other agent
Of the deril IN the lchOle 1cOrld.
BE not deceived by the few pal
try thousands of dollars that
find their way into your tax
pocket. You pay great price
for what you get.
There is another thing that
should be noticed. 1t has come
to be the custom for the politi-
clan to abuse the newspapers.
The newspapers are branded as
traitors, liars, bribe-takers and
given vile names, and the people
-some of them-shout a loud
amen! The very man who
shouts the loudest would today
be a slave but for the free press
and the wide use of printers
ink. The newspapers are today,
and have always been the truest
friend the farmer, the mill op-
erative and the laborer has ever
had. The one great defense On
the helpless, the weak and the
unlettered is publicity. The one
thing that tyrants hate with an
undying hatred is publicity. The
one thing that stays the hand
reached forth to rob widows and
orphans is publicity. The might
lest defense a nation has is pub
licity. 1t is easy to call public
ity a liar, but does not change
the state of affairs one whit.
Publicity is just another name
for the newspaper. Rail on, ty-
rants, Office seekers, demagog-
ues and designing souls. You