Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1914-06-18
Who is
W. F. Stevenson :?
(Political ADVERTISEMENT

LdSC week we tOiu you VINO ne
was up to 1902 in legislative
success and experience this
week we will give you some of
his later work as legislator.
After being out by voluntary
retirement for eight years he
was again elected to the house
in 1910. He had developed as
lawyer and legislator and his
activities showed his bent in
Legislation and it tended (1st) to
building up the farming inter-
ests, land he is himself a con-
siderable farmer - his entire
property outside of his home and
some town lots being in farming
lands; (2nd) to building up the
common schools, and (3rd) to
give Il Just proportion of the
benefits OF Clemson College and
Winthrop to country boys and
girls. He helped to pass the
Act to provide Tor crop pest
commission in the State, to fight
crop pests. especially the boil
weevil. See Acts 1912. page 74S.
He helped provide for ex-
perimental stations, for instruc-
ton and development of farm
ing and succeeded in getting one
placed in the Sand Hill" section,
now developing so rapidly. See
Acts 1911, page 3.
He helped pass the law pro-
viding that hog cholera serum
should be furnished to any farm
er whose hogs had or were
threatened with disease and it
was to be free to those too poor
to pay for it. When understood
and applied this will save thous-
ands of dollars to the farmers of
the State. See Acts 1913. page
1874.
He helped to established fifty
one scholarships in Clemson
College. one for each county and
one additional for each con-
gressional district, to be for
boys from the farm who were to
study only the agricultural course
and go back to the farm when
through. See Acts 1912, page
686.
He helped to pass the bills
providing that at least one
scholarship in each county, in
both Clemson and Winthrop,
should be set aside to be com
peted for. by country boys and
girls only, for the reason that
the boys and girls in the towns,
having better chances to prepare
| themselves, were getting all the
free scholarships in those schools
and the country boys and girls
were being left, because their
preparatory schools were not as
efficient. Now, one scholarship,
if there are less than four in a
county and two. if there are
more than that. must go to a
farmers boy or girl. See Acts
1912, page 6S6.
He has also been persistent in
his fight for good road legisla-
ton and although he has not
been able to get the State as a
whole to embark in this work.
his own township has, by special
legislation and taxes levied, made
model roads to the boundaries of
his township, and this plan is
spreading over the entire county.
So he has shown constructive
genius as a legislator and it has
been along the line of the uplift
of the farming class. His leader
ship has been acknowledged in
the house and is only Indicative
of what he would be if in con-
gress.
AS to his ability as a legislative
debater, we cite report of
great debate in the house, made
by the most expert reporter of
legislative debates in South Caro-
lima, Mr.. August Kohn. On
January 23, 1912, Mr.. Kohn says:
The argument Of Mr.. w. F.
Stevenson, of Cheraw. was one
of the finest. one of the most
forceful and eloquent heard in
a generation on the floor of the
house. 1t was one of the best,
most logical and well conceived
arguments that has been heard
in a Legislative body. 1t went
into current politics. more or
less, but with it all it was a
masterful production and could
only have come from a mind of
unusual caliber."
Why should he not be given
chance to put the fifth dis
trict on the map?"