Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-03-31
McLAURIN TO The PEOPLE
Announces Position On Leading PO.
lltiCal Issues.
BELIEVES he Can Be OF SERVICE.

NO Equivocatioh as 10 ANY OF tn'
Great Questions on Which the Peo
Pile are Divided, but Above all EIs'
Seeks Peace and Prosperity for tn.
State.
Bennettsville, March 25, 1914
To the People: After the adjourn.
ment Of the general assembly, an.
nounced myself as a candidate for gov.
ernor.
I take it, that the leading issues In
the coming campaign will be, viz:
1st Qualifying suffrage in the pri-
mary.
End. Compulsory school laws.
| 3rd. The Fortner Bill.
| 4th. The Warehouse Bill.
| 5th. Bleaseism ESQ called).
On most Of these isses I made UT
my mind after careful thought when II
seemed quite unlikely that would be
candidate for public office. / am nc
trimmer and am ready to take an un-
equivocal stand on the issues.
l have no illusions as to public life
and the burden of q campaign in the
torrid summer heat would deter me, II
I did not feel that could render South
| Carolina valuable service in the gov
ernors office. If the people think so
they will put me there, and II they dc
not, have discharged what feel to be
duty owe myself and the friends
who have so persistently urged me
forward.
| My record in the legislature is
against the compulsory education
measure known as the lawson McCra-
wy bill. I am not opposed to it on prin-
ciple, and the time may come In South
Carolina, when a policy Of compulsory
education Is proper. but 1t is not now.
The funds available for common school
purposes are not sufficient to properly
equip and maintain schools in exis-
tence. AS a rule they now have more
scholars than can be accommodated
| 1t seems to me that we had first best
take care Of these schools and the pu
pills who appear voluntarily, before
beating the highways and hedges to
bring in more. The right to take one
mans money to educate another mans
child Is based on the necessity Of hav-
ing an intelligent electorate to main
tain civilized government If this be
true the common schools are for the
| many, the colleges for the few. I think
that we have fostered higher education
at the expense Of the common schools.
I am in favor of maintaining the col
| leges, but building more school houses
before enlarging our present state col
| leges.
In 1890, our common school system
was very poor as compared with what
we now have. If I were to venture a
criticism, it would be that we need
more teachers who really teach. School
is in session from nine o'clock until
about two o-thirty hearing Rotations
then the children go home to be taught
II the parents are ignorant, those chill
dren have no teacher. A teachers COM
pusory education law would greatly
advance the cause.
The Primary.
| am not in favor Of restricting the
right to vote in the primary by apply
ing the qualifications laid down in the
constitution for the general election
With a few amendments the present
rules, II fairly and honestly admins
tered, are sufficient.
am satisfied that the last primary
was without fraud to any considerable
extent. Mere Irregularities do not con-
stitute fraud. The greatest evil In the
conduct Of the primary arises from the
use Of money in buying votes. If
man with money Is without moral
scruple, no statutory enactment can
prevent it's use where there Is a pur-
chasable vote The intelligent man
with money who tempts weakness and
cupidity is the greater criminal Of the
two, and have not heard Of any one
being punished yet, for this meanest of
all election frauds.
The Fortner Bill.
The Fortner bill passed the house
and came to the senate. I favor the
passage Of this bill as amended by
Senator Clifton, and IL elected gov
ernor will recommend it's enactment
into law.
Cotton Marketing.
MY views on the state warehouse
proposition are we'll known and cannot
be elaborated upon in a short state
| ment. The bill passed the senate with
an amendment referring the question
to the people. 1t never came to vote
| in the house. Since the adjournment
of the general assembly syndicate Of
capitalists headed by Mr.. Duke, the
founder of the American Tobacco
| Trust, has announced plans to put this
warehouse system into operation in ev-
cry cotton state. This would be a
grand thing If 1t could be controlled
in the interests Of the producers OF
cotton, but this it Is unreasonable to
expect could have secured private
capital to build a warehouse system in
South Carolina with the powers con-
ferred in the warehouse bill, but 1t
would have been for the profit Of those
furnishing the capital, not for the ben
eft of the entire people as under a
state system Our cotton crop sells for
about one billion dollars each year. The
floating supply averages about two
million bales, and whoever controls
that, (within certain limits) can dictate
the price Of the crop. 1t is done now
and would be done still more effective
ly under the management of Mr.. Duke.
He controlled the price Of tobacco to
such an extent that after years Of liti-
CATION the company was dissolved by
the courts. 1t would be far easier to
dictate the price of cotton because 1t Is
natural monopoly, while tobacco is n
world wide product.
There is no way for the producers of
cotton to get the value Of their product
except to carry the surplus themselves
and hold it off the market when the
price is too low. The credit Of the state
and the prosperity Of the people de-