The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1914-06-25
A Lively Meeting
at ST. Matthews

almost hltched on this the
first day Of the senatorial cam
paign. The meeting here did
not begin until 1l.3O o'clock,
i but before an hour had elapsed
a halt had been called and
there was a moment of threat
ened complications.
Governor Blease was reading
from his 10000 word manu-
script and was charging that
Senator Smith was responsible
for the appointment of James
L. Sims, of Orangeburs, as
! United States deputy mar hal
the man who had once set type
on a republican newspaper. :"
Senator Smith was soon on
his feet and reminded the gov
ernor that Sims was B. R. Till
mans appointment and that
Tillman and Tillman alone was
responsible for Sims.
The governor resOrted to his
heap of documentary evidence"
and produced a letter from Sen
ator Tillman in which the senior
senator said, Smith and I haye
agreed upon the appointment of
SIMS ,; The letter was said to
haye been written to w. j.
Sheldon. Of Columbia.
Then Senator Smith advanced
to the front of the stage and
said, mo man IN the image Of
God can call me a liar. I have
Etold you that Sims. was Till
mans appointment, and that
we agreed that he should have
Sims and Thurmond appointed
and that I was to have Weston
and Crouch. The agreement
between US was that there was
to be no fight by either of us
when the appointments came
up in the senate for contirma-
tion." Before ali this had been
uttered the confusion and up
roar was SO great that hearing
was difficult and Dr. T. P. Dire
her, the chairman who had gone
between the two, urged Senator
Smith to take his seat.
Gov. Blease made his charac-
teristic attack on the news
papers, charged that both the
county and the State conven-
tions had been packed, - held
up to scorn the leaders Of the
convention, and defined the new
primary regulations as clever
device to cheat the poor man
out of his privilege to vote.
Governor Blease also credited
Hoke Smith of Georgia as being
the author of the Smith-Lever
agricultural bill.
Il notice. said Governor
Blease, that Senator Smith is
a member of the immigration
committee. Here he had an ex-
ceptional opportunity to be of
service to the country. Yet [
do not see where he has made
any effort to restrict immigra-
ton.
L. D. Jennings of Sumter.
who has never before sought po-
litical preferment, followed Coy.
Blease. Mr.. Jennings was elo-
quent in his defence of the new
primary regulations and made
friends by his ready answers to
questions that were pelted at
him from the audience in regard
to these new rules.
THE charge has been made
that an organized movement is
on foot to deprive the poor man
of his vote. How, I ask, can
this be done? When the asser-
ton is made, demand that the
accuser give you the basis of his
accusation. I defy any man to
find one line or clause of the
new primary law that can be so
construed. The man who would
make such charges knows that
it is tommyrot and is guilty of
the rankest demagogy.'
w. P. Pollock of Cheraw, was
the first speaker to mount the
stand in the afternoon. Though
initiated in state politics, Mr..
Pollock has served three terms
in the state legislature and was
once clerk on the congressional
committee in Washington. Mr.
Pollock promises to develop into
an able campaigner.
He attacked the present state
administration and said that the
governor stood for many things
that he could not stand for
II shall never align myself
with the lawless element OF the
state nor shall I ever endorse
the setting aside of the verdict
of l4,OOO jurymen. | shall
never 20 beyond the good Amer
lean manhood of South Carolina
and appoint 'Dago' Italian to
a position that would require
the young manhood of South
Carolina to pass in review be-
fore him. +"
E. D. Smiths speech brought
the meeting to a close. He
boldly defended his record in
the United States senate by
pointing to the amendment
which he had written into the
new banking and currency law,