The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1914-07-23

I
you with smile. Isn't that fair!
ernor in his elections, for after all is
said and done to the contrary, graft
tude is potent and lively factor in
the affairs of men. All that man
hath will he lay down for his life,
and besides those who receive par
dons, paroles and communications in
such a large, generous and open
handed way. there are their friends.
and not infrequently their lawyers.
who are welded with hooks Of steel
to the benefactor who bestows so
magnifcentIy and freely of what
costs him nothing. We have even
been told instances of eminent law
yers and others who have lost their
cases in the court house whose
tastes and antecedents 'were all for
eign and antipathetic to the Govern
or-who have become converted into
his most devoted and enthusiastic
eulogists and supporters by the mag
ic of pardon that saved their eli
ents and their professional reputa-
tions. Now, if we suppose cases of
this kind by the score or more. affect
ing in each case quite number of
persons and multiplying them into
the hundreds, we can conceive what
a real, visible and proof positive ef-
feet it might have at the ballot box
in its bearing on ones election.
The problem, so far as the white
convicts are concerned, therefore,
appears capable of a simple and easy
solution. But what of the nine hun
dred negro convicts and more, stated
to have been pardoned, parole d and
commuted? What of these friend'
less. poverty-stricken and supposedly
uninhuential pariahs of hated race
on which Governor Blease pours out
the vials of. his dennnciation from
time to time in his desperate fight
to retain the votes he claims he had
two years ago? Who are the kind,'
solicitous and devoted friends ron
the outside who industriously find.
excuses for all of these negro crim.i
inals and, with or without petitions,
prevail upon the Governor, to turn
them out, and what is the object and
motive Of their activity? Why is it
that the Governor and his POLITICAL
friends. who denounce the negro out:
side of the prisons as unfit to enjoy
the privileges OF citizenship. and
sometimes seem to think they are
unfit to enjoy the rights of human
beings why is it that they are so
God-like in their sentiments of mer-
,cy and of justice to him when he
happens to be in the penitentiary
expiating his crimes against society
by salutary and profitable labor for
the State?
These negroes cannot vote in the
Democratic primaries, as we have
said, if any one is malicious enough
to suggest that vote-getting is the
Governors motive in turning them
loose upon the people. What, then,
is the strong provocation of the Gov
ernor and his friends in overturning
the verdicts of the juries and re-
versing the sentences of the courts
to give these criminals their liberty?
Why should Mr. Brown or Mr. Jones
or Mr. Smith expect to get his money
back and some compensation for his
time and trouble in getting up the
petition?
What is this system of parole"
of which Governor Bease is so proud
and from which he sees some great |
benefit to society and the people
that no one else can discern?
In his report to the General AS
SemDly or 1918 ne SAID ne CONSIDERED
the parole system the best system
ever devised for handling convicts,"
and he explained this wonderful sys-
tenn as follows:
Now, for instance, you parole a
man during good behavior, who pos
sibly has served more than half of
the sentence imposed upon him
they have been paroled
when they had only three or four
more months to serve-you do not
turn him loose, but say to him, go
forth, make a man OF yourself, for
f you do not, and you are ever con-
Tcted again, you have to go back