The Washington herald., 1914-09-20
BLEASEISMDIES
WITH COLE
South Carolina filings Of
Yoke that Has Been Burden
for Four Years.
NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY
Though He Pardoned Many. Gov
ernor Also Ruled with an
Iron Hand.
NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY
specIal % me WaEhinFton Herald.

1 70
Columbia, S. C., Sept. H-Out from q
seething and distorted mass Of petit poll
tics South Carolina has arisen.
The yoke OF Bleaseism, which for al
most four years has been a burden, now
practically is thing OF the past.
The patience of Carolinians reached the
breaking point, and with 1t came the
downfall Of a man whose power seemed
unlimited.
No man had better opportunity than
Blease, for South Carolina loves a fear
less man. The governor is Of that type.
He believes in calling a spade q spade.
Radical almost to the extreme. Blease
| for more than three years ruled with an
iron hand. He was to South Carolina
what Felix Diaz was to Mexico in the
days Of long ago He welded the big
stick" in the style of the only Teddy.
He hit every head he believed he should
have hit
But with all his faults, Blease had some
remarkable traits OF goodness. He stuck
to the people who stuck to him. He was
responsible for passing a number Of laws
by which the working classes were bene-
fitted.
Pardoned Too Many.
Like Patterson. of Tennessee. he went
too far in the question of pardoning con-
kYicts. There is no question of doubt but
THAT a majority Of the pardons Cole
Blease issued were deserving. Most Of
| them found justice tempered with mercy
He pardoned men other governors should
have freed. He liberated the prosecuted.
He gave freedom to men who had un-
justly been imprisoned.
But with his leniency went hardened
criminals, men who could not reform. He
liberated murderers whose crimes had
been cold blooded and premeditated. The
| State penitentiary practically was depop-
ulated. During the almost four years he
has been chief executive he has par
doned $50. He hid behind the fact that
the pardon board recommended it"
| The people of South Carolina believed
BIease should have freed number of
men. Other governors failed to use their
power. They were afraid of the votes at
the poles.
But Blease pitched right in. Perhaps
the first one hundred he psrdoned de-
served it. Even his enemies admitted
he was firm in his convictions. At first
he gained hundreds of friends
Eventually it was whispered around
that certain lawyers in the State could
get a pardon at any time The people
watched, waited, and saw. These lawyers
did get a number of pardons-
Whether the governor was paid for
what he did has not as yet been proved,
but hundreds upon hundreds fully believe
he made money out Of the power he used
SO freely.
As these rumors gained ground Blease
/ lost friends. Many of his strongest sup
porters in past campaigns turned against
him. They were aligned with Senator
Ellyson Durand Smith in the last cleo
| tion.
| Collie to the sheep.
Readers Of political editorials and fea-
ture stories have heard so much Of the
machine of the Barnes faction, the Pen
rose crowd, and other of the greater poll
ticians. but Cole Livingston Blease had
them all beat to a frazzle. On election
days of old the writer has seen as many
as 1900 cotton mill operatives lined up
in sheep fashion going to the poles to
vote solid ticket for Collie" as they
called him. Rain or shine they went
there.
To them the governor was called
Collie" When he went into town, in
stead of stopping at the best hotel, one
would see him at the humble home of a
mill worker He broke bread with the
| loom fixer. Blease knew them all-not
so much by their surnames, but he called
them Jim, John. and Jack. They believed
that in him they had a champion.
Just as she is quick 20 follow a stand
! ard. South Carolina is quicker in rectify-
| ing a wrong. The grand old Palmetto
State, famous for assuming the lead in
things of great import, at one time was
ready to hail Cole Livingston Blease as
her king The fiery. snappy speaker, as
he was, the governor had before him a
| golden opportunity. Had he made the
most of his chance time would have seen
him in the United States Senate.
| But the voters Of the State finally real
lied that they had made a mistake; that
the man in whom they had placed their
confidence had not come up to the
scratch. Then they went out to atone
| for their error.
In August the governor was a candidate
for the United States Senate against Sen
ator E. D. Smith.
Senator Smith Steady.
The present Senator is steady, faithful
to his trust, and popular. He is not the
brilliant hashy stump speaker that Blease
/ is, but in the language of the mountaineer,
| "gits thor Just the same" The old farm
er, for whom Smith had worked so faith
| fully in getting bills through Congress
| for his benefit. drove to the poles in full
| South Carolina threw of the yoke Of
BIeaseism by a majority of 1000. It still
further repudiated the governor by elect
| ing an anti-Blease candidate for govern
orship in the second primary last Tues
day. An anti-Blease legislature also was
named.
! 1t will be two years now before Blease
will get another chance to run again. But
it seems as though he, politically, has
been buried ]. S. P.
-n.,Iu1T,r m oTrn 1roJr,rnA-