Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-02-20

mur; but it was the quiet of the sub
terranean forces Of nature that ere
long accumulate enough to burst
their confines and to vent themselves
In seismic shocks or volcanic erup-
tions.
The Advent Of TiIInan.
When B. r. Iillman came into
prominence in South Carolina poll
tics, the revolt of the people against
the Hampton administration was
ready for action. The lineup had
been made already. Tillman an
nounced himself as the apostle Of the
common people (though he was
merely as one self-sent to them). He
led them to a great victory-for him.
self. He virtually marched into the
capital with the last Of the aristo-
Gratis in power chained to his chariot
wheels. But in the moment Of vic
tory, he manifested no little coars-
ness and meanness by heaping indig-
nifty upon his defeated and fallen foe.
Tillman Is not a great Commoner.
He is lacking In moral qualities-and
Is deficient in no other. Had that ele-
ment Of success been supplied in him.
he would doubtless have taken rank
in his time with Oliver Cromwell. But
his campaigns were exhibitions Of Bit
terness; and his administration was
noted mostly for having been the fost-
ter parent Of the state dispensary,
which he foisted upon the people in
the place of prohibition in favor of
which the voters had overwhelming
ly declared themselves at the polls.
The dispensary in South Carolina, as
far as moral ends are concerned, has
achieved an everlasting Ichabod of
itself. That the sale of whiskey by
the state was put upon the statute
books as a means to public morals is
evidence of a blunted moral sense on
the part Of those who were RESPONSE
BILE for 1t. There were many citizens
who were in favor of it because they
considered it the most respectable way
Of getting whiskey; but in the minds
Of a majority of the people, it began
as a moral institution-as conducive
to sobriety and good citizenship.
Tillman lately claims that corrupt
dispensary officials are to blame for
it's decline; that bad men defiled its
virgin offspring. The fact is, they
have done so; but not until they
were first befouled by its garments
ind were lured within those secret
doors where honor is so often left
behind in the lust for gold. This he
would have forseen had his moral
sense been sufficiently acute.
But the rise Of Tillmanism began
with the rebellion Of the people
against the Hampton administration.
Tillman's appeal to the prejudices OF
the common men was his only mode
of access to them; whatever other
open doors there might have been to
others in his place. or to him had
Ilc uttu VI dllOlhCi by PC VI ih1A. 11N
merely portrayed class against class
as they were already arrayed against
each other. His administration was
not a reform movement, although in
the minds of the rank and file Of his
followers, it was so regarded-since
he so denominated it. But in the
purpose Of the leader, 1t was an oc-
casion for ascendency into power.
Tillman healed none of the hurts
of his people. Perhaps he could not
have done so; 1t may be that they
were not ready to be healed. But 1t
s very evident from the methods
which he employed in his campaigns
that he did not especially intend to
heal any Of them. His plan Of battle
was to fight fire with fire. And he
extinguished the old fires mostly by
eclipsing them. He overthrow the old
political monopoly Of the blue
bloods" and established In its place
worse monopoly Of the ~slouch-
hats" The inferior elements in the
state constituted a majority Of the
powers that were installed by him.
For the most part, they were his sat
ellits. They failed not, upon pain of
political execution, to heed the wishes
OF their master or the demands of
the people who were held in their
masters hands.
Hayward and Ansel, Followed by
BIease.
But when Tillman had been ele-
waited to the United States senate, and
had thus passed from the immediate
arena of state politics, the factional
fires began to subside. The pendu-
lum started to swing back. On the
backward turn of the pendulum, D.
C. Hayward, a man of sterling char
acter, was elected governor by a
great majority over all opponents
His administration marked the Sec
ond lull in the spirit Of schism In
state politics. 1t was continued into
the VI SoNShhoA <hbSSA
another gentleman of unsullied char
acter. But the pendulum continued
it's swing toward factionalism. During
Governor Ansel's second campaign for
governor, Cole L. Blease appeared as
a rival candidate, and pitched his
campaign on the plane Of bitterness
and base appeal to the springs OF
schism which, surely enough. under
his shrewd touch, began to spout ven
ON again. He tore open old wounds
in the body of his state in order to
make way for his entrance into poll
tical power. Yet there was bad blood
in the body still. And If it had not
come to the surface and festered under
Blease, it might have done so under
some other: it would have done so in
the case of any man who sought to
produce only surface agitation (Which
is irritation), and who neglected the
weightier matters Of statecraft as the
underlying conditions Of political pre-
ferment.
The Blease regime is simply the
work Of factionalism-its fruit and ex-
preston; only that and nothing more.
Its ipes of cleavage are slightly diff