Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-10-12

this regard, they cOncluded tnat tne
best way to do was to take up their
millions Of money and come over to
South Carolina and smother this baby
where 1t was born.
my fight for years has been for six
per cent money. In the house and In
, The senate, and in the governors office,
as the records will show, and as my
messages to the general assembly will
} show, l fought for it, and begged the
legislature to pass law making the
legal rate Of interest six per cent
This six per cent fight has been won
for cotton through the state warehouse
system, and now others are trying to
} follow in my foot steps by trying to
catch on to the warehouse system.
This same cheap money which the
J warehouse system has secured on cot
ION can be secured for land by a
proper system Of rural credits. Our
ongressmen haven't the ability to
frame such q measure, and we don I
want national interference. even II
they had. We want a system OF rural
credits for South Carolina, and l hope
the general assembly will get the
proper information from the proper
source and pass a law Of this kind at
their next session, which will meet the
needs of the people Of this state, and
stop making tenants out OF our White
people who, by having to pay exorb-
liant rates Of interest on land, are pc
| ing forced into q position which makes
them little short Of vassals to the
money king. I tell you now that the
people are demanding this relief. and
thev propose to have it, and I intend,
through some friend Of mine. to have
the proper measure presented at the
| proper time. It Is carrying on the
| fieht in which have been engaged all
INV life. 1t is the fight Of the people,
and II Is bound to win sooner or later,
and all the bankers in Columbia ana
New York and Augusta and Atlanta
can't prevent 1t.
| when l asked the general assem-
bly, to pass this six per cent law II was
heralded all over the state that II
would ruin the banks, and yet In 80
| short a time, even today, we see tnese
same banks lending this money at six
per cent, and actually asking to make
loans instead of turning down those
that are requested. Scalawag money,
supplemented by Yankee millions. can
rule the people Of South Caronna;
Governor Blease then took up his
local option platform, and stated MS
position along the line of his remarks
at Greenville, adding that this was
one Of the most effective ways 10 ols-
pose Of the blind tiger, because Wnere
county had prohibition 1t would De
in the same condition as 1t Is today,
hut where a. county had the license
system those who paid the license
would be the most vigilant In keeping
out the blind tigers, because tney
would not allow them to compete
with them and pay no license. In ad.
dition to this, he said, I'VE would get
better liquor, thus protecting tne
| health of the people who drink IL,
because we would have competition IN
the trade, and each man, In order 10
build up his business, would have 10
sell a pure article, and there would be
less drunkenness and less crime COM
mitted from the drinking of pure
whisky than there would be from the
drinking of the blind tiger liquor,
such as Is now prevalent in some parts
of the state, and the concoctietis sold
from the dispensaries under the name
of whisky" He reiterated in strong
language his oposition to the par
room, and again stated his position
against allowing any whisky TO De
sold on credit.
He then took up the question Of tax
alton. He said he favored lower tax
es and the abolition Of useless ofnces,
| and called attention to the laws
! passed at the last session Of the legis-
lature removing the penalty Imposed
upon the cotton mills when they dis
charged their employees and refused TO
pay them, saying that this repeating
act was iniquitous, and was snppeo
through by corporation counsel to IN
| lure the cotton mill boys and to give
further protection to the corporations.
He read the law as passed and ap-
proved by him, fixing this penalty,
and the law of 1905, repeating 1t,
which will be found in the acts OF
1911, page 80, and the acts Of 1915,
page 1853.
In discussing lawlessness, he spoke
along the same lines as in Greenville,
and said that he noticed that killings,
| robberies, stealings, and other Grim
inal offences were continuing to pc
committed, and that the state body,
for the past several months had
that 1t had faced since 1875, as the
solicitors records would show. But
| the newspapers now, when crime was
committed stuck it on back pages. or
tried to hide it, when formerly SINH
lar articles were published on the
front pages, under big headlines. These
crimes were then charged up to the
governor, he said, but now they were
charged to whisky, pistol toting. or
general devilment.
He again called attention to the fact
that the legislature had attempted to
deceived the people by leaving the
making an extra levy for the state hos
pital for the insane and pensions,
which really raised the state levy
higher than it has ever been, and even
with this, the state had been forced to
borrow the sum Of seven hundred thou
sand dollars. And the people will
| find, he said, that many OF the county
levies are higher than they have ever
been before under Democratic ad-
ministration. The borrowing Of $780,
| 900 was necessary because the legls-
lature, even with the highest levy IN
many years, had failed to levy enough
to pay the extravagant and useless ap-
propriations which they had made,
| thus still further increasing the in
debtedness and the real levy by pay
ing interest on this heavy deficiency.
In conclusion, Governor Blease
stated that it was impossible for
| governor to do anything without
legislature; that the four years he was
governor, everybody knew that he had
a hostile legislature, and that no gov
ernor could make a law, and therefore
it was absolutely impossible for him
to carry out fully the reforms which
he advocated, and to have enacted
such laws as two cent fiat passenger
rate on railroads. six per cent legal
interest, the abolition Of useless Of
fees, and other sadly needed reforms,
and he hoped that in the next cam
paign those people who voted for him
for governor would realize this fact
and vote only for men for the gener-
al assembly Of high moral character, of
ability, and who were known political
| friends of his, who would endeavor not
to fight those things which he advo-
Gated just because he advocated them,
but who would join with him when he
was right and pass laws that would
be Of benefit to the people Of the
state. That he did not mean by this
that he wanted stool-pigeons, fence
riders. time servers, or blind followers,
but good, clean men, who advocated
the principles which he advocated and
who would stand with him in relieving
the people Of the heavy burden Of tax
alton which they are now carrying and
pass such laws as would be for the
best interest Of all the people Of the
state. holding up his hands in carrying
out the promises which he made upon
the stand. 1t was well known to all
/ DeODle. he said. that he never made a