The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-03-24
Aiken Makes Repl Y

other States, South Carolina was
entitled to another district, which
facts I subsequently, printed in the
Record; and l say unhesitatingly,
but for this data, furnished by me,
there would have been no favorable
action on the bill in the House and
there would have been no new Fed
eral district courts in South Caro-
lima.
Senator Tillman claims credit
FOR removing the opposition of the
Republican leader in the House,
whose influence in the press of time
might have killed the bill. The
Senator is utterly oblivious of the
fact that strong Republican infu-
ences in South Carolina had been
brought to bear on Mr.. Mann to
withdraw his opposition as the new
judicial district was really a public
necessity. So the question of who
silenced Republican leader Mann,
his Republican friends in South
Carolina, or Senator Tillman, may
be settled aside from this contro-
versy by those claiming the honor.
Senator Tillman makes use of
the following broadside, in the be-
ginning of his published statement:
wyatt Aiken introduced the bill
early in the year, but it lay asleep
in the Judiciary Committee of the
House. 1 introduced Aiken's bill
in the Senate, and tried to get it
out of the Judiciary Committee
there, but failed because of an un-
favorable report from the Attorney
General and the objection of wes-
tern Senator whose state needed
Judge much more than South Caro-
lima" 1t would seem then, by his
own admission, that his bill slept
some too. In fact, it slept the
sleep unto the death, for "can-
dor compels the admission" that
it is the Aiken and nos the Tillman
bill that has become law. A few
facts Immediately associated with
the final passage of the district bill
might turn the light on at least
little more space than that seen
from the Senator's viewpoint.
There are twenty two Senators
now serving in Congress with whom
1 have served in the lower House.
I approached every one of these
on the question of the bill and after
making a fair presentation of our
case secured either their support of
it or their promise not to oppose it.
Senator Walsh of Montana, was op-
posed to the bill and I reached him
through Mr.. Evans of Montana,
whose office is next door to mine.
Senator Overman, of North Caro-
lima, was opposed to the bill to the
very last but a member of the South
Carolina delegation, at my sugges-
ton, got Representative Page of
North Carolina, to present the mat
ter to Senator Overman, and in
this way the Senator's opposition
was allayed.
Senator Tillman seems to be la
boring under the impression that he
handled both the Senate and the
House in the management of this
bill, when if he had known the facts,
he must have admitted that the
Senate action was directed to some
extent by House influences, and
that Senator Smith too rendered
most valuable and telling assistance
in the final passage of the Act,
which fact he seems entirely to
have overlooked.
Recurring to that profound sleep
of my bill in the Judiciary Com
mittee of the House, l have al
ready shown how it became neces-
sary to meet the opposition, and es-
pecially of the Chairman of the
Committee, Mr.. Webb, with a fuller
statement of justifying figures in
the interest of the bill. But even
this did not allay the opposition of
the Chairman and it was only on my
earnest personal appeal that he
permitted favorable report on the