Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1916-06-28
THE STATE CAMPAIGN MEETING
At "alhalla Not Largely Attended.
About 800 Present.

ent at the State campaign meeting in
Walhalla last Friday. II might have
been mistaken, but for the few
bursts of alleged" wit and some wild
thrusts by one or two of the caudi-
dates at present State officials and at
opposing candidates, for a meeting of
no particular significance other than
"meetin' together" There was moth
ing Of ginger or "pep" in the thing,
even Ex-Governor Blease confining
himself to very moderate (for him)
criticisms Of Governor Manning and
his administration.
If we were called upon to Judge of
the general trend Of sentiment, as
represented at this small gathering,
we would say that Mr.. Cooper a cam
didate for Governor, was the favor
lite, taking 1.-THE whole bunch, by and
large,' so to speak. But, then, no
one has asked us for our opinion on
this matter, and we will "consider
the incident closed"
The meeting was called to order by
County Chairman Jas. M. Moss, who
requested Rev. w. H. Hamilton, of
the Presbyterian church, to offer a
prayer. At the conclusion of the
prayer the meeting was thrown open
to the speakers,
ID. w. McIIaurin,
a candidate for State Treasurer, be-
ing the first speaker. Mr.. McLaurin
charged that in the recent bond sale
the Treasurer wanted to let the
bonds go privately after ADVERTISE
ment for ten days. He said he had
no charge to make against Mr.. Car
ter--but, he said, In significant man.
ner, What a chance for graft" He
also charged that Mr. Carter had
educated his child at one of the State
institutions. at the expense of the
State, "by taking the pauper's OATH"
There was little Of consequence to his
speech as he seemed to have forgot
ten pretty much everything but
to direct attacks at his opponent and
his administration OF the office he
holds.
s. II. Carter,
present State Treasurer, who Is ask
ing for reelection, followed Mr.. Nc
Laurin. He was ruffled, 1t was plain
to be seen, and opened his remarks
with the blunt statement that these
dirty insnuations have got to STOP"
"1f Mr.. McLaurin," he said, "has any
charges to make against ME, let him
make the charges and l will answer
them,' but insinuations, he said,
must stop. He hooted at the insinu-
alton made as to graft. In regard
10 the education at the public eX-
pense, he stated that at the time he
took the State aid he was poor, hav-
ing been burned out, and ut was be-
fore ] held public office or was asso-
clated with bank" His remarks
were in the main along this line, with
nothing Of special interest.
For Railroad Commissioner
w. T. Thrower was "first at bat"
with "Cansler, Of Tirzah" on deck
and Albert S. Fant to follow. Mr..
Thrower called attention to the need
OF well-trained business men in the
office Of the Railroad Commission.
and the great possibilities there are
for saving the people of the State
large sums Of money every year by
looking after their interests. He
cited the instance Of the cotton mill
industry alone. in which the South,
and South Carolina in particular, had
been robbed of millions Of dollars be-
fore the office of Railroad Commits
sioner was established. The South,
he said, enjoyed every natural ad-
vantage that could accrue to the
great cotton industry. and yet for
years and years the South was sys-
tematically robbed Of the benefits
that had come to her by nature, the
railroads discriminating in favor Of
the New England mills to such an ex-
tent that they were able to pay
freight on the raw material, manu-
facture it, then undersell the South
ern mills and still have a greater
margin Of profit than the Southern
mills, right at the cotton fields. This
had all been stopped by the opera
tiOns Of the Railroad Commissioners
OF the Southern States, who had car
ried their points before the Inter-
State Commission, securing only JUS
ficp mil Dat !