The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-08-12
MANNING GAINS STRENGTH.
Estimate OF Comparative Strength of
Three Major Candidates for Gov
CrnOrShip.


respondent, The Columbia Record.
Close observers OF the political cam
paign being waged in South Carolina
are now almost unanimously agreed
that the second race for the COVER
nOrfship lies between Richard I. Man.
ming and Cole l.. Blcase with Mr..
Cooper a poor third in the first pri-
mary. If Bleasc and Cooper continue
to lose votes as they have done dur
ing the past two weeks and proper
tiOnately Governor Manning's strength
increases in the future as it has done
in the past those with their ears to
the ground" unhesitatingly assert that
the Sumter man will be reelected in
the first primary by Il handsome ma
jority.
The county to county campaign,
now on the home stretch, unlike the
canvasses of previous years, has de-
velOped but few thrills" and these
incidents were isolated. The CAM
paign, withal, has been extremely
quiet, and uniformly there has been
good feeling among the candidates.
The only incidents worthy of note
was the verbal tilt between Manning
and Blease at Anderson, when the
latter was warned not to deal in per-
sonalities; the kissing of Governor
Manning at Charleston; the Interrupt
ton of Blease's speech at Orange
burg, where he refused to continue his
address to the pOpulace, and the fis-
ticuff at Manning between DR.. T.. c. l..
Adams, candidate for lieutenant gov
ernor, and ]. NJ. DesChamps, candi-
date for governor.
At the beginning Of the campaign
Solicitor Cooper developed consider
able strength because it was thought
he would stand a better chance of de-
feating Blease than did Governor
Manning. Also, there is a certain fl
nancial and capitalistic element in
the State which is opposed to the
present chief executive because it can
not bend him to it's will; and this op-
position, as far as it has been able to
ascertain, has gone to Mr.. Cooper.
Likewise certain disgruntled and un-
successful Office-seekers have regis
tered a decided opposition to Cover
nor Manning, who, from the first has
shown 4 disinclination to pat the po-
litical spokesman on the back. All
these intricate elements against Gov
ernor Manning appeared, at first, to
make his fight a doubtful one, until
it was seen that the great body of the
common people, whose consciences
are clear and whose hearts are sound,
were silently and unobstrusively
working for him because the Iegis-
lation passed in their behalf during
his administration and his enforce
ment of the law, better securing from
injury personal and property rights
Also, the passage of measures bene-
fetal to the textile worker has gained
him considerable strength among the
cotton mill operatives of the State,
cutting down Blease's strength there.
The reflex of this strength has caus-
ed the swing OF the pendulum back
toward Manning in an ever increasing
arc. The supporters of Blease con-
cede that their man will have to cope
with Manning in the second primary,
and Cooper supporters say that Man.
ming and Cooper will fight it out in
the second primary Both sides con-
ccde Manning as their strongest op-
ponent. The astonishing feature of
Manning's gain is his continually in
creasing strength in the Piedmont,
the logical territory of Robert A.
Cooper and the section that Cole L.
Blease hitherto has gotten such large
Votes.