The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-08-29
SENATOR TILLMAN EXPLAINS
HIS OLD UTTERANCES

SSA444CO dA SOACO4 4dA SAt1I4S0 oOA A@44-
man Reconsiders,' which, while on
the whole complimentary contained
certain statements to which the senior
South Carolina senator objects, and
which have prompted him to write a
card in reply. which reply was pub
Ashad n Saturdays Sun:
The Suns editorial said,, in part:
About ten years ago The Sun had
occasion more than once to call at
eention to what seemed to be the dual
aa&ure Of Benjamin Ryan Tilluan,
&en and now a senator in congress
for South Carolina. One day Mr..
Tillman would be q statesman, the
next q raging man, whose conduct II
observed few centuries before would
have invited exorcism. One day ne
would churn the senate with his in
tellectual powers, and on the morrow
strike his colleague in the face. In
his periods of self-possession few men
in the senate had a better grasp OF
things; in the periods of possession
none had looser hold. 81 am q rude
man and don't care" he said, and
went on to justify the stuffing OF bal
lot boxes, to cry "to hell with the
law!" and to declare that the whise
man must rule the South regardless
OF all the Yankees between Cape Cod
and He'll
Unfortunately for Mr.. Tillman, the
public of that day remembered his
outbreaks and perhaps forgot his
usefulness. If there are persons who
retain in their minds eye only the
picture of Tillman with the pitch
fork, we call their attention to q
speech delivered in the senate on Sat
urday by the real Tillman, from
whom, we trust, the black spirit IS
forever fed. He was acquiescins in
tho bill for the construction OF tne
memorial amphitheatre at Arlington
a measure which previously ne. had
ieen inclined to oppose. He made a
frank confession of the ancient pre-
:udices that still smouldered in him,
Iy,lt declared that he had reached tie
conclusion that he should do every
thing in his power "to make AIRING
to1 g. Mecca for the South as well as
20. the North"
To the labov- oe' s1"r T'llman made
the following reply:
To the Editor OF the sun-sir: "A
friend IF minc has called my atten-
ton to the editorial article in The
Sun. "Ben 1lllman Rec. Insiders" l
am led to write this letter in conse-
q ence and hope you will print II n
The editorial page. For years was
a egular subscriber to The Sun, and
occasionally / buy a copy now. It's
,d:torial page has alwags INTERESTED
me yerg much, because of the bril-
liancy and luc:dity of the articles with
which it is filed
But you have unintentionally been
led INTO an error of fact, an' the quo
tions you made from the speeches
and lectures I delivered some years
ago lead me to explain and Justify
what I said.
When said ''To He'll with. the law
I peant the reconstruction act; winch
gave negroes just erransips ted fro I"
slavery-many of them only one gen
Grafton removed from barbarisn, and
none Of them more than three gener-
ations-the same right to vote as
white meu throughout the Unit d
States. When you remember that
South Carolina and Mississippi tnen'
as they do now, have large neg1'
naiorities-and to have allowed the
negroes to rule would have DESTROYED
our civilization to say nothing of our
propery-you can understand it. The
law of self-preservation compelled US
to do it by every means possible, and
wren we took the state away from
the negroes despite the bayQnets, with
Grant in the White House, we used
our brains to outwit force by stuflns
ballot boxes. That is all. II the
South had obeyed or acquiesced IN
the claw" passed by congress 1t WouId
he q veritable hell now for decent
white people to live in, and that fact
is now recognized by all sensible peo-
ple,, North and South.