The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-05-02

Of Saturday, December 18th, 1883,
calling our attention to the report
of the speech of Hon. W. c. Benet'
then a representative from Abbe-
vile county, on the bill for the es-
4ablishment of Clemson College.
This called to mind the fact that mr..
Renet. on account of his known aDll-
~ was the selected leader to make
he FIGHT for our great agricultural
College. which has already done SO
much and which promises SO muea n
IN the future for the develoopment oi
the farming industry in the staEe'
The report of the speech OF Mr..
Renet IS by Thaddeus E. Horton,
Han Columbia correspondent for Inc
Greenville Daily News. 1t Is as 1oi-
lows: .
saThe outlines of the opening OF
fhe contest on the floor Of the House
vhen the bill to accept the Clemson
kenuest and devise and establish an
Agricultural College in connection
Herewith was called up as the spe-
cial order, have already been gwen
n The News. The speech OF Mr.
Benet. of Abbeville, who had been
elected by its friends to lead the
fi9ht in its behalf will be in a sense
historic, whatever might be the fate
of the Clemson College,. 1t is de-
serving, therefore, Of q fuller report
than was possible TO give it yester-
Hr. Benet said that the great i'm
portance of this measure had been
Hoved by the fact that during the
last summers campaign no question
lad been discussed with one-tenth
Ia interest this Clemson College had
1roused. The intelligent farmers
from the up country, from the mid
lie country and from the low coun-
try had united in saying, 1--WE want
dis Agricultural College established
md we want to send men to the
Legislature who will advocate it,"
Years before the starting of the So
called farmers element, he had felt
and had urged that q separate agrl-
cultural college should be establish
Cd He was not q farmer. The
iaember from Richland had conferr-
Cd on him the honorary title of the
Champion farmer Of the, State" He
vas sorry he could not lay claim to
the proud distinction. He had to
confess, sad to say, that he did not
know the difference between a bull
tunzue' and q 'scooper. (The agri-
euituralists smiled broadly at the
tscooper,' but they were not sticking
far phraseology and Mr.. Benet was
not laughed down.
But Mr.. Benet continued, he was
not on the floor of the House as the
representative of any class or clique
or section or faction of men; he
stood as a citizen of South Carolina
for the interests of the whole State.
He did claim to represent one class
that deserved the consideration of
the House, the boys of this State
Who were too poor or were unable
to take advantage of the South Caro-
lima College and its advantages but
who were anxious and eager to at
tend a pratical agricultural college
such as Mr.. Clemson's will provided
tor.
The fact should be borne in mind
that the farms of this State are be-
coming. smaller. We have a gener-
alton of small farmers whose sons
need education. They are surround
cd by.a race once ignorant and en-
slaved but now free and being edu-
eated by floods of Northern money,
sent down here for the purpose. He
was not sorry to see that, but he
would warn his hearers that that
race was only satisfied with its pre-
sent con dition because of its ac-
eepted inferiority. But if we made
no provisions for the education of
the great army of boys, farmers
sons, if they were left illiterate,
while the rising generation of negro
population was learning with aston
Shing rapidity, there was a grave
danger in the near future for the
people of South Carolina.
The Agricultural College was the
demand of the farmers of the State,
and he was not ashamed to say that
he felt it his duty to vote to satisfy
that demand. But there were sew
eral objections urged to the accept
anee by the State of the bequest of
Hr. Clemson as provided in this bill.
It was urged that suit was pending
IN the Federal Courts for the re-
eovery of the property for Miss Lee,
the granddaughter of Mr.. Calhoun,
and that it would be necessary for
South Carolina to be a party in a
suit against descendent of John C.
Calhoun striving to regain posses
xion of her ancestral patrimony.
Here he asked permission to intro
duce a narrative.
Thomas G. Clemson, the speaker
continued, was the son of a gentle
man of ample means living in Phila-
delphia. When very young he ran
away to Europe and while there took
= complete course in the very kind
of studies he desired to have taught
in the proposed Clemson College.
He came back to America a gradu-
ate IN agricultural science and at
once obtained recognition as an ex-
pert in chemistry and other branches
of agricultural science. His ser
vices were so valued that on one oc-
easion, for investigating project
looking to the opening of some mines