The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-07-05
STATEMENTS OF COOPER,
McLAURlN, BLEASE AND AULL

D3SoSSy ~fN
leaders know this. I supported Gov.
ernor Manning in. the second prim-
airy in 1914 and in 1916 and so an
nounced myself in the press of the
State Immediately after the result
of the first primary was known. The
effort, therefore, to align me with
Blease is too ridiculous to merit
serious thought.
The statement furnished me by
Mr.. W. J. Cormack to show how
came into possession of the Aull let.
ter is as follows:
although vocationally and per.
sonally I am disinclined to be in
volved in a political controversy of
any kind, yet, in the interest Of
truth and to keep the record straight
I feel constrained to make the fol.
lowing statement:
In his address to the "people OF
South Carolina" published this morn
ing, former Senator John Lownes
McLaurin, unintentionally wronged
both Mr.. Robert A. Cooper, of Lau.
rens, and Col. John K. Aull, of Co.
lumbia, when he assumed that the
Aull letter, on which he based his
statement, was handed MI. Cooper
by it's author. 1t was not. Mr..
Cooper received the letter from me,
When I read Senator McLaurin's
published article this mroning, I i'm.
mediately rang him up from Colum.
bia on long distance telephone and
informed him of the circumstances
under which Mr.. Cooper got the
letter. They were:
Shortly before the opening of the
itinerary for State offices, Mr.. Coop.
er was in my Office at Columbia dis
cussing the coming campaign. I in
cidentally told him of the Aull let
ter, a copy of which I let him read
When received it was released
for publication by the author and
was then public property and is now
For that reason I gave Mr.. Cooper
a copy.
The circumstances leading up to
my possession Of a. signed copy OF
the Aull letter, which I still hold,
were:
During the session of the last
General Assembly the Anderson Tri.
bune contained the following:
ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH?
"WHO? all of the newspaper re.
porters of The State, The News and
Courier. and The Charleston Ameri.
can when the Hon. W. W. Moore
and the would-be Hon. Henry T,
Thompson had a fight in the Adju.
tant Generals Office, or if not ASLEEP
they were too cowardly to publish
the fight. If it had been a fight be.
tween some good men it would have
been published in big headlines, SC
why hide it for these two quarter.
backs?"
Parenthetically, l might state that
the causes of the suppression of the
alleged fsticuf were: First, it was
of doubtful news value, the publica'
ton of which would have necessi.
tated a statement from the partici.
pants; second, heralding it to the
world would have menaced a policy
of State which was and is of para.
mount benefit and safety to the PEG.
pie of South Carolina, and perhaps
would have opened an interminable
controversy of little news value, Of
doubtful interest to the people and
of probably embarrassment to the
principles; and, third, the matte,
was thoroughly considered at a con.
ference between Governor Manning
and the reporters of the Columbia
papers and the correspondents OF
the out-of-town papers, at which il
was deemed wise to let the matter
remain quiescent. Mr.. Aull, being