The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-08-14
Those Big" Crowds.
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The subscribers TO The Charleston
american have been seeing IN that
paper frequent references to the.
enormous crowds that Mr. Blease
hats been speaking to. We are told,
ll.;;t 1T Camden he spoke before Il
crowd estimated at between 100 and
1.S00 people, that he received an
ovation whom iie was introduced" and
that citizens OF Camden are en-
phatic in declaring ;hat the reform
candidates will carry F>ershaw county
by Il big majority.
At Rock Hill, we are told by The
Charleston American, Mr.. Blease
900 and 5000 people We have been
reading in that organ lately that MIR.
please has been speaking in Green
Vile 10 enormous crowds
Nov what are the facts? What is
tie truth aboCt the attendance upon
iliese meetings? That is what the
people want tc know. They have
lcarned that they cannot accept the
word of The Charleston American on
any thing.
The best information that can be
given rs to the attendance on these
nctnes is that obtained from papers
published in the sections in which the
meetings. are held. Even II these pa
pcrs We're of The American type and
disposed to diStort le tru.l1-they are
not--they wouldn't do it because they
would know that their subscribers
were in n position to see that they
were distorting the facts. The csti-
mates of these papers therefore, are
30 DC accepted Us approximately cor
rect.
And what do they say? The Cam
den Chronicle first reproduces the &C
ccunt from The Charleston American
because it knows that when the peo
pie OF Camden read that account they
will never believe anything else they
see in The American. The American
in its report had estimated the crowd
Il between 1900 and 1890. The
Camden paper then SAYS:
THE above is from The Charleston
American, Of Wednesday, We repro
duce it simply to show the false claims
made by this journal and its CORE
sponGents wherever Blease has held
a meeting. N the first place, they
would have it appear that the meet
ing was held ct Camden, when as c
matter Of fact it was held midway be-
tween the two cotton mills a mile and.
q half from the city. The editor Of
The Chronicle had several men to es-
timatc the number in attendance. His
own estimate was between $50 and
900. Others estimated the attend
ance at 501 Granting this there were
fully one hundred rubber necks." as
Jonn Duncan would say. there through
curiosity
Mr.. Bicase's appearance on the
stand fell far short OF an ovation, arad
the od-time enthusiasm OF his back
el.s was lacking. The American cor
respondent declares that the reform
candidates Will carry Kcrsllaw coun-
~ By . large majority. II Blcasc gets
al OF the votes nc received in 1916.
according: to the enrolment OF 1918.
he will lose the county by q great ma
jority.'
Now rs TO the Rock Hill meeting.
The American estimated the attend
ance ct that meeting as between p
800 and 1000 Here is what The
Rock Hill Herald. edited by one Of
the clcanest men in the State. says
about it:
THE Charleston American. in its
account OF the Blease and Richards
SpcakinS here. says that between p
800 and 3,e00 people were present.
The absurility Of the statement is ap-
parent to any intelligent man who at
tended the meeting. The Herald re-
porter, who is an old newspaper man.
accustomed to estimating crowds, es-
timateG the attendance at this meet
ing at 600. OF course. the matter is
not one OF any consequence. but it
:?say be said in passing that The Char
lcSton Americans account OF the
Rock Hill meeting is Just about Us
ncar, the truth rs that newspaper ever
comes"
And how about Grcenvillc county
n comfy that has never in its history
gone "a" please and never Will? Why.
Nr. Blease had TO call off two meet
in@s there because there was no one
out to hear him.
When you rc::G in The American
of Mr.. Hlcase speaking TO enormous
crowds : estimated ri between p
800 and :;.G00 people," YOU can figure
that there were between 900 and 50hI
people there. It says there We're 1000
people there. YOU can figure that there |
were about 700.
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