The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-07-25

Mr.. Byrnes frequently found ii
difficult to speak for being interrupt
ed by constant applause. He ex-
planned that he had been delayed by
a railroad accident, and stated that
he wa shardly physically fit to make
a speech as the arduous duties OF
congressman had made a tremendous
drain upon his physical resources.
He had been working day and night
day after day. He had stayed Oh his
job, although he had been slande:ed
and misrepresented continuously. 1t
was at this time that Mr.. Toole made
display of his wrath.
Regarding Toole's challenge to de-
bate last fall, Byrnes said that he
had something else to do, and that
even if John T. Duncan had chal-
lenged him he would not have quit
his congressional duties to meet him.
Mr. Byrnes then answered fully all
the "Guestions' which Toole had de-
fed him to discuss last fall. Only
one of these questions appears worth
giving space to, that of Mr.. Byrnes's S
alleged opposition to the draft law
Regarding this Mr.. Byrnes explained
that the measure which he opposed,
and the opposition to which had
brought down such violent attacks
by Mr.. Toole, had been drafted by
an army man, an enemy of President
Wilson, who was afterward shelved
on account of pro-German tendencies.
The bill provided for the draft of
all men between the ages of 19 and
25, and provided no exemptions ex-
cept for industrial reasons. No agri-
cultural or other exemptions were
provided for. He denounced this
measure as an Infamous bill, and he
still thinks so.
Mr.. Byrnes called attention to the
fact that many various measures
of this sort were introduced They
were threshed out in committee, and
the greatest majority of them were
killed, as this one was, before they
were ever presented to the house
to be voted on. The bill in ques-
tion was opposed by a great many
others besides himself, and after the
committee had adversely reported it.,
the author did not even consider it
of sufficient Importance to ever call
it up in the house.
He denied that he ever was oppos-
ed to the measure which became law,
and he invited anybody to show by
the record that he was opposed to it.
He called attention to the fact that
134 administration war bills had
been voted on in the house, and he
had voted with the administration
on every one of them. AS an indica-
ton of his loyalty, he said that
President Wilson had called him to
the white house and personally
thanked him for his work in behalf
of the administrations war pro-
gramme in congress. He had voted
with and stood squarely with the
president on every matter that came
before congress.
In view of the fact that Mr..
Byrnes's attitude toward the meas
ure above referred to is the bone of
contention in the opposition by his
opponents, his explanation so COM
pletely cleared his record of any
stigma that it rather knocked the
props out from under his adver-
saries.
Mr.. Byrnes admitted that he had
favored, when the first influx of bills
had been presented to the house, the
trial OF a volunteer system before
dpplyluS luS Uld all. we ulu uOL
know as much then as we know now,"
he said. He also admitted that in
this he had made an error, but 'if
your boy makes one mistake in all
his life are you going to turn him
out of your homer" He considered
his record a pretty good one when
out of the 5000 votes he has cast
in the house they could attack him
on only one, and by the cheers of the
audience the people evidently thought
that way too. He dared any of his
opponents to say they would have
voted for the draft bill he had op-
posed.
He had been attacked, too, because
of his frequent absence from roll
call. This was due to his work in
the committee. He is member Of
the appropriations committee, which
had a large volume of work to do,
and this necessitated his frequent alb
sence. In addition to this he is a