The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-08-24
hND|DA1ES IN 0RAAaEbURG.
,EOpLE CHEER OPPONENTS OF
FORMER GOVERNOR.
Audicncc of Five Hundred Cheers
S. Loyal Utteranccs OF Candidates Tor
State Offices.

ss sss Loyal Utteranccs OF Candidates for
E State Offices.
s ss Orangeburg, Aug. 21.-Tae 43rd
Nleeting OF the State campaign timer
tary, held in the county court house
shere today, was the most enthuslas-
aIScally and demonstratively anti
NBlease meeting, so far held by the
candidates for State office. There
#;were approximately 500 voters pres
Eent and practically all of them cheer
Eed. applauded and whooped at every
sutterance detrimental to the asplra-
8tions and ambitions of Cole L. Blease
EThe audience was whipped into an up
Iroar of approval at the severe arralgn-
5ment Of the Reform" leader for the
asenate and the attack on John G.
#Richards. the Reform" candidate tol
;egovernor, by Lieut.. Gov Andre" j..
%Rethea. A controversy Mr.. Eethea
3saad with J. C. Hayden, a prominent
Efarmer of Orangeburg county. oc-
keasioned Mr.. Hayden repudlatlng the
4utterances of Blease in the Pomar1a
asand Hilbert speeches. Mr.. Hayden
Fhas two sons in the service and sald
Itcday that he expected seven or MS
dDther sons to don the khaki shortly.
b John T. Duncan, the first guberna-
Itorial speaker, paid his respects TO
HCole L. Blease, Governor Manning
Hand his opponents. He said that:
Ennowing the aptitude of South Caro-
slgina audiences for jokes, he is car
lfying a string Of good ones along with
Ehin,-Cooper, Richards, Bethea and
#DesC Champs" He paid his respects 70
Il the system and repeated that ne
4had assurances from Washington that
.her would be an lnvestlgatlon at
3Camp Jackson, based on his recent
Aaffidavit at Florence.
4 John G.. Richards, who spoke next
freiterated his opposition to the state
d.Tnent that the war is an issue. Even
Elf it were an issue, he stated, ne
9would go around the State and ges
4the people behind the government m
stead Of attempting to stir up strife
land divide the people. He made his
ausual promise that, if elected, ne
would attempt by the power OF the
iyeto and his influence with the legis-
5Iature to see that taxes are lowered.
8fIe inveighed against the "extraVa-
Agance" of the Manning administra-
3fion and promised to do all in his pow
Ter to abolish :. useless Offices. He
usual attack. On Mrs Coop COOP
Ier,s, loan system for State colleges and
defended the present 4.free" scholar
ship plan.
Lieut.. Gov. Andrew J. Bethea, the
third gubernatorial speaker, said he
had not only great regard for the
material prosperity of Orangeburg
county, but he regards it as the ban
ner county politically; ''for it is the
one county in which Cole L. Blease
dares not show his face" "A regl-
lnnent of soldiers could not drag him
here" he continued, "for he knows
there is, nothing here for him. and
neither is there anything here Tor
Major Richards, his 'Siamese twin
He then took up the utterances OF
Blease in the Pomaria and Flioers
speeches and requested those who
considered the war an issue to raise
their hands. About 200 hands were
raised On the reverse question, Mr..
Hayden's hand was held alsft. After
some exchanges between Mr.. Rethea
and Mr.. Hayden, the latter said tnat
he did not consider the war an issue
in the political campaign. but he most
assuredly did not indorse the Pomarla
and Filbert utterances of Blease be-
cause he had two sons in the army.
He said that he had seven other sons
who expect to don the khaki; that he
was raising grain to help win the
var: that he expected he was doing
more for the war than MIR. Bethea and
,,elleved he would fight quicker than
the lieutenant governor for his coun-
try.
After further co!loquy and Mr.. Hay
den's assurances that he did not ln-
dorse the anti-war speeches OF
Blease, Mr.. Bethea shook his hand
and announced that they both were
fighting for the obliteration of Blease
in South Carolina, which, he said,
on August 81. will line up with Miss
issippi, which defeated Vardaman,
and will leave at home any man
against whom there is even sus-
picion of disloyalty. He referred to
the Conway incident, in which Sena-
tor Buck of Horny castigated Blease,
stating that the Reform leader
beat hasty retreat with John Rich
ards swinging to his coat tails
Mr.. Bethea said that he is doing his
own thinking and is mot standing. as
Mr. Duncan says that Mr.. Cooper is
as the 1egatee of the Manning adj
ministration.
Robert A. Cooper. the next speaker,
said that Mr.. Bethea wants to gain
profit and make votes by saying that
he was standing in ManninS's
shoes" Nv. Cooper said that. even
if he found the sands slipping from
beneath his feet. he would not at
tempt to gain strength by casting as
persions on his opponents: that he
would remain in private life through
the remainder Of his days before he
would do it He said that he had
l,;p,r do tho DnODlIl1rjtV