The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-07-25
not drive him. This, said Mr.. Croft,
he attributed to a lack of knowledge

of the history of the country. war,
said he, is the one great issue in the
campaign, and that we must support
the boys at the front. He called on
the people to look to the record to
ascertain who have been loyal.
Mr.. Croft asserted that if the stand
taken by Byrnes had been shared by a
majority the allies would have been
whipped and we would have been hav-
ing war here in America. The mat
ter confronting congress was that of
the mobilization of an army, and the
means to do it quick. Byrnes, he
said, had opposed the selective draft
law, although he had been called on
to stick to the president. That he
fought the bill and made bitter
speech against it, but Gin spite of
him" it passed. He charged that op-
position to the measure was the re-
suit of German propaganda. He fur
ther assailed Byrnes for his alleged
support of the volunteer provision,
which he characterized as failure,
asserting that nobody would have
volunteered for service overseas CAL
though the record shows that about
half of our present army are volun-
teers.)
Summed up, Mr.. Croft's charges
were that Byrnes had turned deaf
ear to the president, to all true
Americans, to the allies call for
help, and to all humanity. He did
admit, however, that Byrnes had fa-
vored the draft provided the volun-
teer plan would fail. He read from
"the record portions of Mr.. Byrnes's
speech. A striking sentence in It,
which Mr.. Croft evidently forgot not
to read was this: 81 have but one
object, that of the promotion of the
interests of our country" and that
that he believed this would be
through the selective volunteer
system. Mr.. Croft likened the con-
grssman unto a fiagman on train,
who had allowed his train to run
into an open switch, and he pleaded
that he be forgiven, but relieved of
his Job. He said he would like to
represent the district in congress,
and that he would do the best he
could; would look out for the inter-
ests of the boys at the front, and
after they came home, and would
not deliver the people into the hands
of the Phillistines.
Mr.. Croft completely overlooked
giving any reasons, however, why
he should be elected, or stating any
of his qualifications to hold down
the job.
Evans Couldn't Go Below the Belt,
Hon. N. G.. Evans, of Edgefeld, a
member of the well-known Evans
family, who have been in politics
since man remembereth, was next
called on. Mr.. Evans dwelt on the
virtues of grand old Edgefield coun-
ty. He said that he could not strike
below the belt, so he did not have
much to say about Congressman
Byrnes, evidently implying that he
had the goods, but would save them
up for future occasions, Mr.. Byrnes
not yet having arrived. The only
issue now, he said, is that of win
ming the war to complete democratic
victory. Everybody almost every
body-is in line, he said. Mr.. Evans
modestly admitted that, for himself,
he comes from good old, pure Ameri-
can stock, who have given freely OF
their blood on the altar of American
freedom. It is the duty, he said, of
the voters to question the loyalty of
all candidates for Office, as we are
fighting now to free America from
German influences. We will have to
beat the Germans in France, else
beat them in America, and that we
could never do it with volunteer
army. He asked the question if any
one could be loyal who says that the
selective draft law is unfair. Mr..
Evans's sincere hope is that our dis
trict will follow the excellent ex-
ample of some of the northwestern
States and defeat all congressman
who opposed the draft law.
- Mr.. Evans generously admitted
| that all of us make mistakes, but
that we must suffer thereby, and that
we cannot afford to elect men to
congress who have to take the stump
to explain their votes, or who have
| a question mark after their names
This is no time, he said, to explain
\ 1oroJ{1 without ponino M Pvrnoc