The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-08-23
MONDAY, AUGUST %, 1920.
THE FIGHT ON SMITH.

compass the defeat of Senator Smith.
For some little time, George Warren,
candidate to succeed Senator Smith,
(or his friends) has been conduct
ing an expensive advertising cam
paign against the Senator, and in
the interest of Mr.. Warren. In addi-
ton to this there are others who
seem to be greatly interested in the
defeat of Senator Smith. Among
these is one H. L. Scaife, of Wash
ington, D. c., who it seems wanted a
position, or applied for it, asking
Senator Smiths endorsement, and
who failed to land the job. Mr.. Scaife
claims not to have been peeved at
this. In fact, he states .nat he is
glad the matter turned OUT as 1t did,
as he was thus given the chance to
serve his country in a way more
compatible with his ideas Of what
he owed to the country. But, not
withstanding, Senator Smith, by re-
fusing to endorse him, thus gratified
his desire in the matter O. service,
he has been busy for several weeks
in an earnest fight to destroy the con-
fidence which Senator Smith has
built up amongst the people of the
state. -
Among the things which Mr.. Scaife
has done is to go through the Senate
records and make from these records
many tabulations of the votes Of
Senator Smith, the times he has been
absent, and has failed to vote, and
other tables designed to cast dis
credit upon the services of the Sem
ior Senator. He has issued an expen-
sively gotten up and printed pam
phlet containing these tables and
much other matter of like kind which
is being sent broadcast throughout
the State. When Senator Smith had
g:.reH TO the public his explanation
of his absences from roll calls, which
. sho"!d have been satisfactory to the
o.d:nc--y citizen. Mr.. Sca:-a comes
back with a long-winded reply by
which he seeks further to discredit
the Senator.
1t is not expected that this fight
will have any very great effect upon
the voters of the state. The people
of South Carolina who have been
supporting Mr.. Smith in the past will
not be impressed with the fight that
is being made upon him. They are
satisfied with what he has done in
the Senate. His advertisement in to-
days paper, to which the attention
of the voters is called, furnishes am
pie proof that other Senator'S, whose
committee assignments were as i'm
portant as those of Senator Smith,
were absent from roll calls, or pair
ed, as often, and some of them often
er, than Senator Smith, thus proving
lis assertion that these absences are
accounted for by the fact lilai he was
on more important business for his
people. Nobody we think Will claim
that Senator Tillman was not a
faithful representative of the people
of South Carolina in the Senate.
Senator Smiths record on roll calls
compares we'll with his. The people
of Pennsylvania seem to think that
Senator Penrose is proper man to
represent that commonwealth in the
senate, Senator Smith has fewer
pairs and absences from -otl calls
than he. In fact Senator Smiths rec
ord is about on par in this regard
with the record of other Senators
who have risen to distinction in the
Senate and who have thus acquired
important committee assignments.
The effort of Mr.. Scaife 20 discredit
Mr.. Smith by comparing MS record
with that of a man whose duty did
not call him to take an active inter-
est in these committee matters, is
one of the evidences Of his malignant
desire to defeat Senator Smith, al
though he must know that the Sena-
tor has faithfully represented the
people of this state.
Therefore, when the people under
stand, as they will and do understand,