Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-05-05

is entitled to rest. You young fellows
know nothing about what Brice has
been through. He never did like the
job; but they put it on him and he
did the work, and he did it fairly.
Notwithstanding what he said in the
convention, he would take the Job
again If necessary.
| "Brice took the county craftsmanship
away back in the early days of Till
manism, when what was known as the
Reform faction wrested the party ma
chinery from the old liners, who had
| been in control of it since 1876. He
got it fairly and squarely after quite
hard fight; but the old liners were
never reconciled to their defeat, In
fact they did not admit it, and for a
long time they refused to recognize
Brice. Instead they set up party ma
chinery Of their own, and for num-
I ber OF years there were two recognized
parties in the county-one of. them
called Conservative and the other
Reform or Tillmanite.
You young fellows think You saw
some pretty warm politics in 1910 and
1914; but I tell you in all seriousness
that that was only child's play to what
Brice went through. Perhaps you have
heard some pretty rough things said
about Blease and the Bleaseites; but
assure you that Brice has gone through
more villification and abuse in York
county than Blease ever did-such 'as
q d-n 'Tillmanite,' coat tail swing
err and the like. OF course they did not
say it to Brice; but they said 1t about
him; and there were not a few fist
fights and the like out of the politics Of
those days.
But Brice was fair and square to
all. If he ever lost his temper he
never showed it and he always stood
his ground, especially when he was
sure he was right. 1t was only when
he was in doubt as to what was the
TlSnt UnlnS tnat ne ylelueu.
After a few years the Conservative
organization was whipped out and it
quietly disintegrated. Conservatives
came over to the Reformers, got in
with them, and were elected to office.
The old factionalism was forgotten,
and Brice came out on top in that the
only mmory Of it, that lasted was that
he had been fair, honest and sincere
through it all.
I'm all his career Brice held only
two elective offices outside Of the
county craftsmanship. He was sent to
the constitutional convention Of 1896
and served eight years in the senate.
He was a conscript both times-a
genuine conscript You often hear this
talk of men being brought out by their
friends. That happens sometimes; but
not often. Generally the candidate
himself is responsible for his candi-
dacy; but not so with Brice. He posi-
lively did not want to so to the con-
stitutional convention. He did not
want to be in the position of ask
ing for election to any office. AS to
whether he had any apprehension as
to what the voters might do. I don't
know. He is the only man who can
answer that question. But 1t is fact
that after he had persistently refused
to announce himself as a candidate for
the constitutional convention, friends
went ahead and announced him any
way and the pressure Immediately be-
came so great that he could not resist.
He was elected overwhelmingly. 1t
was the same when he entered the
race for the senate. He was elected
without opposition, or at least the op-
position was so trifling that it did not
amount to anything. And he quit
simply because he wanted to, just as
Harry Neil is quitting the office Of
treasurer
ut is a fact that Brice is the man
who killed the old state dispensary.
He did it through the passage of what
was known as the Brice lava law
that allowed the people to vote on the
question by counties, and my judgment
is that he could easily have been
governor of the state if he had wanted
to be. 1t would have been Governor
Brice instead of Governor Ansel; but
he positively declined to enter the race
on the ground that he was not finan-
cially able to fill the office even If
elected"