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

SCry. education and compulsory medi-
cal inspection of school children. He
was no believer in sumptuary laws
But the enthusiasm ne aroused was
tremendous He spoke for the, poor
man. That was it, He was the mouth
piece for the poor mans discomfort.
He articrlated the poor mans tneX-
pressed emotions, ambitions and dis
gruntlements;; did it garishly, did it
scntimentally, did it courageously He
led, and gained his leadership, because
he did il. s.
BleaSc was first elected governor in
1910, and was reelected in 1912. In
this second campaign every newspa-
per OF. Wide circulation fought him
bitterly the ministers were almost un-
.animqusly opposed to him. the pro-
Gcssions were overwhelmingly against
him. tao5men of affairs in the main
dreaded him. His opponent was
raan of political. Importance and ex-
perienee.9s Despite all this, heS'won;
narrowly, ii is, true, but won, The
campaign sWas the bitterest in mem
orE.& Men lost all sense Of humor.
Social lines, were drawn TO conform TO
political lines: "Hoodlup1s," red
netks" +':blatherskites,,' and like terms
were freely used by the antis toward
the Bleaseitcs, and the Bleaseites re-
taliatcd by translating these epithets
into q vernacular that smacked Of the
sci if not OF the kennel. Biease was
relentlessly fought, and violently he
fought back. Men talked and papers
wrote of his record. Comments from
the press over tho land were reprinted
to vindicatc the statements made by
Tie antis, local editors forgetting that
outside opinion is rarely if ever a 20
litical asset and forgetting, too that
in politics a record can never uproot
an impression. Such opposition. was
resented as an Interference with fam
lily affairs. The campaign quickly be-
came ore Of billingsgate, mudslinging
and personalities. Issues, programs,
discussic rs of causes were secondary
to recriminations. Neither side was
Offering n plan for permanent better
ment Each was just anti-the- other.
Following the two administrations of
Blease as governor, there was a gpir-
tied reaction. IN 1914, before the end
of his second term, he had run for
United States senator but had been de-
feated. His successor at the state
house was Richard I. Manning, a MEM
ber of an old and aristocratic family.
The. third of his line to be governor, he
was known to his opponents as King
Richard III. He was the choice Of the
conservative financial interests which
reckoncd on pro- commercial admin
istration until strike; one Of the first
in South Carolina cotton mill, occur
red at Anderson. The new governor
was appealed to for troops, but he
would not order out military compa-
MES. Some of his friends were shock
ed, for they had thought that he, a
banker, a large farmer and man of af-
fairs. would surely see their side. Pos
sibly they had the feeling too, that po-
litical support calls for preferential
consideration. They insisted on troops,
but not for many weeks, and only
when the sheriff refused TO carry out
certain laws did the governor send the
militia to the strike zone. Labor un-
ionism was barely incipient in the tex
tile industry of the state at that time;
to their mind the strike offered ar eX-
cellent opportunity to squelch the un-
ions in the making. But the governor
vas obduratc. 1t turned out that Gov
ernor Manning lost former friends by
not sending troops promptly, and an
gered the operatives by sendilg Them
at all. He was courageous, but he was
not a good politician. The small far
mer has no enthusiasm for him be-
cause of his social and traditional
algnments. and the laborer did not
shout for him, as he was not in their
way of putting it, "our sort"
In 1916, Blease, again the turbulent