The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-08-24
MASSACHUSETTS AND S. c.
The Libel on Our State.-From The
Columbia State.

The Libel on Our State.-From The
Columbia State.
The State.
What is South Carolina, any
way?' asks a certain Fred NJ. Mer'
kle of the Philadelphia Bulletin, and
proceeds to answer his own question
in his own way.
We have had this little jibe, this
little bit of boobery, before us fol
some time, as ''lingering fra
grance,' undecided whether or not
it should be reproduced in a South
Carolina paper for the delectation OF
the poor whites" with which Mr.
Merkle peoples the sand and marsh
of this commonwealth. But we think
it is about as we'll as not to take
glance at ourselves, now and again
even as the Merkles see is. Here Is
the portion of his letter published
in the Bulletin that refers to this
state:
What is South Carolina any
way? No one ever boasts of
South Carolina, except bigoted
native. The people are the most
ignorant and poorest perhaps in
America. No great man or thing
has ever come from there. 1t has
no great industries, cities, uni
versities or anything else worth
mentioning. 1t is merely space
on the map. The women have
less rights than most any other
state and the state sWarms with
negroes. The class of people
there is very low and the rank
as state corresponds.
We leave to history, certainly not
too partial to this state, the por-
trayal of South Carolina as she is,
or NAV be, When Massachusetts
was assailed, Daniel Webster was
content to say:
:sI shall enter upon no econiums
of Massachusetts; she needs none.
There she is. Behold her, and Judge
for yourselves. There is her history;
the world knows it by heart. The
past, at least, is secure. There is
. Boston and Concord and Lexington
and Bunker Hill; and there they will
remain"
Simple, sufficient. And yet it
means as little as it says. Manifest
ly, the effort is to represent Massa-
chusetts' as launching and winning
the revolution. That war was foster
ed and fought and won in other
states. South Carolina did, perhaps,
twice as much toward the winning
of the revolution as Massachusetts,
did. Kings Mountain and Cowpens,
the great campaign in. South Caro-
lima that broke the invasion and the
power of the British armies, were
far more important to the success
of our independence than the. half
mythical things to which Webster
points. 49,.
I And we are not without honors
that will compare with those won OF
wished on other states: In states
manship, we have some as great
names as adorn the few brilliant
pages of our national history-John
G.. Calhoun, Gadsden, Laurens,
Pinckney. The constitution owes
much to Charles c. Pinckney-far
more than certain sectional histor-
ians care to admit, but which is be-
coming more clearly established at
each study of the history of that in
strument. And in politics, one of
our specialties, there is Old Hickory,
proud to have been born in South
Carolina, and proud to proclaim the
fact. Jackson's type of politician is
somewhat out of date, but even as
American political ideals and leader
ship go, Jackson still remains tre-
nendous type and exemplar.
And-of course it is unkind to re-
fer to il-but there is Fort Sumter,
the outstanding supreme military
achievement in American history.
THAT ranks with Gibraltar and Sar-
agossr, and outranks them. That
one event of unequaled heroism and
fortitrde gives to South Carolina
an equal date
With Andes and with Ararat.
AS Webster remarked, 1.-The past,