Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-06-15
COAL BLAZE" ON sTUm.
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AS&k4A24o
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lie man in South Carolina; he is
weil-nigh impregnable. And as
he has announced that he wild
speak in every. county mi the conE
monwealth before the primaries
close this year, the rank and file
OF the men voters are predicting
q hot time III the old State this
year. As far as the women vot-
ers are concerned, there is an elez
men of doubt, but Mr.. Blease
says lie calculates to- get his share
OF that vote because, he was a
consistent opponent of woman
suffrage, but warm supporter
of the law when the majority put
1T across. .
The strength of Blease, by long
odds the most talked of man in
South Carolina, and the causes
OF Bleaseism are results of the
social and economic conditions of
the State, and Of the quaint man.
ner the one political party, the
Democratic, conducts it's cam
paigns here. The primary is all
important. The general election
is a mere form, since there is bu,
one set of nominees. A rule of
the party is that candidates shall
make tour-@of the State and
speak once in every county. They
generally travel Ell masse, adher-
ing to a schedule arranged by the
executive committee. !
The round of speech-making
and Misunderstanding comes always
in the summer months when
mems tempers are, at best, ec-
centric. But this is. slack time
for farmers and South Carcin:a
is an agricultural State. The
county-to-county method is a DIS
clded advantage 10 the stump
speaker, particularly since tie
cumpaigner can usually beat the
metropolitan newspapers to the
audience.
Then, too, in South Carolina
politics is more than politics. II
Is d recretation, a part OF lie, IA
thing in which the citizen at large
has a big interest, medium
through which men express theni-
selves. For this reason u polili-
cal fight is usually as welcome IN
the rural districts of South Caro-
lima as genuine circus. Men
gather at he county seats from
villages and countrysides far
away Automobiles are parked
with rare abandonment but there
are yet remaining in this. State
many buggies and farm wagons
and they are in evidence at these
political meetings. Another unu.
sllal feature OF the South. Caro-
lima political gathering is that
scores of negroes are there, not
that they expect to vote, but they
want to-hear the jokes that they
feel sure they will hear from the
candidates. ~- ;
At central place a platform
is erected and the candidates .ap.
pear on it to tell the opening joke
about themselves or their oppo-
nents, for the 10th time. In past
campaigns generally the oppe-
ncnts of Blease have spoken first.
One after the other they have
their say and then the time ar
rives for MIR. Blease to speak. In.
stantly there is wave of anima-
ton.
The one thing that has caused
the comeback of Mr.. Blease in
the political domain of South Car
olina politics is the after-the-war
reconstruction, incidental hard
times, due to the cotton boil wee
vii and high taxes. Mr.. Blease
Is opposed to the hard times, the
high taxes and the floods, of
course, but so is most everybody
else. Only Mr.. Blease is smart
enough to capitalize ON those dis
tressing conditions. The Coal
Blaze. announcement is causing
South Carolina to wake up, take
a drink, ask what o'clock, and
show no evidence of drowsiness.
And that is what makes the mare
go in this former stronghold of