Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-08-21
Hammer and Tongue Race


in the closing days Of his race.
Hammer and Tongue Race.
Senator Smith is being opposed by
Gov Olin D. Johnston as we'll as
by State Senator Edgar A. Brown.
and South Carolina is being treated
to an fashioned hammer and
tongue campaign In which no sugar.
coating is being put on the battle Of
words.
Under a State custom dating back
many years. the candidates are re-
quired to visit each county together
at least once, thus placing them in
joint debate from the same plat
forms This adds to the fire of the
oratory, with the followers of the
rival candidates shouting them on.
Looking much younger than his age,
Senator Cotton Ed" as they call him
at home, is going strong. Thirty years
of campaigning have made him a
skillful stump speaker. and he Is
bringing it to play in this fight.
His chief opponent, Gov. Johnston,
Id plCOSiiS 1IlluSCl1 1Ou pei SCAlC W
the New Deal and President Roose-
welt, at the same time picturing Sena-
tor Smith as out of sympathy with
the administration on important ques-
tons. But he does it in the serious
manner of prosecutor.
Hits Back With Anecdote.
Senator Smith is striking back with
out kid gloves at the attacks on his
record and his democracy, but his
speeches are replete also with the
anecdotes South Carolinians have
grown to expect from Senator Got
ton Ed" and most of them, that
keep his listeners grinning while they
applaud, are intended to drive home
point in his platform.
Perhaps the smartest phase Of his
campaign is his frequent defense Of
the President" The Senator tells his
audiences he finds it necessary to de-
fend the President from what he
describes as errors in the arguments
of opposing speakers. At the same
time the veteran chairman of the
Senate Agriculture Committee makes
it clear to his listeners that he in
tends to exercise his own judgment as
legislator.
Il would not swap my brain for
any coattail," he told large gather
ing at Greenwood Friday. He never
fails to picture his opponents as riders
on the Presidents coattai,s.
Other high lights from his campaign
speeches run like this:
You can buy rubber stamp for
dollar, but you can't buy q man at
any price"
"If That Be Treason"
II resent the declaration that I'm
antagonistic to the New Deal Look
at my record. have baked at some
things and If that be treason, then
make the most Of It,"
God made me a man before South
Carolina made me Senator. I am
just as much man in the realm of a
Senator Of a sovereign State as any
President is in the realm Of Chief
Executive"
From all this 1t should not be de-
duced, however, that his opponents
have not made inroads oh the strength
Of the veteran incumbent.
The nearest the President came to
entering the contest was his state
ment. as his train stopped in South
Carolina 10 days ago, that he did
not believe any family or any man
could live on so cents a day in South
Carolina.
This was taken as q reference to a
quotation from speech by Mr.. Smith
in the Senate on the wage-hour bill,
and was seized upon promptly by the
opposition. It had been mentioned
before in the campaign, but the
Presidents reference to it gave it
greater weight and put Senator Smith
somewhat on the defensive.
Claims Misinterpretation.
In his answer the Senator has
been insisting his speech was misin-
terpreted by his opponents and he
asked his friends not to criticize the
President for having referred to it.
The Senator contends he used the So
cents-a-day figure only by way OF
illustration. In his campaign litefa.
ture he quotes the following from his
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