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KACifc fUUK. The Press and Banner. ABBEVILLE, S. C. Published Every Wednesday by The Press and Banner Co. WM. P. GREENE, Editor. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1916. MR. COOPER IN THE RACE. The announcement that Mr. R. A. Cooper will make the race for Governor has caused new interest in political circles. Some friends of Mr. Cooper had thought that he should "wait two years before again offering for the office of Governor; others have felt that now is the proper time for him to make the race. We believe that Mr. Cooper speaks the truth when he says that he desired to keep out of the race this summer, and that he only makes the race from a sense of duty. We : know that great pressure has been 1 brought to bear in order to induce ' him to enter, especially among his 1 friends of two years ago. When 1 they all but demanded of him that 1 he make the race again, he was hard- ' ly in position to decline. It was needless for Mr. Cooper to ' announce that he would seek the of- ' flee on iiis own merits. The people Who know him expect nothing less from him. And that he merits a great deal, everybody knows. Tt is too soon now to predict the ] outcome of the campaign. We must , all wait and see. Twelve months , ago people generally thought that it , would be a great mistake for Cooper ( to run; now a great many think he , cannot afford to stay out of the race. It will take the developments of a campaign to say whether he has de- , cided rightly or not. j But whatever the verdict of the j people as to the race, all the people, who see and know him, will acknowledge his fitness to be the Chief ] Executive of a great state. ; I THE INSURANCE MUDDLE. I A great deal of excitement has 1 been manifest in certain quarters on account of the action of the legislature in driving the Southeastern Underwriters Association out of the state. One company after another has left the state, and practically all the companies now doing business here have threatened to go, all in fact except those which are not members of this association. But there are some left. The home companies are still here, and it is announced that the Greensboro companies, which write a large amount of the business here, will remain and do business. Then there is the Abbeville-Greenwood Mutual and the other Mutual Companies in which a great deal of insurance even in the towns may be carried. Other companies will likely seek business here. In our judgment a great part of these withdrawals amount to "bluff," | but if they do not, our experience is that when a man has money to buy a thing he can generally get what he wants, and we expect to see insur- : ance written in South Carolina just as heretofore, if not by the same companies, then by others. We know nothing of the merits of the fight against these companies. 1 We have no doubt that there are esvnna ni-mrioinno in tVlp law whifih should not be there. There is al- ' ways an element in the legislature which goes to extremes in these matters, but past experience with the South Carolina legislature should have taught the companies that, on sober second thought, the legislature is inclined to treat them right. That has been the history of legislation in this state in the last ten years. The action of these companies would therefore appear to be a coercive measure which the people of the state will not approve. THE COUNTY TO COUNTY CAMPAIGN It seems to be the concensus of opinion among trie people of the state that we should have no more of the county-to-county-circus, as it is called. In order to get rid of it, somebody must make a start, however, and that somebody must be the people. The people when they as semble at the respective precincts to name delegates to the county conventions should instruct them on this matter. You cannot leave the matter to the politicians. They are mere weather-vanes, and will only reflect the views which you express. So let the convention know where you stand, and where the people of your precinct stand. And if the people decide that the county to county campaign must be a thing of the past, we hope that no politician will be in Columbia at the State Convention, pretending to oppose the move, after he sees which way the cat has jumped. A NEW SOLICITOR. < By deciding to enter the race for ^ Governor this summer, Solicitor Cooper elects to vacate the office of Solicitor, an office which he might have held as long as he desired. It will, therefore, be the duty of the people of this judicial circuit to elect a man to fill his place. We doubt very much if we shall be able ^ to find a man of his ability, consider- 1 ing his experience, but we can at ^ least demand a man of his high character and devotion to the welfare of the state. We should accept nothing less. PROGRESS. The Calhoun Mills, of Calhoun Falls, has mailed to us a copy of the address recently made before the Community Club in that place, by County Demonstrator Cheatham, on the subject of gardening. Not being an expert gardener we are unable to say whether all the advice given is sound, but the spirit of the enterprise in having this address printed and distributed among the people of the community is good. It 3hows that the people at the head of the mill are interested in the welfare of the people of the community, and are willing to help them. WELCOME TO OUR CITY. Col. A. R. Rugheimer, of the prohibition city of Charleston, was here to see his friend Col. Kerr this week and to get his order for several new suits for the summer. He came early in order to get ahead of Major Style-plus. He tells us that Charleston has ?one dry; that it has been unable to svithstand an Episcopal State Administration, a Baptist Mayor and a Presbyterian Chief of Police.' The colonel deplores the fact that Judge McDow allowed some of the lately esteemed gentlement of Charleston, accused of selling liquor, to escape on a suspended sentence. And all this in that "particular community," which formerly had its own "peculiar" ideas about the liquor laws! THE GOVERNOR'S RACE. They Want Cooper. Wherever two or three men are gathered together the talk sooner or later runs on politics?state politics and the hope or fear that Blease can beat Manning. That thing called Bleaseism is almost dead enough to bury. Blease, considered as a candidate and not as an individual, is not the same man who tried to be senator. When he gets on the stump this time he will have something new to talk about. He won't cuss the nigger quite so much, and he won't have so much to say about standing by his friends and pardoning criminals who commit the particular crimes that appeal to him. He will talk more about law and order. He Will dodce thft nrnViihitirm issue by declaring for local option by ' counties, knowing that there is little t probability of changing the present * law. He will promise the poor man 1 6 per cent money and 2-cent railroad i fare; and he will get away with a 1 lot of it, and pile up a great number ^ I don't believe Manning can beat 1 Blease. Manning has made a pretty * good governor. He has been sound, 1 conservative, constructive. 1 There has been nothing spectacu- * lar about his official conduct. He has kept away from the spot light. Phy- 1 sicians say that a good digestion is 1 one that never lets you know it is on ( the place. That is the sort of gover- 1 nor Manning has been. His admin- 1 istration has been in the nature of J a mild tonic, and the state has felt 1 the beneficial effect of it. 1 But the swing of the pendulum ? that carried Manning into office has < largely lost its momentum?has almost come to a full stop. And by the time of the first primary the pendulum will be swinging back in the other direction. Any man who holds office makes enemies. Also he loses friends, for those who expected him to prove a wonder on wheels quickly fall away when he turns out to be a mere ordinary man. Manning isn't as strong now as he was two years ago. If he is the only strong man against Blease, he will probably put Blease back on the job again. , But there is a man in the state who can beat Blease. This year is his time to do it. t>?i. n i j i i out cooper wouia nave Deen gov- j ernor today if the state paper and < the News and Courier had not given their moral support to Manning at the eleventh hour. He will be gov- \ ernor yet if he puts his ear close to < the ground and acts according to what he hears. The folks want him. The anti-Blease men are pretty well agreed that he ought to get into the race, and the Blease men are pretty svell agreed in wanting to keep him sM 5Ut of it. |V Ho can get the job for the asking S this year. If he doesn't take it now SO lie may never have another chance. In ?Fountain Inn Tribune. jj Cooper Again. In the last campaign for governor 2 R. A. Cooper was prevented from s 3 jetting into the second primary . J largely as a result of an underhand J| J campaign of misrepresentation car- 1 ried on principally in Newberry [ :ounty. How that county, which [ should have polled a heavy vote for r 3 lim, gave him almost nothing is well m ] remembered. The method of the J 1 campaign more than the animus be- v lind it was what hurt the friends of E j Mr. Cooper most. But mention of fr t at this time is prompted by a para- I j jraph in the Spartan Herald in I f vhich it is insinuated that Cooper [ md his supporters are responsible ff 3 for reports which it seems to have r ] leard of Manning's weakening ] strength. It said: "Much of the l ?lk of the weakness of Governor I Manning is said to be coming from [ j 'riends of Solicitor Cooper, of Lau- ? ens. This may be true or it may ? J lot. There are a great many soutn |y Carolinians who see nothing but the = 1 e-election of Governor Manning un- ? ? ler any conditions, but if there is to [ f >e a multiplicity of candidates for [ j governor this summer, there will be ? I >thers than Mr. Cooper to enter r ] rom the upper part of the state, in, 2 | ill probability." The reader of this ] >aragraph receives the impression, I whether or not it is said in so many ? vords, that Cooper is lending en- | ' :ouragement to these reports for f 3 >olitical gain. Those who know J kfr. Cooper intimately believe that 11 his does him great injury as did the I ? eports in Newberry two years ago. I f t is possible and very probable that ( luite a large number of Mr. Cooper's f 1 xiends have stated that they believ- p ] sd Manning unable to get elected 1 igain, but if they thought so it was 1 :ertainly their privilege to express 1 hemselves accordingly. There is J ? rery little doubt but that Manning's 'riends have said practically the same US ;hing of Cooper, but the friends of Q~ ?r. Cooper have not sought to under- jjJ nine Manning because of them.? g?J Laurens Advertiser. in Cooper's Candidacy. Qj To say that Mr. Cooper's entrance nto the race for governor has met vith a cold reception by the press of ;he state is to express it mildly. But === ;hat does not signify anything. Some Pour years ago a man by the name of Hole Blease ran for that same office md the press of the state almost un- inimously opposed him, and everyjody remembers the result. We do lot claim this will be the case in this nstance, but merely call attention to ;hat fact. \ The Daily Mail had no hand in jringing Mr. Cooper into the race, )ut we do know that a whole lot of nighty good people repeatedly urged lim to do so. Mr. Manning's friends "eel that Mr. Cooper should have renamed out of the race, that it has >een a custom in South Carolina to rivo tho ornupmnr a speftnH tflrm. >ut a great many others felt that Mr 5 Manning could not be re-elected, and I nduced Mr. Cooper to enter the i P ace. A good many people have not $ forgotten how Judge Jones was | jrought out by these same people $ vho are knocking Mr. Cooper and Tudge Jones was accepted and the ji nemories of that pitiful campaign K eally become amusing, now that it H s all over with. p Mr. Manning's chief plank in his jlatform was enforcement of law, J ;hough we cannot say that he has B ione that altogether impartially. He w las made mistakes, like every other nan who has ever lived, but we jive him the credit of being thor>ughly conscientious in his official icts. He has not developed into a strong man, we do not believe any >ne can claim. The Daily Mail is not going into lysterics over any one's candidacy at ;his time, nor later as to that. We :an stand what the rest of tjtf state :an. When the time comes we shall support the man for governor that aest suits us, and hope everybody else swill do the same. What we started out to say was ;hat we do not approve of the action }f the press of the state in throwing :old water on Mr. Cooper's candida:y. Wait until he can be heard from limself; that is what we are going to do, and if he appeals to us more I than any of the other candidates he ~ svill get our support, otherwise he I won't. Mr. Cooper will be able to I take care of himself in the campaign, E ind his success or failure will depend I >n himself.?Anderson Daily Mail. I The best is yet to be, I 3ur times are in his hand, I SVho said, "A whole I planned;" I STouth shows but half; trust God; see I all, nor be afraid. I It is in general more profitable to I _ eckon up our defects than to boast )f our attainments.?Carlyle. L? ?Robert Browning. National I HavA vnn ***** V JVM Down in the h( "to put his best foe the world is a bus often forget how w< Dress-up week is a i to remind all men 1 perance is a big fac in your favor by we Styleplus#!' Clothes ^ "The mow price tbe world over.' Wfi tliom ol ' ' W WUUVA UV U1AVU4 Ul get at any price. A ional reputation by guaranteed by the Any one can see thi ored. Dress up. Pay i PLUS, the suit of i maker's method of s price. For sale now Parke This W at Mrs. Another t Coat Suits, th other lot of Sil value for $5.0' SPRING March 22 and < Come anc _ A t 1 ^ - J oi siynsn ana take pleasure you buy or no Our stock complete this and it will pa; fore you buy. Mrs. Jas 4 11 ADD Dress-Up i read abou jart of every man is )t forward.'' But iy place?and we e look. mtional campaign that personal aptor. Make it count saring. I bsolutely. All the st fashion artist has n his work on this su fine quality all w it the clothes are sh a, medium price. W sensational valuesspecializing on this; here else in town. v r & Re ElZlilliUEliUillEl^ eek's Arriv Cochn i shipment of those s ey are beauties, als Ik Dresses, a won 0. \ open: 13, Don't Forget tl 1 see our erand d ~ o [ practical millinery in showing: you wl t. of Millinery will be season than ever ? y you to see our Ha S. Cot eville, S. C. jzfgjiUiLfnjiinuiureg Week! I i .'i. 9 1; it it; $ 5 the desire ? j I ;yle you can ij aade a nat- {> lit. Wear is ] * ool fabrics. i* ilfully tail- j j jar STYLE- !} -due to the jl suit of one [ i !i ese h fiaaaaaaaaafi I MMmmamwmammammg als an's tylish io an= derful INGte Date. I \ isplay I . We lether : more >efore, ts be= :hran " -