Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Chc We are corMpelled our condition five timf Experience In returfor your Ban posit Gua anty, nary The B. C. MATTHEWS, F widespread attention among all class es of people, giving me great promi ence and popularity. I was invited to make speeches in eat many counties of the State t, hich I -had never been, and as op ortunity offered I accepted thes, nd made addresses, thus extendin y acquaintance and knowledge o conditions throughout the State, an< increasing the number of supporter of the Farmers' college idea. Amom those who had been reading the pa pers and thus became familiar wit] the subject was Mr. Thomas G Clemson, who was then living the lif of a recluse at Fort Hill, Calhoun' old home. As I afterwards learned upon visiting Mr. Clemson at his Te quest, he -had long had in mind thi -necessity for the State to do some thing in the interest of industrial an< scientific education, and on the occa I sion of that visit I went to Pendletoi in the fall of 1886, was met by Mr Clemson in his carriage, and carrie( to his historic home, "Fort Hill,' where I spent the night. I wis,h I had the faculty of describ ing the appearance of things at thi old home of John C. Calhoun as i then appeared and contrasting it witl what appears at Clemson college to day. Col. D. K. Norris, who had been on< of my strongest supporters in the ad vocacy of a separate agricultural col lege, 'and Col. R. W. Simpson, met m~ at Mr. Clemson's (being invited b~ him to dinner) and the four of u: spt nearly the whole day in talkin over toz new project, which Mr. Clem son 'had in mind, and which he un folded to us. 'At that time Mr. Clem son had made a will wh'ich he showe< me, in which the scheme was outline< to make Fort Hill a sort of Mount' Vernon, a place of pilgrimage fo: those who admired and loved John C Calhoun and his.political ideas. Col James Rion of Winnsboro, as I re member. was the trustee, with board of ladies as regents, to b< hosen by 'Mrs. Rion to direct an< ontrol the property, and take eart of it in perpetuity. Mr. Clemson talked over this scheme with me and mentioned hi: desire to establish a technical an< industrial school sue-h as 4 had bee1 advocating, and gave that as an ex planation as to why 'he had invite< me to visit him. His ideas were no lear or well defined as to whici ourse he would pursue, but t-h< thought of a great agricultural an< terhnical ,institution grew on him Such was my conviction of th strength of the agricultural colleg idea, that I felt4illing to guarante4 the State of South Carolina wouli accept the property and begin th work of building a college in is lift time should he make the donation a once, and I recall begging him to hav4 his last years brightened and made happy watching the consummation o: is cherished plan; but he was th most suspicious man in regard to law vers and the dangers of getting in volved in law suits I have ever met and nothing we could say made anm impression on him to take immediat< action. But he did accept our sug zestion in regard to what dispositiol he should make of his property at hi: death and we talked the whole mat ter over. Col. Simpson making mem orand,. as he was requested to writ< the wifl and bring it to Mr. Clemnso1 at his earliest convenience. Messrs. Simpson and Norris .oine with me in urging him to change hi wvill so as to carry out this new pur ose the same I had been advocating as they were so nearly similar tha the-re were only slight differences a to details. Having in view the possible dange f the negroes, who are so largely i he majority in our State. at som' time getting control of the Stait overnent. we suggested the schem f seven trustees, who would be self erpetatiig. and thus make it 1ml ossible for an adverse legislatuA4 t :1wek the college, or make it; 'hol t whch eg oeswold be ad trtered b by law to swear to and : !s each year. We are tho d National Bank king business we offer you iely, plenty of our own mo Natior 'resident. - mitted. 1 - Another reason which our recent tl experience with the legislature made t] us urge the life trustee idea strongly was the fear that a board wholly con- o: . trolled by political influences might d warp and twist the college from its t] r purpose and finally cause it to d-rift w back to the ordinary literary type. si AWe were anxious to keep down. the z danger of negro domination of the b school and at the same time to pre- e vent the prostitution of the institu- lE tlon to ends not intended by its foun- tj er. None- of the life trustees were e< known to Mr. Clemson, except the S three men who were then advising o, awith him. Cols.- Simpson and Nor- m ris. living in the neighborhood, were -i well known to him. I had never seen it him before. and never saw him after- T ward. Messrs. M. L. Donaldson. John E. Wannamaker and J. E. Bradley, t< all of wfhom had been prominent in Ii the agitation for an agricultural col- .f: lege, were suggested and accepted by lE Mr. Clemson, and Col. Bowen, a prom- z iment farmer of Pickens coun- h ty, whom I had never seen, was the ti seventh man. b; It is well to ote the personnel of ci the original seven life members and v< to remember that at that time there tl were no factional differences in the ir State. It happened in the alignment te in 1890, three of these men were my jw supporters and three were not, and it q <sworth remembering that in filling G vacancies caused by death among the vi life trustees since that one "reform- 'c er'' and ~two ''conservatives'' have Io been chosen. e No pplitical influences or feelings ti -were considered or involved in the a: i election of trustees then or since, andg l~ while at times there have been, some t :political differences among the seveng life trustees, I do not feel t'hat I am tc -speaking too strongly to say that no one of the seven has ever allowed his W -political bias to influence him in the slightest in any action affecting the m college or its organization and man- i aement. Those who are trying tod inject polities into its mana,gement ni: now are no friends to it and never b have been. G The establishment of the agricul- e tural and mechanical annex in Colum- pi bia and two experiment stations had e aused the separate school agitation a to die down, but it was only smould-m ering. The fire was not extinguished. el The farmers' movement association" continued to hold its annual meetings, t! and reiteerate its demands. le Mr. Clemson 's will had become P noised around among the leaders and a: Khis death, April 6th, 1888, with the ai knowledge, that there was a largen plantation and $60,000 in cash for the 1 purpose for which we had been striv- W ing, was the signal for reviving the demand for the farmers for a separ- b; ate college in full vigor. li In the meantime another State dem- ti oratie convention had been held -in t 1888. in which the battle between the 0: farmers and the "ring"~ was renew- ei ed; the people were becoming aroused a ito thie nlecessity of political organmza- p tion and control of tihe democratic lubs. The court house "'rings'' e found their hitherto undisputed sway e Ijeopardized inl many counties and ov- fi e rthro~wnl in many others. so that in 'a the eonvention of '88 nothing pre- b - Ivened Richiardson 's defeat except tihe tI acj~t that the man whom we had chos- tl enI to oppose im. .Jos. H. Earle. was b under pledge to support Richardson 's C Irenoiationl, and his name was with-a drawn after tihe balloting began by a -his own brother, one of the delegates , from Greenville. Nevertheless we ti Scame within a dozen votes of a vic- tc Story, without even hlaving a candi- g: date. The st-ruggle then turned to the i control of the legislature. and in the 0: primaries the opposing factions were Saligned; over tile question of accept- it I in or refusing to accept the Clemson Sbejuest. It might as well be under.- b) stood that the friends and support- t - ers of the South Carolina college and il Sthe Citadel. the two then existing f State institutions of learning. wer ejit No. V y the N luolish statements of roughly'examined by Examiners the very best form of ney in the business. ial Bai R. D. SMITH, iltural college idea, seeming to fear iat it would result in the death of 1 iese two institutions. Another explicable source of antag- .1 aism arose among the friends of the nominational colleges, who argued iat a school, such as we advocated, ' ould inevitably militate against the f ipport of those institutions. They t ive as a. reason that the university C ing better equipped and of a broad type than the denominational col es, was sufficient ind declared ere was no need for another State )lege. They had attacked the uth Carolina university after the -erthrow of the carpt bag govern ent in '76, clamoring against free ition, but were unable to prevent z being reorganized and reopened. hey felt that as the proposed agri iltural college wa- intended mainly J > teach poor boys along practieal I .es. it would preVent many students C -om attending- denominational col- C ges and thus destroy them. The c -ring" having a large number of the Ad-over senators, the victory for a e acceptanc.e of the Clemson bequest I the general assembly was a diffi S ilt thing to achieve, and the deciding c )te for the bill which had passed b e house, yeas 67, nays 48, was cast V the senate in behalf of the accep- s ne by Lieut. Gov. Mauldin. It is 'i ll to state here that after the be- ( iest was accepted 'by the legislature, ov. Richardson withheld his appro-;3 il by what is known as a "pocket1f ~to,' thus preventing any action oking to work on the supposed new lege for two years. The seven life c ustees had met at Pendleton shortly e ter Mr. Clemson's death, had or-. nized, signified their acceptance of e trust i.n le-gal form, and set about , ~tting the estate into such shape, as take the necessary action to carry t Mr. Clemson 's purpose, with o-r ithout State aid. The. progress of the struggle for astery between the twvo contending eas of education. was watched with ep concern by all parties interested public affairs in the State, and it ~came evident that the choice of o. Richardson 's successor would Luse a bitter fight. It had been the irpose and work of the "ring'' to cite distrust of the "reformers'' id to cause timid people to be very uch alarmed over what was pro-; aimed as the impending effort to split the democratic party.'' though, te friends of the agricultural col ge always stood by the democratic irty organization in -every county, ad when beaten, as they were in '86 id '88, they had moved to make the minations unanimous and smilingly formed their antagonists athat they I ould try again. The movement for the college had i this time broadened into many nes of reform in State- affairs, and e agitation which had acted as a ni, coupled with the organization the Alliance, had taught the farm- ] s their strength, as well as rights d the means of accomplishing their irposes. It is not my purpose nor is it nec sarv to enter into any details con rig the hot and bitter political f ht in South Carolina in 1890. The ~rieultural college was one of theI 1rnn issues in that campaign and te signal triumph of the people with t transfer of all the funds donated. the United States government to lemson college, the abolition of the ~riultural department, and the do ition of the privilege tax to Clemson r agricultural and technical educa n are all of too recent occurrence need recapitulation here. The teat work which the college has done not denied by any one; and in spite the opposition of its old enemies ho seek to undermine and injure while pretending to be its friends,. would not have written this story to a published at this time, leaving it ,see the light after I am dead. but i active agitat ion now going on in e State has eaused m.e to feel that is my duty to recall some facts aovernment. und must be lost before a Depositor can lose a :count with a Bank safety should be your first (ou should investigate as to that Bank's ability iate wants and its willingness to do so. As to sources of over HALF MILLION DOLLARS. t of money enables us to easily care for all the d wants of this entire community. As to our ou to any of our customers. : Newberry. H. T. CANNON, Assistant Cashier SOME ONE ONCE SAID: "NOW'S THE TIME" WE ARE GOING TO OFFER NOW almost at the be ginning of the sum mer, a wonderful bargain in ALL LOW SHOES! Here are the Ladies' Reginas, and other makes, all to be sold at JUST WHAT THEY COST. -Reginas - - - $3.50Oat $2.50 $4.00 at $2.75 SOthers at Why just come and see and you will be satisfied. We cannot charge any shoes.at these prices. To do a good thing today is better than to morrow. ]So come to 1MOWER Co.'s NOW. CLUBBING OFFER! FOR FIVE DOLLARS The Herald and News, and The Daily Record, Newberry, S. C. Columbia, S. C. For FIVE DOL LA RS we will send The H erald and News and The Daily Record to one ad dress for one year. Send money to The Herald and News, and not under any circumstances to The Daily Record. The Daily Record, under new management, gives to-day's news to-day, and leaving the Capital city in the afternoon, goes out on the rural routes next morning. Your best chance to get a daily paper early.s Associated Press Dispatches, Special Market Reports, Live Capital News, South Carolina Affairs, A ceaen, enterprising family paper. ;44. ational I This entire Safety F cent. In placing an a( consideration. Then 1 to care for your legitirr our ability, we have rE This immense amoun legitimate and deser( willingness, we refer y ri of Cashier. tcquainted with. They will interost i our people. IThe legal status of Clemson col ege is well defined and understood iy every intelligent lawyer in the tate. The agitation for the change n this condition has no good reason or its existence and tie friends of he college will see to i't that neither Id or new enemies doit any injury. B. R. Tillman. cholarship and Entrance Examinations CleMson Agricultural College. At the County Court-House on Friday, uly 2nd, at 9 A. M., the Scholarship and ntrance Examinations to Clemson Agri ultural College will be held under the .irection of the County Board of Edu ation. Applicants must be at least 16 years of ge and must be prepared to enter the reshman Class. There are no scholar hips in the Preparatory Class., This lass is only open to a limited number of ovs who cannot reach high schools and here school facilities are poor Scholar hips are worth $100 oo and Free Tuition. 'he next session of Clemson Agricultural ollege will begin Sept. 8, 1909. Apply to the County Superintendent of ducation after June 20th, for needed in rmation concerning the 'Scholarship traniationls For catalogs, further information and ards upon which to make application for ntrance to the College, address P. H MELL, President, Clemson College, S. C. 's a Great Story!I ['o the man who wants to be com fortable this summer: ANAMA HATS, sTRAW HATS, CNEE LENGTH UNDERWEAR 'ULL LENGTH SUMMER UN DERWEAR, ~EGLIGEE SHIRTS, 0W COLLARS, UMMER HOSIERY, ;UMMER NECKWEAR. 3ELTS, ETC. "Get Busy" now with purchas ng those new furnishings hete and rou' 11 find that the hottest days of his summer will have no terrors EWART-PERRY 0.' 785 1909 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 125th Year Begins October 1st. Entrance examination will be: eld at the new Court House on riday, July 2, at 9 a. m. All can tidates for admission can compete n October for vacant Boyce schol .rships, wnich pay $100 a year. )ne free tuition scholarship to each 'ounty of Soutli Carolina. Board .nd furnished room in Dormitory,; ;1 2. Tuition, $40o. For catalogne HARRISON RANDOLPH, President.