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VNW SA VOL. XV. MIA NN I NG.. S. C,. WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 190 AN AD1)ES To The People of the State of South Carolna FROM THE PROHIBITIONISTS The Dispensary Law Assailed in Unmeasured Terms ar'd Many Crimes Laid to Its Door. The following is the address to the Prohibitionists of South Carolina to the people, which wis prepared by Col. Hoyt: "The prohibitionists tf South Caro lina in appealing to the Democratic voters to j.in them in suppressing the liquor traffic in this Staie, ceem it p roper and right that they should clear ly and unequivocally state their posi tion with refercence to the business con ducted in the name of tie common wealth, which thereby mAes all its citizens responsible in a ireasure for the continuance of this tratfio, which we believe to be a crime against hu manity and a means of degradation to the people. "in the first place we have chosen to make this contest at t he Democratic primary because we are members of this political organizirion. which is in virtual control of all the affairs of the State. "We have the right to raise this is sue within the party lines because the machinery of the State government has been used to construct and operate a system of liquor selling, which has for its chief object the coastant increase of the consumption of liquors by the citizens of the State, maiLly with the view of making money out of the busi ness in which the State is engaged We would violate conscience and prove recreant to duty as good citizens if we did not protest against this iniquitous method of obtaining money through the sensual indulgence and debauchery of our citizenship, and we are making this protest in a fair, manly and consistent way, appealing to the higher instincts of humanity, and pleading for the so cial, domestic, moral, religious and po litical elevation of our whole people. By banishing the evils now fastened upon the State in consequenee of the system under which the sale of liquor is conducted, we would protect- our young manhood, bring relief to wronged and suffering women and children, and inaugurate an era which would even tu ally rid our homes of the blight follow ing the use of liquor as a beverage. The State is now encouraging this use of liqaor on the part of its citizens when it should by every me ans discour age that which waztcs the resources, paral zes the energies and destross the manliness of these who shouid be the shield and protection of cur homes. The State is engaged for protit in a bus iness that stripb %e home ot comforts with as irucn - ,-y as a cyclone mows down Lhe migh LZy forest; a bust ness that opens the g.tes of pera.tion to lost soul; a busine, that the genius of hell has never fac-hion'ed amore com plete method of recruitingz its ra nks; a business that has borne lromi time im memorial the badge of disgrace in civil ised and Christian comunies, and that is now exalted in thie sovereign and enlightened eomnmonwealth of South Carolina to the dignity ot govern ment service and governmient protec tion, so that our youth are taught by the example of the government itself that the m~anufactnre and sale of liquor is an honorable sad deritable occupa tion. Whence came this usurper of governmental authority ? Did the citi zens of the State decree its introduc tion as "the best solution of the liiuor question?" "Eight years ago the Prohibitionists of South Carolina asked the privilege of testing public opinion as to whether licensed saloons should be prohibited within its borders. This request was made of the managers of the Demo cratic election machinery, who consent ed that a separate and unofficial box might be placed at each- poll where vo ters culd cast a ballot for or against prohibition- The opponents of _the license system were without efficient organization, but the voter. voluntarily went to the polls and rolled up a decid ed majority against the saloons. P, -litical exigenceies did not favor a pro hibitory law, and although a majority of the house of representatives passed such a law, enough mnembers were af ter wards found to re-ject the law which they had aided in trazning and a sub stitute was discovered in thre present dispensary eystem. *Ye asked for bread and were given a stone; ye asked for a fish and were giaon a serpent.' "-Prohibitionists were then placed in an awkward position and many of them knew not what to do. The saloon had been abolished, and this was one of the objects for which they had strug gled in the past, 3 et liquor selling was not stopped. On the contrary, the State had been made to et-gage in the business under the pretence of con trolling the traffie and giving to con sumers a commodity that ws "cheumi cally pure," at a price that would not admit of prolit. This was coupled with the declaration that the system thus in augurated without the cornent of, the people was "a step towards prohibi tion," and many acquiesced in the leg iqiation with the belief that the State would really undertake to miinim:ze the consumption of liquor. It was a law upon the statute books, and many of the law-abiding and pe.ce-loving citizens, though honestly opposed to liquor selling in any shape, threw the weight of their influence in favor of the execution of the law. S"An. armed constabulary was fur nished with guns to shoot down citi zens who violated the liquor law, if in the jadgment of the cjznstable it was necessary to enforce their authority, and thus began a long reign of violence and turbulence in the land, for the law-breakers were as ready and anxious to shoot as the man "clothed with a lit tle brief authority," who acted upon the theory that their own lives were in constant peril, and their surest defence was to take quiick and deadly aim. The bloody eataluaue need not be dwelt upon, for it is the most shameful re cord in the history of the State, with the .single exception of the reign of the carpet-bagger and the scalawag. Mean stea ad tie courts were invoked to cow pa.s its destruction, with the result dhat the main features of the system were sustained by the courts, and the statute was unimpeded in its progress towards prohibiuen. Dispeusera neg leeted tocbserve some of the most salu tary features of the law and themselves became violators where they were ex pected to become guardians; minors and drunkards have found it easy enough to procure liqar with or with out the connivance of the dispenser; 'chemically pure' hasbecome a by-word and to mean the vilest of the vile; the agents of the State have defrauded and defaleatcd in large numbers, and few have been made to feel the penalties for their misdemeanors; the State board of control has more than once become an exhibition of exceeding offence in the nostrils of the good people of the commonwealth, so that time and again it was necessary to make changes and bring about reformations; scandals al most without number have tracked its pathway; charges of dishonesty have been constant, and the public was made familiar with rebates and the sample room; in a word, the entire system has been permeated with sus picison, distrust and causes of offence in strikibg contrast with the honorable record of South Carolina's glorious past. -Has the system proven 'a step to wards prohibition?' Not in the sense that originated this phrase, but in an other and truer sense the demand for actual atd honest prohibition of the liquor iratfi has been largely increased by the fa'iures and shorteamings of the dispenrvry system, which has been weighed in the balances and found wanting." That is the indictment we bring against it today, and to the Dem ocratie voters we turn for a verdict. In its stead we would offer them still fur ther restriction of the liquor traffio, de strosing the profit and beverage fea tures of the present system, and limit ing the sale of alcoholic liquors to strict ly necessary purposes, such as medici nal, mechanical and sacramental uses. This substitution would take away the odium of the State's being engaged in a business that is prostituting the youth of the country, wasting the resources of the poorer classes, bringing disgrace and degradation upon families, impov erishing the homes of our citizens, and withholding bread from the women and children who are cursed with the blight of the drink demon. Prohibi tion offers an opportunity to work for the elevation of the entire people, the better instruction and training of the young, the creation of incentives to in dstry, and the moral advancement of the State to keep pace with its material prosperity. "The benefits of a prohibitory law will not be fully realized in a year or even in five years, for the longer such a law is in existence with reasonable chanzes of enforcement the greater will be the benefits derived from its pres ence as a permanent policy of the State. A generation that bhall grow up without any knowledge of liquor sa Icons, whether operated by individuals or the State, will be a population noted for its sobriety, which will be the rule and not the exception among the young men. Once armly rooted and grounded in the ininds of the people, a prohibi tory measure will come to be regarded as a necessity. More than a generation has passed since this law was enacted in Maine, and for a long time there was a vigorous fight against its continu ance, but at this -time both political parties are pledged to its maintenance as the settled policy of the State. The ry of repeal has bcen frequently raised and not many years ago one of the po litical parties made repeal a plank in its platform, with the result that not nore than a half dozen members were elected to the house of representatives which has over one hundred in its membership, and the fight for repeal was an ignominious failure. "Gen. Neal Dow, who was the apostle of prohibition, a man of upright char acter and irreproachable versacity, in his testimony before a Canadian com mission on the liquor tarifi, declared that there was no State in the Union where more liquor was consumed in proportion to population than in Maine, prior to the passage of the prohibitory law. It was then one of the poorest S:ates, andt under prohibition it has be come one of the most prosperous, largely the result of savings by the peo ple froma the discontinuance of the liquor traffe. He said it was quite within the mark to say that not one twentieth as much liquor is sold clan destinely in that State as was sold by the sal-uens bef ore this law was passea. Portland, its ebir~f city, where Gen. Dow lived and died, had seven distil leries and two breweries, while many cargoes of rum were brought every year from the West Indies, and now liquor is sold there on a very small scale, the quantity not a hundredth part of what it was in the olden time. His estimate was that there is a saving of $24,000, u00 annually, which goes to increase the rsperity of the masses, and he de clared that it is far within the truth to say that $1,000,000 would pay for all liquor smuggled into Maine and sold in violation of the law. This is the tes timony of a man who apent the best ears of his life, even down to extreme old age, in advocating a cause that he knew was beneticial in a moral, relig ious, indus:rial and tinanciai Eense. A whole generation has grown up there without being witnesses to the effects of liquor, and there are grown men and wo men who have never seen a cranken man. Is not such a state of affairs worth striving for, even though the at tainment of such a result involves sacri fce, toil and endurance on the p-art of it s advocuae,? CI ristian men and wo men aan well afford to make the sacri ie and bear the toil, because it is in te direct line of obedience to their Mlaster.. . "The contest we are entering upon is not child's play. The prohibition Dem ocrats of South Carolina are not re sponsible that the issue has to be made on the political hustings. There is nc eboice left to us except to abandon the fid, wherein we would prove recreant to the most solemn obligations that rest upon a christian people, charged with te moral and religious elevation of those around us. To relinquish the ield means the continuation of the liquor traffic under the aegis of our be loved South Carolina, and perpetuate! a system that is undermining the pub. lio weal and destroying the probity e: our public men, a system that sane Itions with the broad seal of the State n annnulment of the divina njinction. 'woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink, * * * and makes him drunken also.' Every day, and every hour through the day. the State of South Carolina i. VeDding that which de stroys the suuls of men. and the svr vants of God cannot remain indifferent or unconcerned while this law is con tained in the statute books 'Right eousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to and people' any the hid cous enormity of this sin of drunken ness fostered by the State must not longer stain the proud escutiheon of our common mother. We must pro test against this anomalous perversion of governmental power by which every citizen of the State is madet reeponsible for a traffic that is abominable in the eyes of God. The means of our protest is through the political agency with which we are in part entrusted as cit izens of South Carolina, and we come now to make an appeal to our fellow citizens that they will join us in re storing the old commonwc:-!th to a right relation whereby the liquor traffic will be put under ban. so that our rulers and lawmakers will be spared the neces sity of legislating to increase the sin of drunkenness within our borders. To do this effectually we are compelled to make this issue at the Democratic primary, and hence to have representa tives of our principles who will contend for them before the peop!e, and seek to obtain controalof the -executive and legislative dtpartments of the State government.' This is no unworthy aim or object and we p-oclaim the purposes. whieh are not hid in a corner, to our poliLical associates, demanding the right to make the issue at the primary polls, and insisting that fairness and justice requires the recognition of our represcntatives inside the party lines, where everry other issue is settled for the maintenance of good government in this State. We deny th tt any class of Democrats h ive pcculiar and special privileges accurded to them under the constitution and laws of the party, and we will maintain our right to be heard on the hustings and to cast a free, un trammeled ballot at the poll." The reading of the address was at tentively listened to, and greeted with applause. Reads Like Fiction Ten thousand people, men, women and children, witnessed the :unveiling of the monument erected to the memory of Francs Slocum, the Indian captive, and more generally known as "'The White Rose of-the Miami's" at the-Mi ami Indian burSing grounds, ten miles from Chiacgo recently, The event is a notable one in commemorating the his tory of this woman whose story reads like ficion and has become one of national interests ar.d history. She was tolen when a child of five years from her home ot Wilkesbarre, Pa , in the fail of 1777 Brought west by hcr abductors to Fort Wayne, she was adopted by one of the MiaNmi Indian chiefs and Lrought to the Osage vil lage, ix miles from Chicazo. She grew up to womanhood to all intents au Indian. She was married to one of the principal chiefs of the nation. Tlirough Col. G. W. Exiog, an Indian trader, her identity became kno-xn, leading to a visit of two brothers and one sister from Wilkesbarre. She recognized the relationship but refused to return with them, dying here March 9, 1847 at the age of 75, and was buried where the monument now stands. A Brute Lynched A dispath from Puieblo, Colorado, says a mob of five thousand people lynched Calvin-Kimblem, a Negro who assaulted and murdered two little white girls, inmates of the Pueblo Orphans home. The lynching took place at half past one Thursday morning. Women cheered as the Negro was swung to a telegraph pole. The officials of the Rio Grande had ordered all trains to be rushed past the stations for fear the mob would board the train and seize Negro. But the mob placed ties on the track and stopped t wo trains before it found the one the Negro was on. He was dragged with a rope around his neck to a telegraph pole and thrice strung up before the rope held. A Terrific Explosion A terrible explosion occurred iu the Cumnock mines, located some forty miles from Greensboro Wednesday af ternoon. Twenty-three miners were killed and thirty injured. Of the dead eleven were whites, including several foreigners, and the remainder colored. The cause of the explosion is unknown. At 6 p. m. all the bodies had been re covered, and surgeons were working over the injured, many of whonm were fearfully mangled. Democrats Will Win Mr. Arthur Sewell has been inter viewed. He said, "I am positively out of it'' and then to make his words go straight to the heart and bring convic tion, he repeats, "I am positively out f it." Mr. Sewell means by -this that he would under no circumstances listen to a suggestionthat he again become the candidate of his party for the vice presidency. He believes that the Democratic party can win in New York if a campaign withbout mistrkes is made. Turned.Table On Him AM Chattanooga, Tenn., Thursday night Will Adams,' a desperado, at tempted to rob the Tracy City hank, which has a vault enclosed in plate armor a quarter of an inch thiek. Hie entered the bank building and con cealed himself, awaiting the arrival of the oashier, with the intention of hold ing him up when the safe was opened. He was surprised and captured by the cashier and constah!e. Street Car Officials Indicted. A dispatch from Augusta says D B. Dyer, pre-ident of the Augusta Rail way and Electric company, and E C. Jfferon, a conductor on a car on which Whitney was shot by a Negcro. have been indicted by the grand jury for al leged violation of the State law in re quiring a separation of the races on the cars. Since the death of Whitney the company has been carrying Negro pas sengers in trailers. Killed by a.Falling Tree A dispatch from Culloden, Ga., to the Atlanta Journal, says: "Charle's King, a well known ycg man of this county, was instantly killed and horri bly mangled last night by being caught under a falling tree. While a party of -his friends were cutting down a bee tree, King went to sleep. His body was broken and mangled in a frightful mannr Dath was instantaneous." NA)lES A TICKET. Twenty-two Counties Out of For ty Send Delegates to PROHIBITION CONVENTION. Col. Jas. A Hoyt Nominated for Governor and Col. Trib ble for Lieutenant Governor. The Prohibitionists held a State Con vention in Columbia last Wednesday. The Conference was called to order by State Chair-nan A C. Jones, of New berry. He read the call under which the Convention assembled and empha sized that only three delegates were asked from each county. Chairman Jones aDounced that the first business was the election of a temporary chair man. Mr. C. D. Stanley named Mr. T. N. Berry, who ran for railroad com missioner two 5ears ago. Mr. Berry was unanimously elected. He was es corted to the chair by Messrs. E. D. Swith, of Sumter; L. B. H1ayne;, of Lexington, and Joieph Spratt, of Man ning. Chairman Berry called upon Dr. Gwaltney to open the formal exercises with prayer. le prayed that the sins and blunders of the past be forgiven. Mr. Berry thanked the convention for his election and said be was ready for work. Prof. A. B Stallworth, of Greenville, was elected temporary sec retary, and on motion of Mr. C. C. Featherstone Mr. B. E. Nicholson, of Eigefiel., was elected assistant secre retary. Mr. Joel E Brunson suggested that each county be called and that the en rolment be named from the floor. This plan was approved and the roll was handed in as foilows: Abbeville-M. L. B. Sturkie. Aiken-C. L. Jones and J. F. Philip. Anderson-J. L. Hall, R. P. Clink scales and J. W. Q iattlebium. Barnwell, Beaufort and Berkeley No representation. Bamberg-W. E. Johnson. Charleston-J. E. Kirby, E. 0. Watson. Chester--No representation. Chcsterfield-J. T. Hurst, F. M. Cannon and J. G. River;. Clarendon-Joseph Spratt, C. M. Mason and D. J. Bradhatn. Cherokee and Co.leton-No rcpre D~rhucton-T. N. Berr7, B. 0. Bris tow. J. F. Hosal and R N. flowle. Dovrchster-S Utsey Walker and G. M. Davis. Edaefield-L. R. Gwaltney and B. E Nicholson. Fairfield, Fioren.e and Georgetown -No representation. Greenvill.-J:Mes A. Hoyt, A. B. Stallworth and \V. W. Kfys Greenwood-J. G. Jeukins. I llamptoo-N.> reprcsentation. I Hurry and Kershaw-No representa tion. Laurens-Robert Abereromibie, C. C. Featherstone and J. M. Friday. Lexington- -L. B. Haynes and J. S. Abercrombie. Laneaster-W. T. Gregory and Wad dy C. Thompson. Marion and Marlboro-No represen tation. Newberry-A. C. Jones and the Rev J. W. Speake. Oconee-No representation. Orangeburg-J. R. Fulliner. Pickens-J. E.. Boggs. Richland-T. J. Lamotte, C. B. Stanley, M. Speigner, Frank Roberts, G. J, H-uffman and J. L. Berg. Satuda-No representation. Spartanburg-C. T. Scaife, J. B. Stepp. Suimter-E. C. Hainesworth and E. D. Smith. Union-S. M. Rice, of flst Union. Williamsburg-Joel E Brunson, T. 0. Epps and E B Rhodus. York-S. M1. Grist, F. M1. Whison ant, H. C. Strauss. The number (of counties represented in the convention is twenty-four. The number of counties not represented is sixteen. When Aiken was reached it was stated that the two delegates present were volunteers, nut having neen elect ed. They were elected to member ship. When Basmberg was reached a delegate announced the name of the Rev. WV. E. Johnson as a delegate and aked that he be enrolled. The temporary oficeers were made permanent, and Mr. Waddy C. Tho'np son was elected vice-president. Mr. Ftlwer, of Orangeburg, then moved that the convention hear the address prepared by the campaign, or exceutive committee, which was in the hands of Col. James A. Hoyt, of Greenviile, and prepared by him for the committee. This motion prevailed and Col. Hoyt read the address, which is published elsewhere. The address was received with applause. Mr. Abererombie moved that a comn mittee of five be appointed to seleet such portions of the address as were demed advisable and use the same as an audress to the pecople. Mr. R~ce, of Udon, wanted the ad dress amended so as to address it to the Prhibition Diemocrats and all other De:ucrats. Mr. Featherstone thought some of the expressions used were too rough. He thought it unwise to say that the dispen sary reign was the worst in South Caro lona except reconstruction. lie opposed such severe expressions, because there were honest and sincere muen who advo cate thedisensay.ie fought and workd fr pohisiton.but thoughit the address should be toned do.su in a few particulars. Mr. hloyt thought Mr. F'ea-herstone was mi:,taken in his interpretation as to the com parison. Mr. Hlaynes wanted to avoid conten tion with the dispensary. It would be best, he thought, to leave the diepen sary alone and plead for prohibiaion alone. Col. Hoyt said his comparison was simply as to the shooting of citizens, and that reign of terror and turbulence and killing was wnat was said to be second only to the reign of the carpet baggers in South Carolina. Mr. Hoyt read the paragraph and insisted it was warrnted by history. Mr. A. C. Jones thought it best to refer the address and all other papers to a committee of one from each county represented. Mr. Boeas and the Rev. E 0. Wat son urged that this would simply mean a doubling of the discussion and delay work. MIr. Watson wanted to adopt the paper as a whole, word for word. The strong statements appeared to him as being exactly correct. He did not want to wake up more snakes than could be killed, but he was an open fighter. He wanted no emasculation. Let the paper go forth just as it reads. Mr. Abercrombie said he did not want to arouse any scare. He ojected to the paragraph comparing "that gang to the carpet baggers." He thought it would be just as well to leave that out. Mr. Scaife, of Spartanburg, wanted an aggressive fight from now on. The very point criticised in that address and and he was all. He thought voting down the address was taking away their strongest weapon. The addresss was then adopted, word for word, with the exception of insert ing the word Democrat after the word Prohibition throughout the address, so as Io read Prohibition Democrat. Mr. Joel E. Brunson, to test the sense of the Convention, moved that the Con vention suggest candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. There were some opposition to making nominations but the convention finally resolved to do s). After the adoption of a resolution endor!ing the Charleston Exposition, the platform was presented by Mr. E. D. Smith, and it was adopted. It reads as follows: We, the Prohibition Democrats, of the State of South Carolina, in confer ence assembled, hereby declare the fol lowing platform: 1. That competency, honesty and so briety are indispensable qualifications for holding office. 2. That taxes should be made as low as possible, consistent with efficiency of government. 3 That the sale of intoxicating liqu ors for beverage purposes is not a func tion of government, but a disgrace to Christian civilizntion; a dishonor to manhood, and a political wrong of un paralleled enormity; that it is an awful crime against the women and children, against the home, against the Church and azainst God. 4. That prohibition of the sale of in toxicating liquors, for beverage pur poses, is the true, consistent remedy, and to this end we demand that the dis pensary system be shorn of its evils, such as selling intoxicants as a bever age; and that authority be given by the General Assembly for the State to sell alcoholic liquors for only medicinal, miechanical and sacramental purposes. Nominations for Governor and Lieu tenaut Governor was now gone into. C-I. Jas. A. Hoyt and Mr. Joel E. lirunson were plaoed in nomination for Governor. A ballot was taken which resulted: Jas. A. Hoyt 30, Joel E B.runson 11. The Rev. Mr. Davis wo.ved that r-omination be made unani mous by a riing vote. Adopted and all rose. C-1. .1 L. Tribble was then nomi sate d for Licutenant-Governor without orp11sitnen. At 12 o'clock the Convention was ready to adj 'urn, when Col. Hoyt was called for. He said it was too late to make a speeh. He would appear in each county. He would do his utmost to gain a victory and believed it would be had. The conference then adjourned. A Large Lake Vanishes. A special from Guadlajaira, Mexico, says: Many buildings in the town of Autian, situated in the southern part of the state of Jalisco, were demolished by the recent earthquake. When the first trembles were felt the inhabitants fled to the mountains. Had they re mained in the houses there would have been heavy loss of life. Much damage was also done in Tuscacuesco and Tonitapa. The water of a large lake near the town of Zapotalan disappeared in a great fissure in the earth, which seemed to be produced by a second shock that lasted about one minute. The bed of the former lake is now dry, and fissure can be plainly seen. It is over three miles long and from one to three feet wile. The tidal wave which swept in from the ocean after the shock did little damage. Wreck Iear Laurena. The wreck of a freight train on the Chaleston and W~estern Railroad near Laurens Wednesday morning caused the iastant death of Engineer William Mecklin and the colored brakeman, Charley Hlaynes. The train with twelve loaded cars was moving on at a twenty miles rate, when the engine suddenly jumped the track, turned over and plowed into the de-ep embank ment. a distance o-f abott fifty yards. As the engine turned over, McKinnev and Hlavnes. who was on the seat with him, were violently hurled against the furnace and covered with coal. They were literally roasted to death. The fireman who was on the opposite side of the engine from the engineer escaped with slight ijaries. A Big Failure. Price, McCortmack & Co., one of the largest brokerage houses in New York, failed Thursday with liabilities esti mated at thirteen milli-a: dollars. The firm is a member of th.: stock. cotton and produce exchanges .and of the Chi etro stock exchange, aa?d has branch 'ifices in about 30 eitie- throughout the United States. The fadure is ascribed to the fact that the firmi was long of eatton in the face cf a fast falling mar ket. Shell Did Explode. A special dispatch from Culluden, G;a., to the Atlanta Journal says two little cblhdren o.f Mr. and Mrs. Fitz patrick were playiog with an "un loaded~ hotgun shell yesterday after noon, when the shell exploded. A por tion of the flyitg missile passed through the window. stiking the infant child, which was in his mother's arms. The children were b idly powder-marked. Severe Coast Storm. From rerorts received at Astoria, Oregan. from points along the coast it is thought that more than four lives were last in Thursday afternoon's storm. The gale which suddenly sprang from the southeast was the worst that ever prevailed on this part of the coast at this time of the year. The wind reached a velocity of over 60 miles an hour. Fishermen were everywhere on th rh ive with their nets out. SENATOR TILLMAN Gets a Bauquet from Rev. Sam P. Jones. HIGHEST SORT OF PRAISE. Greatest Senator South Carolina Has Had Since the Days of John C. Calhoun. Rev. Sam P. Jones, the great evange list, writes as follows from Baltimore to the Atlanta Journal: There are no dull days now. The record of any day's happenings would make a book. Political conventions, Methodist general conferences, Baptist conventions, soldiers' reunions, race courses, etc., besides a thousand other things to fill the columns of newspapers and satisfy desire for the sensational. The two wiogs of the "Pops" have held their conventions and nominated their candidates and adopted their plat form, and adjourned. A. few days later the old regulars, the Democrats and R-publicans, will gather, one in Pailadelphia, the other in Kansas City, announec their plat forms and nominate their candidates. It is a foregone conclusion, that the Republicans will nominate M3Kinley and the Democrats will announce Bry an as their candiaates. Then will come the tug of war. The present outlook makes things look brighter for the Democrats. There is a growing feeling among the masses that Mr. McKinley is the tool of cor rupt political bosses, and that the Ra publican party is in league with the trusts and combinations, and that it moves to the tap of the drum of the moneymongers. If the Demoerats won't act the fool and will put a live, strong man as chairman of their na tional committee, they stand a good chance this time to put in their candi dates. If they will put the silver ques tion in the background, favor expan Sion, denounce imperialism, champion pure Democracy, and fight paternalism, stand for principles and tight protec tion, and leave out a few of the nones ential planks of the Chicago platform, then they have a chance. Strikes and dissentions are already multiplying among the laboring masses. The Republican party is -constantly making the most egregious blunders. Bossism growing more uapopular daily. Boss-ridden and money-ridden and trust ridden as the Repulican party is, still it's a power. A party with more brains than conscience, more prejudice than principle, a party perpetuated by pensions and mastered by millions, may till be more than a match for the Democrats. Senator Ben Tilman, of South Car olina, spoke in Baltimore two nights ago at a Democratic rally o! the several wards of the city. le said some true and strong things. I give you a few setences of his speech: "I am fresh from the senate cham ber at Washington, where I have worked hard all day today to prevent the treas ry of the United States from being looted of eight million dollars by two armor plate factories. When the treas ry is looted, it is you debased, igno rant Democrats and Republicans who possess heads but no brains, you men who have votes and put men in office who steal and you haven't honest sense eough te catch them or manliness enough to expose them. If the individ ual is corrupt and ignorant he will send men to the halls of legislation who are thieves and who will reimburse them selves out of the public treasury for the expense of their election. Democracy means government by the people. It doesn't mean that the people get orders from some boss or instructions from a few leaders. Are you going to stick your flog- rs in your mouths and be bossed toy the same? Boss ridden, newspaper-rid den, corporation-ridden leaders? Get on your knees cveiy time you pick up a newspaper; it is f ull of lies. You must thick for yourselves. They are subsidized by the wealthy classes, and the purpose is to have the editors fool you." These are plain words and no doubt true words as they apply in many in stances. I have watched with some interest the career of Ben Tillmnan and I be lieve in him because he is a man who has the courage of his cony~ctiOns. We need him in the Uoited S-ates senate with his pitchfork and all. Ben Tfill man is a bi&ner man today than any day in his litr. Hie is more highly es teemed by his friends and more fearel and hated by his enemies. He and olt Senator Hoar say the strongest and the truest things that have been said on the floor of the senate since the days of Ben Hill and R oscoe Conknog. JBen Tfilman doesn't contribute much dig nity to the senate, but he is a mixture of mule and billy geat. He kicks with one end and butts with the other. Ben Tiillan has as much brains and more backbone than any man in public lile Itoday. Go it, Ben, you are a joy to your friends and a dose of calomnel to your cnemies. You made South Cairo lina a good governor and since the days of John Calhoun she has not had your equal in the senate. Old Senator Morgan of Alabama, and Hoar, of Massachusetts, have well nigh run their race, but they are loved and honored by a grateful constituency and may die in the hnarnets if they choose. They seem to he puzzled for running mates for McKinley and Bryan; each party wants a tail to the kite heavy enough to steady the kite as they ling it to the political bret zes. Teddy won't play taid to McKinley's kite, and Towne may be tied on to the Democratic kite. The Republicans may have a Long tail to their kite. Sami P. Jones. Converts With the sword. The situation of Christians in Ar menia is rapidly becoming intolerable. The Turks are forcius Armenians by the hundreds to embrace Islam, and outrageous vexations to Christian resi dents are of daily occurrence. Crushed to Death. A dispatch from Rome says in the reat crush in the canonizing cere monies at St. Peter's Friday morning, to which over a hundred thousand pil grins flocked, two persons were killed an man .thers fainted.: LIGHT AT EVENTIDE A Beautifal Prose Poem That is Worth Reading. Below we publish one of the beauti f al prose poems that has made A. B. Williams, Editor of The Greenville News, famous. Read it, and then cut it out and put it in your scrap book. Here it is: When we grow beyond the freshness of youth and have not yet begun to know the decay of old age we are in the land and time of prose. No poet sings of us, no p-ainter paint3 us-except portraits for which we are required to pay-no novelist puts us in his stories except as filling and background. They do not make heroes or heroines of us, and our trials and sorrows and triumphs and adventures seem to be of inteiest to no body. It is just at that time when we are old to the very young and young to the very old that is called middle life. where we begin to know and be part of real life that all those whose business is with fancy and poetry neglect us. Youth and aee have each their special graces and beauties, but we between them are allowed neither. 0e is loved and the other venerated, but we are merely useful. It is the privilege of youth to dream deautiful dreams and look forward longing t> rainbows broad as the firmament and distant, stately alabaster temples, towering amid purple hill tops and tinged with the hues of the sunrise clouds, glowing in the glory of the dew risen sun. It is the happiness of age to dream yet more beautiful dreams of a past softened and glorified by the silver mist of the gather ing years, the far receding temples shining with the light of tender memo ries, the fragrance of old. joys stealing across the shadowed hill tops in the deepening silence and the subdued radiance of the sunset time. I. is the part of middle age to be, to do and to suffer-to be the verbs of life, giving it meaning, to bear the burden and the strain. It is the time of strength and ripe ness and production and value, for mid dle age must be the help for the young and the prop for the old. It is the time, too, of struggle and weariness and discouragement when the first impulse and eager, sanguine hope of youth have gone and the restfulness and resigna tion of age have not yet come. It is the time when men and women are said to be in their prime, and they need to be, for all their power and strength are demanded by the ever gathering weight of responsibilities. Yet it is the time when the least help and sympathy is given. Everybody is kindly and toler ant to youth, its follies and faults are readily forgiven and sympathetic hards and hearts are ready to raise iL from its falls and aid it in its progress. Old age appeals to every instinct of benevo lence and its foibles and exactions and sins are condoned with prompt com paisance. For the middle aged there I is no allowance. The man who goes down at that time of life is in evil case and must recover by his own strength and courage for the world is busy help ing ana pitying the old and the young. It is all right. It is just that in the time when our strength is greatest the burdens should be heaviest and that we should be the helpers of those who are coming after us and the props of those who have gone before us, and some of whom bore burdens for us in their day. But somebody ought to write some poetry or paint some pictures about us or make us heroes and heroines of some novels. We are not yet ready to be venerated nor do we want anybody to pat us on the head and feed us sugar plums or make love to us, but we tire now and then-all of us-of being .so entirely prosaie. We want to be con sidered somehow as something more than the world's . working people and draught animals and general bixrd:n bearers-things to be made use of with out being admired. Yet brethren and sisters-we who are living in the late spring and the full summer and ripe autumn-let us not repine because we must be the prose part of the story of life and looked on as the general bearers and carriers and helpers. Sure ly there is no place mora honorable. Let us do our work staunchly and sturdily and with cheerful and hopeful and clean and wholesomn hearts. For the symmer will begin to wane presently and glide gently but swiftly into autumn and from autumn to win ter. Little by little the light of the sun and the moon and the stars shall be darkened and the clouds g ither af ter the rain and those that look out of the windows shall see dimly and the strong men bow themselves and the keepers os the house shall tremble and fail more and more and the grasshopper be a bur den intolerable on the backs now broad and strong. Let those of us who must bear and can, rejoice that we can, look ing to that sure time, it we be spared to it, when we can not-that timne when the golden bowl of life shall be wearing thin to its inevitable breaking and the siver cord shall vibrate but feebly to the faint and failing melodies of the daughters of music because it is about to be loosened. It will be good in that time to know that the knees bending beneath our own weight have been strong and will ing to bear the burdens of many and swift to answer where there was nee~d. It will be comforting to know that the hands trembling impotently have in their time done much work and builded well and been powerful to lift and raise and hold and prop. When the eyes see but dimly what is about them it will be peace and glory to look back through the veil of silver mist of the gathering years to the far off white temples of our unrise dreams and know that while dreams were beautiful and have van ished work well done shall endure. So in the deepening sdlence and darkening shadows and fading glories o-f the sun st time and the winter the memories of the noon and summer days shall live in the soul and illuminate and gladden it. And there shall be light at everntide. They Will Vacate. A dispatch from Frankfort, Ky., says Republican Auditor sweeney sent for DI mjcratie Auditor Coulter Friday morning and notified him he was ready to turn over the state records and pos sessions of the office in the statehouse without waiting for action by the court of appeals. It is understood the other Rlepublican officials will do likewise in the next day or two and that by next week the statehouse will be officered ex lusily by the Democrats. THE SMALL POX. Gov. McSweeney Reviews the Situation in the State. HE OFFERS SUGGESTIONS. IThey Are Based-on a Letter Re ceived From One Who Has Watched Course of Things Closely. , In talking of the smallpox situation in the State which has required so much attention for some time, Gov. McSweeney Wednesday said: "I have been very much interested in the effort to stamp out smallpox in ihis State and all cases reported to me have been promptly referred to Dr. James Evans. secretary of the State board of healh, and by him given im mediate attention. In rpite of these ef forts the disease still lingers in the State and if not checkel or stamped out may cause much trouble during the coming fall and winter. I an afraid our people do not realize the import ance and necessity of vaccination. The State board of health has endeavored to impress the importance of vaccina tion as a preventive and has empha s:zed the fact that through vaccination was the only way to prevent a spread I of the disease and to stamp it out ef I feutually. And yet we have been un able to secure complete vaccination. If the managers of our cotton mills and the operators could be made to realize the importance to their own communi tics and to themselves and their prop erty of vaccination I am sure they would not neglect it any longer. Com pulsory vaccination is not only not popular but the use of force is not al ways the best way to accomplish re suits. "In fact I doubt the wisdom of a re sort to force except it may be in ex treme cases where persons persistently and stubbornly refuse to submit to vaccination. My purpose now is to call the attention of the people to the im portance of this matter and to urge upon them the good jadgmsnt in as sisting the suppression of the disease by submitting to vaccination. I wculd be glad to have the managers of the cotton mills to call the attention of the mill communities to the importance of vaccination and I am sure if it is done in the proper spirit there will be no re sistance or objection to vaccination. School trustees and teachers and su perintendents could also aid in this work by requiring evidence of the vao cination as a requisite for the entrance of pupils to the schools. I hope all the people of the State will unite in an ef fort to stamp out the disease. "Some days ago I received a letter from Col. J. B. Cleveland of Spartan brg on this subject which states the case very plainly and which I recom mend." The following is Mr. Cleveland's let ter referred to by the governor: Hon. M. B. McSwveeney, Governor of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C.: Dear Sir: I am afraid that the State will have much trouble during the fall and winter with smallpox. There are so many more centres of effection now than there were a year ago, and from what I can learn, they are increasing daily. I do not think our people are edu eated as yet up to the idea of compul sory vaccination. There is a woeful lack of knowledge of the benefits of vaccination. In the town of Whitney it has been shown conclusively that vaccination gives perfect immunmty from the disease. In one house which was a boarding house, there were some twenty people all of whom were ex pose d, seventeen caught the smallpox, and the three that did not take it were the only ones that were vaccinated. In the German empire where they have compulsory vaccination, there are only eight deaths in ten thousand from saallpox. In Eo.gland where they have not compulsory vaccination, there are one huadred and thirty deaths irom smnallpoX out of ten thousand. Statis tics taken from offiial docaments in Germany show as against eight deaths from smallpox, there are four hundred and fifty deaths from typhoid fever out of ten thousand. in fact, out of sixteen different dis eases which are enumerated. the de4h rte from smnallpnx is much lower than that of any other disease. This to my mind is cncl.usive that the only way to stamp out the disease is by vaccination. As I have said, I do not think compulsory vaccination would be popular, but there is one way that I think it can be done and that is fr the trustees of every public school in the State to lay down the law that no child shall be enrolled in the sahool uness va:einated, and the proof of the vacinatioL shall be a well defined scar. I think this rule could be enforced and the resalt will be that in a few years our entire population would be vacci nated. Tne making of such a rule is not a hriship; it is simply making the pa rents do what they should do. The schools for the fall session will be open in a few months, and if it is possible for you, the State board of health or the State commissioner to take up this matter with the different school trustees, and see that such a regulation is made, it would do more to stamp out smnallpox in this State than any other plan. If this matter cannot be handled in this way, I am going to see what can be done in the mill towns about it. Yours very reepectfully, John 13. Cleveland. Political Suicide. The Spartanburg Herald says: "Law rence W. Yoemans is getting cold com fort from the weekly press for his ill timed effort to stir up strife in the state convention. If he had only had the good sense to see it, ther6 might have been a future for Yoemans." Cut Her Throat. Mrs. Anna Chisolm Gilmore, wife of Major J. C. Gilmore, assistant adjutant general of the National guard of P'enn syvania, committed suicide by cutting her throat with a razor at Philadelphia Thursday. She died in her husband's