University of South Carolina Libraries
LOCAL ITEMS. 3VSDAY, AUGUST d, : 1878. 'ow AdvertUioments. For Probate Judge. For Sheritf-Many Voters. High living cannot be indulged in without disagreeable consequences. If you fool that your blood is out of order use Dr. Bull'a Blood Mixture. DMRETING AT F E.ISTERi VILLA. Pursuant to an invitation from the Feastervillo Club, Capt. H. A. Gaillard visited that club on Satur clay, the 3d inst., for tlo purpose of answering tho charges preferred by the club andi members thereof. The club met at 3 o'clock, p.m., in the church, and was called to order by President V. P. Clayton. There was a full attonuaneo of membors, and a number of visitors were present. The club having met, the president called for the reading of the minutos of the last meeting. They were read. Mr. James Stevenson objected to their confirmation. The president askei what correctionl should be in rdo in them. After some desultory discussion, Mr. D. R. Feaster asked the reisons of the opponents of the confirmation. Mr. Stevenson replied that lie h .d never nade a speech and was no speaker, but tht the minutes sh!uld not be confirmed. Dr. Win. M. Moador then said that the objectionable feature was the resolition nomii tin; oandidltes for the Legislature, (This resolution was publishiel in THE NEws AND 1hER.iin.) The presi dent s.tid tha;t the minutos had nothing to do with thit resolution. That could only be reached by a roc.msideration of the resolution. Mr. Stevonson and Mr. Estos do manded the question. Mr. Feaster then moved thit the minutes be adopted. A standing vote waq taken and resulted : in favor of adopting the minutes. 11; against adoption, 24. The president an nounced that the minutes had been rejected, blt that the resolutioni was the action of the club neverthe less. [The object of the opponents of the resolution was to rescind it by rejecting the minutes.] After some little running discussion, Mr. D' .. Feaster moved that apt. H. A. Gaillard be requested to addiress the mneetina, which~ being adopted, Cat (Lillard was introduced and jp 2ke3 at length, Cap. Gaill3ard's Speech. Capt. Gaillard began by saying that as ho had been made the sub ject of criticism by this club. and by mnembers of it through newspaper SomI)mu.ii0,tijons, he had written a * letter to the .cinb demanding? a hearing, but that before semiding the letter he~ had re:-sived an invi tation from the club, and be now - A.ppeared in respones to that, Ho had been r,be recipient of favora in the past fron) his friends in ,Feaster., ville, and evehn the recent criticism of his political eonrse had been accom panied by expressions of respect and regard personally, In making his defence, therefore, wvhile Speaik iing plainly hue would scei*pulously refrain from wousnding the feelings of any one, After dwelling upon the necessity of all Democrats uniting ione comnmon cause, as dissensions would be saura to invite disaster, ho entered upon the subject of his discourse. He said; I went clown to Columbia iasmt year to represent the good people of Fairfield.county. My arst nongiM :7 ationl was mf the nature of a detail * for public service, whmen doefeat seemed inevitable. No one nought the pla.ce. We did not thoua succeed. Subsequently wvhen a vacancy cc * curred, I waLs nomninated again, my second nominition springing from tLe first without a word from me. During may term I voted at least a thousand times on matters ef .every description, many involving the moost intaicate questions. AIy recor'd is before you. I do not shrink frorm exammnation. I defy scrutiny. (Oheers.) I went to Golumbia and saw there the crushed * a.uins of a State destroyq4 by alien rascals and by .their colored dupes. A constitg.tion bad been f.med only. 40 be broken, laws enaGted only to be .viola$ed,, vast sums ,of money raised only to be stolen. Our Mk was to ror al] aban An,1 now it appears there is discontent becauso the Legislature has not, in eleven months, resurrected the people into prosperity and the State into an erect position. To say that the Legislature made some mistakes is to say tlhat it was mortal, for to err is human. Than this Legisla ture, composed, by the way, at least fourfiftha of farmers, there never was a more patriotic, more doyot.d, more earnest set of men, I say this in defence of thorn againat the aspersions of my friend, who says that the State was only changing nasters, He did this Legislature it rank injustice, and . regret that those charges have gone farthl as the sentiments of the Feasterville Club as far as the railroad goes and to every post oflice and family to which the county patpor is sent. In this my friend did an injustice to th;s club and to me. Some time since, as a thunderbolt in the clear sky, came the first Feasterville resolutions, in w1ich I was broadly censured in the same terms as Nash or Snalls or Whit tomoro would have boan.-th-it tllo club protested against my re-eloc tion to the Legislature. Wiien the resolutions endorsed my colleague, Mr. Brice, I can heartily endorse them. Never was there a triter son of South C:trolina and a mnore faith ful represontative than he. To all they say of him I respond, amen ! { Lot me say that it is your right to scrutiniz your rupresontaztives; you should watch them ansi, if necessary, criticise them. But when you do censure a m in who in his Isonl feels n) C.mn,clioulsneSs of %y. oilg doing, you thioil specify your charges, and not denounce lim in bold terms, as if he were utterly faithless or utterly base. But after a while, a gentleman, and then another gentleman, thro:i:h the colunns of the paper, specify the following matters wherein I have offended, TOY, aUARGEs, 1. That I voted against Judge Mackey. 2. That I voted against an inves tigation of the debt. 3. That I voted against the usury law. 4 That I voted against the phos phate bill. 5 That I said I knew more than my constituents did. G. Th.,t I voted with the Charles ton delegation. 7. Ta.t I am a low-countrynan. 8. That. I am a lawyer. Now, Mr. President, I an gl ioved that my friend, who has known me for years, should have made those charges simply upon henia , without satisfying himself of the justice of his accusations. More especially am I hurt that he should not have known me better than to imagine that I wvould have been guilty of t.ho remark that I1 knew more than my constituents did. Of all the charges, that alone stung mec. lie might also have knownm that even1 had1( I thought such a thing, I cold not be So) stui p)id as to give publbc utterance to it. But I inust proceed, and J will an swer the charges one by one. The first is that I voTED AGAINST JUDGE MACKEY, and therefore am not fit to re >re - gen the peoplo of Fairfield. .Now. Mr. Prosient, there wvere serious questions involved in that eleetion, nl)d .r am not p)reparo.l to findt fault, with any one wvho dsffer~s f.rom me in legard to the policy to be pur.. sued. But I remnenjjergd thogt our vic - tory h ad been wVon on a straight->ut p#jiform, .nsl I believe:d that the safesr, plan, was to continue in thme path: maitiked out in the glot ions days of '76 M ,reoover~, Mr. Plro.si dod., casting may vote as I did, I believed I was obeying strictly the instructions of thbe Fe.istervilie Club. A wiss iman h:ath said, "Olh that mine enemy wouldl write a book." Mr. President, mUino enemy hatih written a boo0k, and I wilhl read it to himn. (Cheera..) We remember the trying time through wvhich the conty passed last year, lin ,that cam~p.din I stood with Feastorville, as a mat ter of principle, when may personal felings at that time inclined mwe all the other way. Let me read a reso. lution passed by this ciulb., in Abat juncoure, just four months bef~o .I east my vote for judge. It is as followers: "That wve deplore the apparent intention of members of ,hme Demo cratie party to 4mislato e man outside of our ranija, as we egnaidex such action the death stroke of pur prt. (Signed) I? j. Fea8ter, President, J. Hendrix McLane, Secretary.-" And some days later,, Mr. P. 11. F.atri, a .pomnmunicatiosi to the paper asks ".js ths clerk's oglee (or any other once for that aLater) to be tlhe reward foar jnyaluable s,ervic es rendered in the )ash ea;ppaign ?" and he answers, "Our organization is not on.e of rewar4e and pmunish ments." These are somm4 D)emoorat, ec doctrines, and I tbonght so, then, and think so now ; and therefore, in the avons ftr the tha imal1 elec. ti-mn, I obe'ye,1 the ilstructions of moy constituenlts, and), votedl for ia truol and trie(d straightout Democrat. Of courso I obeyed the canis, and voted for Judge Mackey in the elec tion itself. This is my answer to the first charge. The second chargo is that I VOTED AGAINST INVESTIoATION of the public debt. To this I say, th:it I voted for the freest and fullest investigation, and a committee sat for months Og:t; ed in this laborious task. TirQj report is a monument1011 of plattience, labor an:l a)ility. Bt I when the report contained little more tihan I COilirtm.LtiOl of wh:tt was known before, then I beli(;ved that th St:;te was bmnidl( in honor, in law and in interest, to abide by the settlement atlreaedy tuado. As to the honor of the State, the Tax p tyirs' Coiv.mtion of 1871 report cd as the just debt the same liabilitics as vor Cubraced in tIhe C'onsolidt::t.*ln Scheme, anl-l they pledged the !unor of the State to pay them. Stiii hiter, ill the strig glo of 1870, g hen it was deemued necesHsaly to enlist all the poussible element; on the side of the go:ld l people of the State, the State l. ecut.ivo Cotiuitteo pledge.l tho party t i ubide by tuo Cons Ji-l:ati,um Act. atn. who kn ,ws bat tllhat tihis pie.lge tu. ned tlhe wavO. ing halaucu in o4 r iavor ? It would have been b.tl:l itjtstuiCa to repudiate this pledge, for it would be but a re puihiation of the gentlemen them selves to whose patriotic (lovoti >n iuich of the saccess Qf Oile C.alse was due. dsilt lat.-r, whilu .;o(tt: Carolina was in the thrcs of a new birth, nd all the world stood on tapt>u to witnss the d.-anu. enaeting in Culhim bi, the Wa.illace House, that bo.ly of tt iot., denied access to tiheir Ilall, and without tlh. CJ-til,;!,.ttionl of a Senate, passed a resolution staind ing by tie settlement of the debt as it then existed Kinowiig these t.lings, I, as a member of t:o p for whim th eso sole.,m pledges were muade, felt that I cou,d nut stultify myself by refusing to be bound by them. Mureover, when, AS a lawyer, 1 lnow t hat no net could be passed iwp.tirin; the validity of a contract, and thit these C.'nlsolidation bQnds contained a clause declaring the;n to be a contract, and provid.ng for the levy of a t:ax to p.ty the interest, I felt that it was useless, otiur considerations emitted, to cont, nd against the inevitable, 'iuon bond holders could enforce their claims in the courts. As a question of policy, I will say that the valid ante-lReconstruct,ion debt, with interest, amiw)mn tod on the 1st of January, 1878, to $7,262,231, while the Consolid ttion Aet, scaling all debts one -half, sa(1Jl 41 debt of onjy $5,098,500, being a gain of over $1,200,0J0 to the State for a settlement. These re:asons influ enced my action. I am happy to say, however, that a compromise was reached by which the whole matter has been referred to the coi;rte for a:lju.lication. '.h'is is my answer on this point. THlE USUlRY LAW. Again, I am censured for oppos ing the usury Ilaw. Ou this puin)t I would s ay that on my side are arrayed every great master of political economy since the days of Adam Smith. This should1( at least be some ciauso to susHpend .censure.. I have not time to enter into a thiorough discussion of tlie su bj ot, but will say th.tt money, like every other species of property, is a com modity, and hias its own price. If 1 have a horse worth a hundred dollars and you have a hundred dollars in money, I see no justice in allowi-ug inlu to charge fifty dollars for the un-e of my horse while you are restricted to sevon dollars for .the use of your iconey. As a matter of relief to the borrow snr, this usury lawv is a Oomnplete failure. It poly of'ers temptations to violate the lawv. Its oil'ect is to oppress the p)oor. Executors and guaLrd ia and tr ustees are i.e stricted1 by lawv fro.n asking more thtan seven per cent. for' the use of mone,y belQnging to wvidows arnd orphans, and they ditre not violate the l.aw, while to c.apitalists and so-ealled bloated bondnoldersu snap their fingers ini de45ision ,n,l p)ursuio t1.e oven tei)or of t.ieir way. (Ga to a national baink to- (lay, and you not only are compeiled to pay .eighten per cent. discount on. bob-rof security, but are made Vgsigt)a pedge that neither your golf, your heirs, executori, admlinIise tratora nor assigns will over pload the benefits of tuo usury law. T$Ihe law has not afforded a particle of r.elief. Again, thie actual bQrrowiigg of rooney forms but a small part of a farmer's business operadions. He nogQtiates (or lbacoip and Islegl und the n.ecessaries of life. For' every thousnd .dolUgra' WQrth of money let out,, perhaps a hupdred thou. sand are expeuded in agricultural: advances, to whichi the usury lawi does not in the least apply. 4: n,onna af ban, of which the cah price is si (itt:. i sl d on four Im1onths' tLiune, sty for tw lye ('(ntt : huro is at percel tage of onle IltrledI per 'ellnt. for four months, or th. ec at,dred per c'ent. per (cnn u. ! T he IntoroFt oIL corn is in similar pro.. p)Ortiol. Thus wu suo that for the )ecessarios of life, without which a armner woild lio down and die, hie )ayS 0IormlOCs perc:eitango, and no aw intorforos. Where is the jus ico of this ? Where the consisten.. y ? I do0 not clatimt that it is vrong to charge these rates. fvory man knows his own buiiness md what ho must chargo to savo limusell ; but 1 do claim CIA'at it is mjliSt to t sufler porsons having vlihit rate of intere>;t they please, md then to ('ensure tne bee uso I lo not feel it right to ('onpel ia ):rsonu hatvin; a few dollars to lend ,0 put thm out at sevenl per (ent. L'ie usury law deftets itself, in my )piiol. But s people are ivided )m this matter, I only say that I )opo I shili not be censured he uso I entertain the views I have aXpressed in this matt er. THE P11oSPHATES. The next charge is that I voted or the p!hosphato bill, and I tm ,old if Mr. Brice and I did, we touid receive suneh a roituko at t he d1,>t-box its would 1)e t w,trning to )thers. I remotber that in a old listo y there was it chapter on. itled, "A Chapter on Snakes in [t elald," and the chapter is simply -"1'here are no snakes in Ireland." So, my defence for voting for rthe phos;pllte bill is timt I did tot vote for the phosphate bill. ' lon. discisi.,ii clnsued, an-1 on all he test que.i.ions I oppoedl the bill, tlthotl1 I must say that I was in rave (ubtht itf.er rcading tho ableC uport of the attorney, general as to he prope' policy. However, after t long light I wu: defeated, and the ill p,sod the test inl the s'cond 'o tdieg by a vote a voto of 57 to 47. 'i'etn, linding that the principle ,vonld be e,t iblishtd, I tiough:t the >ill presinited wotild u.irry Lit ..n out )erfei'etly well, atti titerefor on the ,atird ru.thIln, which w\as a formal ling, t a1n1 thirty others resolved ) Ill ke co further ca)tions opposi 1o1), and we did aegjiiesce in it on ,ho third reading. Ttin bill, by the vly, was a fti'iiiers' measure. The awyers sto>d 9 to 9 atd te farmersI )7 to 13 in favor of the bill. It is nercfore 1)0 sche,te of the ltawyers 'o injture the peoplu. As before said, I ditd not say I knew bettor than amy constituents vh)at they waIte.i. Wii it. .I stid was h1is. Oti the debt, question I was told Lhat the people vanted repudlti"ion. [ answered that. I did not know what, the peopio Wal) ted, because lhey bad had no meeti,ngs tO in1Stiuct ne, and had not written, anid .t did it beloieveo the people w.anted it; bu t )ven if they did, I comad not go Lgain st imy con)sclinco in it nuttteir mviioling cons(ciee rnid honor. l'or'tureo that, if y'ou cani, inito the xmark charged again st me. On 0on0 occaionu Edmiuind Butrke Wias itnstruicted by the~ peo4pl(e of Bristol to v'ote for the war aginist 3miUicai. lie continlu.ed to oppose .t, and on his return matde a briuint speech, of wvhichi the following is ia part. "I did niot ,boy your instruc nonls. No. I conformed to the nistructtions of tr'uth and nature, and 11nutmed your interosts against your op.njions, wvith a constancy that1 1ecamfle me. A represontittive wor ,by of you ought to be a mani (.f sta >uity. I mni) to look indeed to your spnos but to such opin:ions its youi anid 1 mu.t) haiv.e /ive years 'Cne. I wats not to look at the Llsh of the (liy. I know that you shose mne in my3 place along with )Llhers to be a piliar of the' Stato, act a~ wiiather-cock on the top of ho eoditice, exalted for my levity 01d versaitility, and( of no use but to ndicatte the shiftings of overy fash unable gale." Now, my friends, you can imagine to perched like a. sycat..or,ecock on the roo~f o& the State 3tapitol, waiting fbr a breezo. As a bophyr from Alonticello wvould in Ihno me3 one way, IE woul be mot ya fresh flirt fr'oim Foastervul, md ais I would voor ini that direc tion, a blast fr'oim Boar Creek wonid .'uih,t me, and I would be tossed tbout in every point of the compass y erty br'eath from JIlidgeway, or D)oko, or Gladden's 'Grovo, or jtuiy >)tho(r podint, turning to snowi any rantlsienlt breeze. I could nout do that. 5TobodIy can) t.el exactly what the poo. )lo wayt, becusUe th.o people di1f r. tA legislator must be like a juror, tworn to degido aiccordinig to the .4v andiL the eviden~ce. .On all side sites there were .diverse opinions n Fairliold, and I could only do what.[ believed to be the best for dl. Again, I are accused of voting vith THlE CHARILESToN DELEGATION. I would only sy that the delegates 'r.omn Charleston were aimong the nost catholic, liberal .sn4 public ipirited mornbors of the House, and 't is a notorious circumstance that hbev generally voted on all siden 'ef volt wit hi the Charleston, dolega.w. t ion, I lont koIuw. But thla sting. of t his charge lies in the inpJicatio, that there i.s im antagonismi botwgeo teio up-country qnd the low-country, 'This cannot be. We are all partA of a common Stato, and every see, tion doos her duty to. the lest ef her ability. Again, it is objicted, as I am iA formed, that I am A LOW-COUNTRY MAN. Mr. President, my ancestors came to, this country two hundred years ago. Since that time they have never left Soith Carolina. Hero. they wore born, hero they labored and here their bones rcest. As for mself, from my earliest recollections I havo been a citizen of Fairfield. Fron hero I entered the army. Ihie I have spent my life. If an unbroken heritage of two hundred years docts not entitle me to a share of devotion to the interests of our mother State, I know nothing that doet. But, Mr. President, if a gon. tloman should come from Chester to Faittield, and prove, within six niontlis, that he( isla proper person tq represett mew(, I would support hier as heartily its if ho had been born and raised in Fairfield. I cannot bear the insinuation that I could be false to F.irtield, because my fore fathers lived in any other portion of our common State. That insinua tion was unjust. I know no section. To the last charge, that I AM A LAWYER, 1 will say but little, as time presses. Lawyers are not antagonistic to faimers; indeed, the prosperity of the one depends on the welfare of the other, and notwithstanding my fI iend's assertion that the lawyers ti ive in proportion to the poverty of t.,o country, I would merely say that unless times improve, the law yer3 will themselves remove all cause for discunsiun by lying down and dying of starvation. As to lawyers encouraging law-making, it is well know.i that they are most conserva~ tive, and cling to established cus toms. Nor do they work in cliques, as lais been charged. An analysis of the votes of the Legislature shows that the lawyers divided every time, most frequently half amid half. Now, I am a .t'awyor, and althi'ugh I am not as good a one ai I would wish to be, I will stand by my colors. I believe that farmn ers should be represented. They make as good imembers ats could be found. What I object to is the ex clusion of any class, whatever it be. This is unjust. No man should be thus practically disfranchised. In conclusion, Ir. President, lel me say that I hope I have not of fended any one. Such was not my intention. I anm obliged *to on all for your patient attention, and hop inig that we will be all uited, and will win a glorious victory in 1878, I tako my seat. [Applanse.] The remainder of the report is crowded out of the present issue. It will appear iu our n)ext. FOR PROBATEiJUDGEi. The friendsq of CAPT. J. R. BOYLES nominate him13 for Probate Judge at the ensuing election-subject to the result .of the Democratic prinnry electiop. aug 6-tI' FOR SHERIFF. Messrs. JAlours :-Pleaso announce MR. AARON 11. P'OWELL as a candidate for sheriff' mt the ensuing election-subjec$ to the action of thme Democratic party at thme primary election. aug 6xtxtU MANY YOTERS. Great Re&uction 7 -HO I FOR - --0 rp -iH first House in town to rednce J.Whiskey to ten cents a drink, lleor to live cosxts a glass anld Billiards fifteerp eeptn per game. ilaving a large aud well selepted lot o,f Puye Liquora on haud of which the following are a f.ow of' the byands: Punre old Kentuolky Bourbon, Cabinet, XXXX and Baker Rye, Soutr Mansh St.on9 Meuntain Corn, a specialty, C,ogeao, Cal iforn ia, P'each and( Aprple Brnndies, (Chamn>agno, Shmerry and Port Wines. Cineinn ti L~ager Beer always kep.t oti .4.i, andl all norism of fancy and cool drinke pIrelpareod iri 0,o nmoiit tasty manner at' OUR HOUSE. april 30-tr J. D. Mio3ARLEY. BARGAINS -l BARGAINS I' FOR CASH Clothing, Shpeo, Dr Goode and F.apey gond; will be sold r ardless of oon.6, ae oe musb be rat4