Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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i TES sumtes watchman, Established April, 1850. "Be Just and Fear not?Let all the Ends thou Aims't at, be thy Country's, thy God's and Truth's." the true southron, Established June, 1366 Consolidated Aug. 2,1881. New Series?Vol. XV. No IL Ck I&a?rlrarait at?r SknSgm. Pa&lisaed Every Wednesday, -by JXr. Osteen? S?MTER, S. C. terms : Two Dollars per annum?in advance. advebtisbmbkt: One Sqaare first insertion.Si 00 Every* subsequent insertion. 50 Contracts for three months, or longer will be made at rednced rates. AU communications which subserve private interests will be charged foras advertisements. Obituaries and tributes of respect will be charged for. Will Tillman Knuckle? Senator Irby Declares Him self in a Red Hot Inter view. HB DENOUNCES TILLMAN'S SUFFRAGE SCHEME, AND SAYS HE WILL FIGHT IT TO THE BITTER END Senator Irby has given an inter view to The Piedmont Headlight, which wil! be published in that paper to-day. Senator Irby strongly at tacks Senator Tollman's suffrage plan as reported. Here is the interesting interview as it will appear in The Headlight : We visited Senator Irby at his home in Laarens last week and inter viewed him about the work of the Constitutional convention and also got his opinion in regard to the suf frage plan proposed by Senator Till man, and which has been made public within the fast few days We believe that if the report of Senator Tiiiman's committee was carried out that it would mean the disfranchisement of thousands of poor and illiterate white voters in South Carolina, and vindi cate the position of The Headlight in its opposition to the calling of a con stitutional convention. We found Senator Irby in fine spir its, and as usual he was surrounded by his friends There is no denying the fact that the people of Laorens honor and love Senator Irby, and they are clinched to him with hooks of steel. We asked the Senator about the work of the convention. 'I have had but little to say thus far," remarked Senator Irby, "as only preliminary work was being mapped out, and the settlement of few ques tions of any great importance brought before that body. Of course there were plenty of speakers on hand, and I did not desire to fatigue the pa tience of the members. I have care fully watched the deliberations, how ever, determined that whenever the rights and interests of my people were imperilled that I would be heard from in no uncertain terms." 'Senator/' we asked, "what do you think o? the recommendation of Senator Tiiiman's committee on the ri ght of suffrage ?" ' I look upon that report as a political monstrosity?one of the most dangerous schemes ever con cocted in the brain of man, and when the convention reconvene I shall fight it and vote agsinst it if I have not another member upon the floor at my back. Why, the more I study that report, the stronger my opposition and the greater the danger I see in it But let me take that report up section by section, and analyze it for you, and I do hope that The Headlight will go to work without delay and arouse the white voters of our State as to the danger that threatens both the poor and illiterate white men. as also the political supremacy of the Anglo Saxon race in our State. The first three sections of that re port are but a reiteration of the old law and to which no objection can be urged. But after that the plot begins to thicken, and the further you go the more damnable and outrageous it becomes First, let me take the qualifications for suffrage, as follows : "The person applying for registra tion must be able to read and write any section of this Constitution, or muet show that he owns and pays taxes ou $300 worth of property in thi? State; provided, that at the first registration under this Constitution and up to Jan. 1, 1898, all male per sons of voting age who can read a clause in this Constitution or under stand and explain it when read to them by the registration officer, shall be entitled to register and become electors, a separate record of all illit erate persons thus registered, sworn to by the registration officer shall be filed, one copy with the clerk of court and one in the office of secre tary of State, on or before Jan. ?, 1898, and such persons shall remain through life qualified electors, unless disqualified by the provisions of sec tion 6 of this article. The certificate of the clerk of court or secretary of in 11 Wim il i n n ? ?? -? State shall be sufficient evidence to establish the right of said clasH of Citizen? to registration and the fran chise." I "Now, let us analyze this section and see what it means : In the first place here is a sweeping clause posi tively disfranchising every white man in South Carolina who is not able both to read and write or owns and pays taxes upon ?300 worth of prop erty in our State. This language ?r too plain to be misunderstood. It is ? a total disfranchisement of the poor and illiterate white men as well as the negro laboring under the same political disabilities. ? "But there is a tail to this suffrage kite that holds good until January 1, 1898. which permito' the registration officer, if he sees proper and fit to do so, to grant a pardon to such voters as he may see fit and proper, subject to his amnesty?for the henious crime of being poor and illiterate?and thus place them upon a political equality with the educated negro and who has accumulated property. But even this proviso is coupled with a provision so ignominious and de ! grading that a proud-spirited Anglo Saxon voter would sooner lose his right of suffrage than to accept such political charity. Here is what Senator Tiiiman's report says: "A separate record of all illiterate per sous thus registered, sworn to by the regi ation officer, shall be filed, one copy with the clerk of com t, one copy with the Secretary of State, ate.'*' In other words, for a poor, uneducated man to vote after this law pass?e, a palpable and barefaced fraud must be committed and then the name of the beneficiary of this pardon must be filed as a public re cord, both at his court house and at the State cap?tol in Columbia It will be a public and perpetual docu ment of reproach upon thousands of honest family names in South Caroli na and the descendants for genera tions to come of these pardoned voters will have the fact thrown in their teeth that their ancestors being poor and illiterate were permitted to vote in direct conflict with the spirit of? their State Constitution, through a pardon and special act of suffrage'. "Why, no brave and proud spirit ed white man in the old palmetto State would accept suffrage under any such conditions and would sooner lose his right to vote and be shoved off in the same boat with the sea island negro He would then indeed be a political exile in the State of his birth, but the honest name that be will bequeath to his children and his children's children would not be filed among the archives of South Carolina as are names of pardoned convicts. "I am responsible for the calling of our Constitutional Convention. I pledged the white voters of South Carolina that not one of them should lose his ballot on account of ignorance or poverty, and I shall sacredly keep this solemn covenant ; and if it is broken by Senator Tillman and the Convention, it will be with my de nunciation of the infamous plot ring ing in the ears of the delegates. What brave and self respecting white man desires his name handed down to future generations as being so poverty stricken and ignorant that a separate clause had to be engrafted into the Constitution of his State to enable him to vote. But this pardon for illiteracy and poverty is only temporary. Here is another clause in Senator Tiiiman's report that even re moves the pardoning power \% years hence and requires a strict edu cational and property qualification to become a voter. Read it carefully and then tell me how this coinides with the pledge that B. R. Tillman made the people, that if they would call a Constitutional Convention and trust him, that no white man should be disfranchised : " 'Any person who shall apply for registration after January 1. 1898, if otherwise qualified, must be regis tered, provided, that he can both read and write any sectiou of this Constitution or can show that he owns and has paid taxes during the previous year on property in this State assessed at ?300 or more. " 'Managers of election shall re quire of every elector offering to vote at any election, before allowing him to vote, proof of th\ payment of all taxes, including poll tax, assessed against him for the previous year ' "Let the Convention adopt this re port, and after January 1, 1898. only two yeai hence, a vot ?r must both read and write any section of the Constitution or show that he owns and pays taxes on ?300 worth of property. Even the right to pardon in this section is denied. The black est convict in the penitentiary can have his disabilities removed by the governor, but the honest but poor and illiterate white voter must re main disfranchised. "Now let me ask what will be come of those thousands of poor white boys 19 years of age now liv ing in our State and whose parents are too poor to give them an educa tion or endow them with $300 worth of property. They are already en listed on the side of the Reform movement, and while too young to vote, have thrown up their bands and cheered and worked for the election, success of Tillman, myself and other Retorm candidates. These youths are the corning voters who must up hold our Reform principles and con tinue our party in power. But they are struck down to a man with the most ignorant class of negroes and their right to a voice in the govern ment of* their native State taken from them. "Let this law pass, giving educat ed and property owning negroes the right to vote, but denying the poor, unlettered white man that high priv ilege, and you will see our ballot boxes saturated with blood. In two year's time you can't educate every white youth in South Carolina both to read and write, for the impover ished condition of thousands of poor white farmers and laborers will not permit them to spare the time of their sons to go to school. And then what is the result ? Their ballot is taken from them and they will have no more voice in the government of this State than the mule that they plow or dumb cattle that tread our highways. They must stand off and look ou while the educated or property owning negroes, living in our towns and cities, are helping to rule and govern our State, and are making laws for these poor white men to live under. "In 1861-'6 ,' when these poor white men were being urged to the front, the question was never asked, could a volunteer read or write, or did he own ?30U worth of property Neither were those conundrums propounded io 1S76, when those poor aud unlettered Demo cratic voters donned the red shirt and rescued the government of our State from the negro and Republican. And in 1890, when Tillman was preaching political equality before the people, aud pleading with those poor aud unedu cated white men for their votes, he did not then ask did they have ?300 worth of property, or could they read the Constitution of their State under staadingly. But now that neither his life-blood nor his vote are ueeded, he must be struck down?thrown aside like a sucked lemon or passed through a political inquisition "I denounce that report of the right of suffrage committee, and of which Senator Tillman is chairmain, as mon strous, aod for our Reformers in the convention to pass any such law would be the basest treaehery and the deep est dyed ingratitude. When the report is brought before the convention I shall fight it to the better end I do not be lieve if will pass?I kuow that it should never pass. I pledged the poor aud uneducated white men of South Caro lina that I would protect them in their right to vote, and protect them I will; I will go oown in defeat and humila tion with theai. "The right of suffrage is the highest privilege accorded a free born Ameri can citizen, and no degrading condi tions should be coupled with this right "But it is claimed that such provis ions are necessary to preserve white supremacy in South Carolina. Now I will prove to you, and to every intelli gent and thinking man that so far from the adoption of Senator Tillman's report by the convention 'preserving white supremacy' that it will have a directly opposir.e effect, aud make of the negro a political arbiter in our State and vest in his hands the bal ance of power. With a fresh right of franchise the negro leaders will go to work and marshal at least 50,000 legal voters. They claim that there are 72, 000 blacks in South Carolina who can read and write, but there are undoubt edly 50,000 negroes who can vote under this proposed provision. The Conserva tivee now have between 35,000 and 40, 000 voters, all of whom will be qualified for suffrage, while the Reform vote number 55,000 In our Reform ranks there are at least 15,000 men who can not read or write. Deprive them of their suffrage and the two factions are then nearly equal, with the negro vote larger than either one. This would give the electoral vote of South Carolina, di vided as the whites are, to the Republi can candidate for President. Let either faction remain out of the next Demo cratic primary, and with the assistance of the negro the other would absolutely control the politics of our State White supremacy indeed. It means either ne gro supremacy or Conservative suprem acy. I dislike very much to have to speak so plainly, but it is vitally nec essary that some one should sound a note of warning aod arouse the Re formers aud the poor men of this State to the danger that menaces tbem. This is one reason why I was anxious for an adjournment of the convention?to give the people a chance to catch their breath and strangle this political mon strosity. "Mississippi is held upas an example to South Carolina. Th^re is no analogy between the political conditions of these two States. In Mississippi the whites are now divided, but working together. There was not a faction there standing ready io appeal to the ne groes, and use him at the first oppor tunity to crush the power of the farm ers. But in South Carolina our white ! people are divided, and wilt continue to be divided. Turn 50.000 negro voters Ioo*e upon our Stare, and you can't manufacture a magnifying glas* large enough to discern the remains of the reform movement. Rut let us dive still further into this report -.?f Senator Tiiiman's suffrage committee and we will find where, from the hour of its adoption, that the poor white voters in our towns and counties are disfranchised. Sere is a clause that speaks for itself " 'At any special electioos in incor porated cities' and f.owns of this State for the purpose of bonding the same, all resident owners of property in said cities and towns of the assessed value of 200, who are qualified electors under this Constitution, shall alone be enti tled to vote.'' "It matters not how honorable and intelligent and upright he may be, a voter living in Spartanburg city can have no voice in voting on the issuing of bonds unless he is worth 0200. "When you begin to restrict the suf frage of white men there is no telling where it will stop There is where the danger lies Only a few days ago Sen ator Tillman worked for, voted for, and carried through, a measure permitting the incorporated towns to exempt manu facturing enterprises from taxation for a series of years. The poor laborers in those mills had ncsuch clemency ex tended to tbem. They must pay their poll tax, and even a tax upon their pot, kettle j and mattress, while the rich northern j investor is allow to go scot free. Now I cannot see with what consistency Senator Tillman can say that thnse operatives, who honestly sustain the government, shali not vote in a certa.in electiou because they have not ?200 worth of property, while the wealthy stockholders in that mill, and who were exempt from taxation, bave right 'jo a vote? This is notin keeping with t'je addresses that Senator Tillman nvide upon the stump, when he wanted o?ase. "I bave unsheathed my sword and thrown away the scabbard. I am in the battle to the end. No poor and un educated white man will lose hia vote, if I have the power to prevent it. I shall denounce this outrage upon the floor of the convention, and I shall de nounce it upon the stand before the people. We can preserve white suprem acy in South Carolina without cither disfranchizing or humiliating a single white voter. The report of Senator Tiiiman's committee certainly vindicates the position of the Piedmont Headlight when it. opposed the calling of the Con stitutional convention. It would have been a thousand times better to havo never had that assembly meet than let it pass the suffrage qualification pro posed by that committee. You will find every Conservative applauding aud en dorsing this plan, for the simple rea son that it will strike down the vote that they could never secure, and give them political control of our State. "I believe that some of the mem bers of the committee sigued this report at the earnest solicitation of Senator Tillman without due consideration or appreciating its danger. I do not know how a single member of the convention stands upon its adoption, but you can say to the poor and uneducated white voters of South Carolina that they have io John L. M. Irby a friend who will stand by them to the end, and will fight thisjnonstrous proposition to the very last ditch. "Senator, why did you vote for the ; name of Butler, for the new county, in stead of Saluda ?" "I am glad you have asked me this question, for I desire to state my posi tion and my reasons in language so plain that all may understand. I did not desire or intend to honor the name of ex-Senator M. C. Butler, but I had in my mind at that time the name of William Butler, one of the most gal lant soldiers of the revolution, and a hero from whose loins sprung a long line of the ablest statesmen and war riors that our State has ever produced. Did William Butler, the founder of this illustrious family, to-day survive he would be a Reformer. VVhen our State was a howling wilderness Butler left Virginia on horseback, his wife riding behiud him. because he could not hold his own with the rich and aristocratic families of the old dominion. He built a cabin upon the Saluda river, and when the war of the revolution broke out did heroic battle for his country. Two of my great uncles fell fighting in his command, while a number of the family Dames in the upper section of our State are liuked with that of But ler. My great uncle married William Butler's daughter, and her dust now re poses in the family burial ground at Red Bank, in Saluda county. Pierce Butler, another heroic soldier of this name, fell fighting beside a brother of Ben. Tillmau's at Churabusco, Mexico. Others of that name have occupied high and distinguished positions in our State j and have rendered their people faith- j ful and va'iant service When M C. Butler was a youth of 15 yeare George D. Tillman was elected for the legisla ture from Kdgefield county on the crea tion of this oew county, to be koown as Butler county. For 45 years the people of that section contended for the ? name, the committee unanimously re. j ported the name of Butler, and I voted for the name of Butler. I did not have M. C. Butler in view at the time, and Mr. George D. Tillman expressly and distinctly stated upon the floor of the convention that the name was not in tended as an honor to M. C. Butler. This Reform movement is founded on great, principles ; it is not founded on passion, on hatred or on prejudice. We are not a set of ghouls, to dig up the bones of the dead and spit upon and spurn them. It is the honored name of Butler for which cast my bailot. I have neither regrets to offer nor apolo gies to make. I fought Butter for ?ve years in the Senate and ? fought bis re-election last year. He was defeated, and as a poor man had to leave his native State and go elsewhere to seek employment by which to make a sup port for his family. I do not believe in insulting the dead or bounding down D O the living. Senator Butler did wrong when he became an independent can didate, and he was rebuked by his people with a crushing defeat. Let us now leave him in peace, and remember that he left a portion of his body upon the battlefield of Virginia. If Senator Butler aspired for office to-day I would oppose him, for he does not represent the sentiments of my:.elf or my people I condemn his independent candidacy as much as any one. but nothing that M. C. Butler can do will cast a reflec tion upon those old heroes, statesmen and patriots, whose dust repose in the soil of Saluda." "Senator, do you expect opposition for re-uiection to the United State.-? Senate : "I really do not know. I understand that a secret caucus has already been held, and a slate ticket formed in Co lumbia. Bur I do not care the snap of my finger for the machinations of the politicians. I have anchored my faith and my hoDe in the people, and when I get the people on my side I can buy up all the politicians I want at 5 cents apiece. ' Next year we must go before the people, and they will decide who they desire to represent them in the Senate. I am willing to trust them, md if they say that I must stay at home, and they prefer to be represented by some one else, I will gracefully bow to their will and earnestly work for the nominees of my party with the same loyalty and devotion that I rallied to Senator Tillman when he wanted of fice, and to Gov Evans when he as pired to the position he now holds. I have made war on no one. When the Tillman-Heinphill-Barn well-Evans cau cus ?ra3 held, I denounced it because I knew that it meant ruin to our reform movement. Even Senator Tillman af terwards confessed that I was right and he was wrong when he repudiated j t'ae agreement entered into. I worked for the calling of a Constitutional con vention, pledging our white voters that not one man should lose his suffrage I never have misled or deceived the people, and do uot inteod to. I may be struck down, but I shall go down hold ing aloft the reform banner and advo cating the same principles that Tillman and myself advocated in li<90 I have an abiding faith in the loyalty, wis dom and patriotism of the reform voters of South Carolina. I shall stand by them as loyally and as devotedly as they have stood by me. I do not pro- ? pose to truckle to any politician or so- j called leader for office. I! place my trust in a sovereign people?I shall go before them and plead my cause, and gracefully bow to their decree, what ever it may be I shall enter into j combinations with no man or set of men j to seeare re-election. I shall run upou j the record that I have made in the \ Senate, and upon that I shall stand or j go down. I have never betrayed my 1 people or sold them out, and never j shall." ! We made a brief visit to Atlanta last week and spent two or three hours at the Exposition. We must confess that we were agreeably sur prised at the immensity of the Expo sition, which, with the exception of the World's Fair at Chicago, has never been equalled in any respect in the United States We had occa sion to visit nearly all of the larger hotels, and found the prices for board and lodging very reasonable. The prices, too, in the restaurants are very reasonable, both in the city and on the Exposition grounds. Atlanta and her people have been grossly misrepresented by certain newspaper correspondents, and it is to be hoped that their false statements will not deter any who had intended visiting the Exposition from attending.?An derson Intelligencer. Good paper at Mets, IScts, 2?ct$, 25c;s 3Oc?s per box. Fine paper at 35 c:&, 40 ers [ 45ctp. 50cts. 5?OIS, 60ci9, 65rt3, TOcts, 75ct8 per bos at H. G. Usteen <fe Co. Highest of all in Leavening Pow Monroe Doctrine to be Up held. The firm determination of the ad ministration to stand by the Moore doc trine in the Venezuelan boa dry line dispute, was the one important subject of discussion in all quarters here to day. It cannot be said that the announce ment caused surprise in official and di plomatic circles, for the Herald had pre viously made it clear that important developments in this matter might soon be expected, and it had been generally known for the past six months that the President and Secretary Olney were giving mature and serious considera tion to this subject. There is no ex aggeration in the statement that in the recently proposed instructions to Am bassador Bayard there is a declara tion in the most positive language that the United Sta:cs will never consent to British occupation of the disputed territory until that nation's right there is first determined by arbitration, and that it is a positive and practical application of the Monne doctrine in its broadest sense. The President will, of course, treat of the subject in his annual message, but the full text of ,the correspondence will probably remain in the secret ar chives of the State Department until CoDgress calls for it. Even then the President may consider i: incompatible with the public interest to make ir. pub lic. Secretary Olncy positively de clines to discuss the subject in any way. He read the Herald article this morn ing, but to all questions he replied :? 4 have nothing to say. I cannot dis cuss ihe matter.'' Other officials of the State Department have also suddenly taken on an air of extreme secrecy, and discussion of the Arenezueian question in any way is practically tabooed at the State Department. There is nothing sudden in the deter mination of the State Department to bring the long pending controversy to an issue. The late Secretary Gresham made vigorous efforts to induce Great Britain to submit the matter to arbitra tion, and when the British Foreign Office finally replied expressing a wil lingness to arbitrate as to tin: territory west ot the Sch?mberg line and re fusing to submit the region east of that line to such adjudication. \' was fully determined to press the matter again in a more vigorous way. MR. OLNE'i's INVESTIGATION At the requesr of President. Cleve land Mr. Olney. while siili holding the office of Attorney General, and before Secretary Gresham's death, began an exhaustive legal investigation of the various boundary lines in dispute. He mace a most exhaustive report on the j subject, which, while it in no ?va\ changed the policy of the administra tion, thoroughly convinced the Presi ! dent and other members of the Cabinet I that the admission by this country of Great Britain's claims to Venezuelan territory west of the Schomburg line wouid be a complete abaodontnent of I the Monroe doctrine. j This conclusiou onee reached, the ' question then arose as to the proper way of impressing upon Great Britain the determination of the administration not to permit a violation of this tradi tional American principle. After ma ture consideration the conclusion was finally reached, as stated in the Herald this morning, to take a bold and firm stand which would bring matters to a head by convincing Great Britain that the administration is in earnest it? its determination to prevent any encroach ment by Great Britain on Venezuelan territory in violation of the Monroe doctrine. It is probable that the recent activity of the administration in this matter is due to a desire to offset antagonism of the administration's foreign policy from a republican Congress, bur whether politics bad anything to do with it or Dot it is certain that the President has taken a very firm stand in this matter, and that the Venezuelan question will he the most important diplomatic topic for some time to come. The authori ties are not by any means confident that any satisfactory agreement can be reached before Congress meets, but the President wants to be in a p:>sitiou to show Congress that he has gone to the extreme to carry out its int-trucnons to induce Grear. Britain m submit the dispute to arbitration and to leave with that bedy the responsibility for direct ing what future course shall b? pursued. ? New York Herald Bicycle Oil, Lanterns, Graphite, Bells, Pants Guards, etc., for sale oy . G. Osteen & Go's. er.?Latest U. S. Gov't Report Baking , Powder ELY PURE