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Tillman
Carries The Day Named For Governor Of South Carolina. | ||
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Early risers this morning -were in time to see the
consummation of the political agitation that has been vexing the State. It
was 6:30 o'clock when the Democratic State Convention adjourned, having
nominated a full ticket of Tillmanites. In accepting the nomination for Governor, Capt Benjamin Ryan Tillman declared that his election would mark a new epoch In the history of South Carolina, and he felt confident that his administration would be regarded by posterity as the beginning of an era in the prosperity of the State, marking a time to which every man and woman of South Carolina could refer with pride and gratification. He referred with feeling to the circulation through the press, North, and South, of injurious articles concerning him. He said that the newspapers for months had been teeming with assertions that he was a slanderer, a demagogue, a dynamiter, a Republican, &o., and that the United States was standing aghast at the prospect of his election feeling that the people of South Carolina were going through a sort of French revolution, and that one of the Sans Culottes was going to occupy the Gubernatorial Chair, backed by a horde of ignorant people He denounced all this as a lie. Speaking of the public debt he said: "It has been asserted by some who claim to have experience in finances that they fear that the Tillman administration, being composed of inexperienced men, would not be able to refund the debt. My answer to that is this: Honesty needs no experience to pay a just debt. I have always paid my own, and in the name of God why should I try, as it has been assorted that I would, to do anything to bring discredit upon the State of South Carolina or injure her credit? Before the term of office expires to which you will elect me the State's credit will, I confidently believe, be higher than it has ever been. If an effort to refund the bonds fail, or if the bondholders refuse to take new ones at a lower interest, then honesty demands that the State sell the bonds for what they will bring, and pay this debt dollar for dollar. The platform adopted is as follows: 1. The Democratic Party of South Carolina, In convention assembled, hereby reaffirms the platform and principles of the National and State Democratic Party, particularly favoring the free and unlimited coinage of silver, an increase of currency, and the repeal of the internal revenue system, we denounce the McKinley Tariff bill as unjust to the producers of raw material and the consumers of the country, and especially do we condemn the unnecessary and burdensome increase in the tax on cotton ties and tin commodities, so largely used by the poor portion of our people. The passage of this bill by Congress will encourage trusts, combines, and monopolies, evils which have so long oppressed the people. We denounce the Lodge Force bill as Iniquitous, emanating from minds whose nefarious purpose is to establish the supremacy of ignorance over intelligence in the Southern States, thereby engendering race antagonism and sectional animosity. We condemn the action of Speaker Reed and the followers as tyrannical and a flagrant degradation of a position intended only for the true patriot and statesman. 2. We demand the enactment of laws that will remove the burdens of the people, relieve the existing agricultural depression, and do full and simple Justice to the farmers and laborers of our country. 3. We demand the abolition of national banks and that legal-tender Treasury notes be issued in lieu of national bank notes in sufficient volume to do the business of the country on a cash system, and that all money Issued by the Government shall be legal tender in payment of all debts, both public and private. 4. We demand that Congress pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the dealing in futures in all agricultural productions, prescribing such stringent methods of procedure in trials as shall secure prompt conviction. 5. We demand that Congress shall provide for the taxation of Incomes of individuals and the surplus of corporations, thereby equalizing the burdens upon the poorer classes. 6. We demand that our State Legislature shall abolish the Board of Agriculture; that the privilege tax on fertilizers and everything appertaining to agriculture or mechanics or industrial education, including the agricultural stations, be placed in charge of the Trustees of the Clemson Agricultural College, and upon said Trustees shall devolve all duties now performed by the present Board of Agriculture, except the control of the State phosphate interests. 7. We demand that the South Carolina College at Columbia shall be liberally supported as the classical and literary department of South Carolina University. 8. We demand that the school districts in the various counties of the State shall be as nearly as practicable square, and of an area sufficient to allow one white and one colored free school separate and distinct in each district, and that the School Trustees be elected by the people. 9. We demand rigid economy in public expenditures; the abolition of useless offices; reduction of salaries and fees of all officers. State and county, to conform to the increased purchasing power of money and the decreased ability of the people to pay taxes that public officers be paid in proportion to their labor and responsibility. 10. We demand that the Railroad Commission shall be given all power needed to protect the rights and Interests of the people without injuring the railroads, and that the Commissioners be elected of the people. 11. We demand that there shall be a surrey of the State's phosphate beds and their classification Into three grades, and a commission composed of the Governor, Controller General* and Attorney General shall control and direct the mining under rigid rules, each river or phosphate district being leased at public auction for a term of three years after the commission has fixed a minimum royalty according to the value as shown by their survey. 12. We demand that a constitutional convention be called to give us an organic law framed by our own people. We believe the present law to be a standing menace to our civilization and to our educational institutions, and that we cannot obtain any great relief from our burdensome taxes till this is done, and we have lost faith In the power to amend the present Constitution so that it will answer the requirements. 13. We rely upon the sense of Justice and enlightened self-interest of our fellow-citizens to enforce these demands, and we call upon and invite every citizen who has the interest of the State at heart assist us In enforcing these needed reforms. We condemn any attempt, either by word, deed, or unholy alliance with the enemy, to disrupt the Democratic Party of this State, white supremacy is the bulwork civilization, and can only be secured by Democratic unity. Capt. Benjamin Ryan Tillman, the nomine for Governor, is forty-three years of age, and was born at Ropers, in Edgefield County. He had only a few years' schooling, but he acquired a good knowledge of Latin and Greek, and when he went back to the farm he burned the midnight oil on many occasions. He lost his left eye from an abcess brought on by inflammation. For a number of years he was an invalid, but recovered his health in 1874. He originated the famous Red Shirt Brigade as a burlesque on the bloody shirt notion. Capt. Tillman bears his title from being in command of a military company. He first came into political prominence in 1885, when he made his first speech In Bennettsville in advocacy of an agricultural school. He continued the fight in the newspapers, and has canvassed the State twice. His agitation of the farmer's movement led Thomas G. Clemson, the son-in-law of John C. Calhoun, to consult with him. The result of the consultation was that Clemson devised the famous Fort Hill property as the site for the establishment of an agricultural college. Capt. Tillman enjoys the distinction of having created this college. Eugene Blackburn Gary, the nominee for Lieutenant Governor, is a nephew of Gen. Mart W. Gary. He is thirty-six years old, and enjoys a large practice as a criminal lawyer at his home in Abbeville. Gen. Y. J. Pope, who has been nominated for Attorney General, is from Newberry County, and is fifty-one years old- He was Adjutant of the Third South Carolina Infantry, and participated in all the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. Like Capt. Tillman, he has but one eye. He has served in the State Senate, and is a distinguished lawyer and a fine speaker. James E. Tindal of Clarendon is the nominee for Secretary of State. He is fifty-two years of ace, and was educated at Berlin. He was a Sergeant in Gordon's battery, and is a farmer. Dr. W, T. C. Bates, the nominee for State Treasurer, is a native of Orangeburg. He is forty-five years old. He is now the President of St. Mathew's Bank. W. H. Ellerbe, who has been nominated for Controller General, is twenty-eight years old, and lives in Marion. He is a large planter. The nominee for Superintendent of Education is W. D. Mayfield of Greenville. He is a Tennessean by birth and is thirty-eight years of age. For the last six years ho has been School Commissioner of Greenville County. Col. Hugh L. Farley of Spartanburg who, has been nominated for Adjutant and Inspector General, is forty-six years old. He entered the war at the age of sixteen. He was an Adjutant at Gettysburg, and after the battle he was sent to Richmond with captured colors and a report of the, battle as the representative of Longstreet's Corps. He edited the Carolina Spartan for several years. Speaking of the result of the state Convention in Columbia the News and Courier says: "Only those who are familiar with the inside history of the recent campaign are aware of the hard struggle and constant exercise of patience and vigilance that were necessary to avoid an open and permanent division of the party. Only those who were admitted to the counsels of the straight out Democracy can understand the sacrifice of personal preferences and of party pride that was made for the purpose of holding the party together. Bat choosing to submit to wrong rather than risk an injury to the State they waived their rights and happily for the State and for the party. The Democracy of South Carolina presents an undivided front. There is no appeal from the action of the Democratic Convention yesterday. Capt. Tillman is the duly accredited standard bearer of the party and he will be the next Governor of South Carolina." |
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