During Tillman's second term, he had the legislature pass a bill to abolish elected local government, in favor of gubernatorial appointment of municipal and county officials. Tillman used this law to oust black officials even where that race held a voting majority. In September 1893, South Carolina was hit by storms. Tillman discouraged northerners from sending aid to African Americans, fearing it would result in "lazy, idle crowds to draw rations, as in the days of the Freedmen's Bureau ... They cannot be treated as we would white people."