The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-08-28


our tears What man with brave heart can
behold our battle flags that were baptized In
blood, and purified by the fire of the enemy's
muSketry, without an emotion OF respect
and admiration for those who fought under
Father Ryan's poem of the Conquered
Banner" is SO beautiful that We insert verse
from 1t in our essay:
Furl that Banner! True, tits CORY,
Yet It's wreathed around with glory,
And twill live In song and story,
Though its folds are in the dust:
For its fame on brightest pages,
Penned by poets and by sages,
Shall go sounding down the ages
Furl its folds though now we must
We we're much impressed some years ago,
at a soliloquy Of the soldier on the Confeder-
ate monument in Augusta, when President
Grant passed through the city. A great many
In their eagerness to pay homage to him,
Confederacy, and he in beautiful language
complained of their forgetfulness in their
great haste to do honor to him, who mad
caused many Southern woman to put on
the Widows weeds. Abbeville county has
not done her duty in showing proper appre,
ciation of her fallen soldiers. There should
stand to day in the public square monu'
ment commemorative of her dead heroes,
who did so much honor to her and marched
to the front even when the enemy's musketry
made a fringe of fire down their lines.
When look around tonight and see those
NlO were conspicuous WucuoNeT udukel was
20 I've dared, and the sons of those who fought
braye!y and whose spirits have CROSSED
over the river and are resting under the shade
Of the trees" know of no more lifting time
10 suggest the organization OF q county mon
umental association.
When the States ratified the Constitution Of
the United States, they felt assured that their
rights would remain inviolate, because IL was
so nominated in the bond. They, however,
have found out that the difference between q
liberal and strict construction OF writ
ing is great enough when construed by
those selected by dominant majority 70
let in oppression against the minority:
prosperity is not to come from constitutional
construction or speech-making in the halls OF
Congress, but from determined effort to ad-
vance our material wealth by looking alone
10 our eXertions in that line.
The South has paid more than Its proper.
ton Of the taxes of the General Government
rom the time of its earliest history.
,fAc legislation of the present day by Con-
.ress all tends to concentrate power at Wash
ington, and TO benefit the North at the eX-
prnse or the South. The tarif laws, the rail-
road law, and the Blair bill, all tend in those
directions, and TO make our States but large
sized counties. The manner In which our peo.
pic have seen tit to make money has made IL
easy for the North TO oppress us. Political
economists tell US that 10 people can prosper
who have but one medium Of exchange, and
This is especially true of US in the South. We
have heretofore been almost exclusively an
agricultural people, relying upon cotton as
our principal product; We @ only gotonr Iat PROM
nearly everything we used. We must become
| Independent of the North by building facto-
ricS, and encouraging every enterprise That
will cause US to spend our money at home:
\ We mast also attempt to make q variety OF
| lcrolS, and each one make on his plantation
as Glr as possible what he consumes Then,
ana not I'LL then, will we get rid OF The North
| ern woke: When we look over the country
t,r1l bot n1rT m nrnSnnrnnS flrmArS are
| those who make at home whatever they con-
! sume. Already since we have been manufac.
turing our products, the nerve to the North
! erin mans pocketbook has been touched, and
as q consequence, prices have been lowered,
| and thousands Of operatives have been thrown
! out of employment, and become tramps over
| the country, thus showing we were paying
! their wages.
There are many reasons why we should
build factories In the South, some Of which
are because we have finer climate, and can
work more days In the year than In the
North; because we can save the expense OF
| transporting our raw materials to the North,
aud the expense upon the manufactured
goods when brought back, and because 1t
keeps our money in our midst and more or
less benefits all.
\ hydra-headed monster has Of late sprung
| up in the United States, which is an outrage
| upon civilization; / allude to the "trusts" and
corners" upon the necessaries of life. This
| is another scheme by which our money is
| not put an etfectual check upon them they
will fan the flame OF communism, socialism,
iinarchisIn, or this feeling of jealousy of the
| rich on the part OF the poor, for when we ana
| iyZe these different terms, we find that the
| groundwork of all is the feeling OF hostility
between riches and poverty.
The pensions which are granted by Congress
! also end to impoverish us as section, and
when we think In how many ways we have
been oppressed it would seem that we are but
a tributary country upon which 1t has been
made lawful for the North to levy black kmail.
No great question in this country can be con-
sidered without taking into the consideration
| the diversified interests of the North and
South and the negro question:.
AS, however, the negro question has become
threadbare, l shall have but little to say In
| regard to it. He Is a curse and a drawback to
our material progress; whenever he controls
the plantation 1t each year becomes poorer
and less productive, whereas the reverse is
true Of white tenantry. Look at Anderson
much more valuable than ours, and many
more beautiful country homes, although the
| negro is there in large minority. This is &C
counted for because the negro prevents the
| !abor-Saving machinery.
| We have heard OF many strikes lately
| throughout the country. and there are sever
al reasons for them; one Of the principal
ones is, that too many seek employment in
| the cities. ahd too few are ullers of the soil.
| This plethora Of laborers in the cities must be
| drawn from that part Of the body polite
which is suffering with the excess and placed
iwhcre the system is in need.
! We must encourage immigration to the
country and make productive our lands
which are lying idle, and until all the labor
ers can get employment therein we may ex.
pcct suffering, strikes, and tramps, which will
increase in the North as our factories spring
up, until this immigration to the country
takes place.
All wealth except that derived from the
ownership of animals springs from the soil
in the nature of-e5ops and ores from mines
and from pursu.ES which make them ready
| for use and the market We have here then
in our midst everything to make us wealthy
| if We but look to the South and not to the
| North for our prosperity. Who can say how
much good Birmingham and the other places
that have lately been built I'D by reason o
the mines near them have done for us and
may yet do?
Coleridge, the able philosopher, has said
that he looked upon the American States as
lSplcndid masses to be used by and by in
the composition Of two or three great govern.
mcnts, and we are increasing SO fast in wealth
and population that before many years II
may be necessary to let natures great divid
ing lines be the boundaries of smaller govern
mcnlS; inst as happens In State when coun
tics have developed in wea tn, education and