The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-02-27
LAUNDERING THE SOUTH.

/
ton at the Southern Society-A
Young Virginian Defends His Own
Section.
The New York Southern Society, a
organization o~fnative Southern
ers, planned an elaborate celebration
of Westinghouse birthday, but many of
their invited speakers did not put in
an appearance. Ex-Mayor Abram S.
Hewitt was q guest at the banquet, and
was asked to fill the place of Secretary
Carlisle. He responded to the toast of
"Our National Credit" After pre-
facing his remarks with q tribute to
Sc ,retary Carlisle, he proceeded to lay
out the Southern statesmen.
but the character Of Southern
statesmanship has decreased from the
time before the war and her Senators
and Congressman OF to-day are as pig
mics compared with the intellectual
giants of that time. The statesmen of
to-day show little signs of having stud
led the great economical questions az
fecting the interests of our country.
The silver question was at the very
foundation of the public credit. 1t was
due to the adoption of q currency not
based upon the intrinsic value of coin
that brought about the silver crisis.
The difference between the true and
the false value of the silver dollar is
called the seigniorage. The South
wanted to coin this seigniorage. They
might as well try to coin q vacuum. It
was even worse than that. 1t was try
ing to coin a negative quantity on the
other side. There is one thing the
South wants to learn it is that public
credit cannot be maintained until all
concerned realize that there is no royal
road to value and the Southern Repre-
s%entatives must rise to the heights of
the men who represented the South in
Congress previous to tho war.
There are other statesmen from the
South who have succumbed to the fall
lacy that positions in the Supreme
Court OF the United States are local
questions to be settled on demand of
local politicians. 1t might be supposed
that the Supreme Court bench epre-
sented tho whole United States and
that everybody had a right to demand
that it be filled without regard to poll
tics or locality. 1t is not q matter for
ward politicians to kick about, from
n end of the United States to the
other. Such men as Calhoun, Benton,
Reeves and Crawford would have re-
signed their high positions in the Sen
ate and gone home In sack cloth and
ashes. rather than obey, on a principle
such as this. q a without character
or worth and who had no right tospeak
for the great State Of New York"
At this point there was quite q sen
sation among the guests. Of this Mr..
Hewitt took not the slightest notice,
but proceeded to ask "Are YOU less
brave now than your fathers were
thirty years ago when they sacrificed
everything they possessed to their con.
victiOns, that you will allow your Con.
gressmen and Senators to misrepresent
both their country and the South 2"
MIR. Hewitt went on to praise the
Wilson tariff bill, particularly the pro.
visions which place iron and coal on the
free list. But it was in dealing with
the tariff question, he said, that South
ern representatives had displayed q
lack of intelligence away below the
standard OF the men who preceded
them. 1t was hard to explain this. he
said. After the val many Southern
men came North. Those who remain,
ed behind with brains devoted them
selves to business with Il view of re
gaining their shattered fortunes. Pos
sibly the remainder had devoted them
selves to politics.
The course of the representatives in
Congress from the South could not bt
explained simply by devotion to section
Or locality. 1t was the result of gros.
ignorance. The present stagnant con
dition of trade was brought about by
the silver bill, and the South, in sole
phalanx, voted for that bill, thus max
ing themselves responsible for thi:
stagnation and demonstrating tina
there was no greater enemy of the pub
lie interests than the fools who stepped
in where angels feared to tread.
The conclusion of Hewitt's speech
was received in silence. The gauntle,
thus thrown down was ~immediatel,
taken up by James LINDSAY Gordon, a
young New York lawyer of Virginiar
birth. He said
"With all due Difference to the opin
ion Of Mr.. Hewitt, I will venture tc
say that the men who stand in Con.
gress to-day from the South are as true,
pure, upright and sincere in their con.
victions and as well equipped, both
mentally and intellectually, as an,
man there from the North, East or
West. 1t is possible-nay, even prob
able, that the people of the North may
be nable to comprehend the influences
that mould the sentiments of Southern
people. Those of them who have voted
for the silver bill have done so with an
eye to the advancement of their consti-
tuents and the honor of the country al
large. Nor must it be understood that
Southern statesmanihip is at a discount
to-day. The treasury is guarded by q
Southern man; the great navy of Uncle
Sam is under the direction Of q South
ern statesman: A Southern man is in
charge of the Interior Department, and
q southern man presides, with dignity
and ability, over the deliberations OF
the House of Representatives; a South
ern man, great, pure and spotless, has
been raised to the Supreme Court
bench, and a Southern man is RESPONSE
BILE for the new tariff bill. This is the
record of the men of the South to-day.
They are Southerners they are states
men, but above all they are American
citizens"