The free press. (Southern Pines, N.C.) 1898-19??, 1898-12-30

COulu Dt lOunu lIldi tue year vi Juuico
to cancel old debts, as did the Jews OF
old? What date more convenient to
close the old account aud begin new
one? Thirty-fve years the disability
has lasted-ample tine for any reason
able purpose. When the wound is
healed, the ligatures become nuisance
and source of danger. We are told
that the Spanish war has wiped out the
last remnant of ill-feeling. Let US
prove this by the most unquestionable
evidence and thus make sure that the
thirty-fve years convalescence of the
body polite has been terminated by
it's restoration to perfect health.
This, then, is the visionary sugges-
ton:
In 1900 let us elect as President of
the United States an er-Contederate
officer.
No vivid imagination is needed to
picture the effect of such step. a
great shout of JOY will ring through
Dixie. The days of nomination, cleo
ton, and Inauguration will be such
feasts as have not been witnessed in
the memory of man. Fairer forms
than those of the Panathenaia will
grace the joyous pageantry. Hecatombs
of beeves will be sacrificed in innumer-
able barbecues. For the first time in 35
years Southern men will feel that their
land is entirely theirs, that they are
full citizens. They will rejoice Mt
their own defeat which earned for
them the rapture of such reconcilia-
ton. The South will become more
patriotic than the North. An "era of
good feeling throughout the country
will mark the dawn of the new century.
Is the nation ready for such step?
Being creatures of habit, we are always
loath to take new departure, even
though circumstances have changed.
Matthew Arnold considers America
one of the strongholds of Philistinism,
outranked only by England and espec-
tally by Germany. Philistines hate
sentiment as the Prince of Darkness
hates holy water. What have the
feelings of the South to do with dollars
and cents?
More tangible difficulties arise from
the fact that the plan will have TO be
carried out by existing political machin-
cry and in the presence of existing
political issues. AS the whole thing is
a vision, fancy may at pleasure demol-
ish the obstacles.
For moment it might seem i'm
whether the candidate be
nominated by Democrats or Republic
cans. The next moment, however,
this supposition is seen to be incom-
patible with the purpose of the pro-
posal. A jubilee gift is to be offered
to the South that, in her joy over it,
she may forget her lingering grief land
the giver his own grudge-a consum-
Mation not 15ss H57outry y Sc wlshsuJ.
To this ehd we must omit nothing that
may make the gift more grateful. The
bouquet must be made of the finest
flowers, not Of wayside pickings; the
festal viands should be the most
savory to be found in the market, not
the lean ribs of starvelings. To vote
for n Republican the South would have
to be suddenly converted from its deep
rooted habit of Democratic solidity;
and habits are like teeth, painful to
part with. The reluctance would
balance the pleasure and thus defeat
The very object sought. Hence, the
candidate must be Democrat, nomi- |
lated by Democrats. He should be |
IN exCenfederate, for nothing else
will give such emphatic assurance to
he South that the last trace of ami
Mostly has vanished. To this end,
llso, the delegate nominating him
h0uld be Northern ex.Union soldier.
The candidate must be a free-slver
nan, for, rightly or wrongly, the South
s nearly as solid for silver as for
Democracy. In brief, the giver must
consult not his own taste but that of
he recipient. The finer the gift, the
more offensive are ungracious con-
Iitions. We must pick out the man
he South likes best, which can readily
70 done by allowing the South toselect
i'm; and we must elect him in the
gay the South likes best There is
% danger that they will select an
unsafe or radical man to disgrace
he occasion; the South is at least as
Conservative and dignifed as the North.
Let no one imagine that this is a
,heme to lure the country away from
he gold standard. Providentially flor
lie present purpose), the Senate is
.tely on the side of ''sound money"
" at least six years. If, however, the
were to enter the campaign
it'll an aggressive silver plank, many
orthern Democrats, rather than lend
! apparent--even though not i'm
ediately effective-approval TO a
Iuse they condemn, would forego the
easure of aiding the Great Reconcil-
ton BY their votes.
Hence, assurance must be given TO
orthern Democrats that their votes
i'll not DO counted as free-silver votes,
ID will in no way imperil the existing
andard. Let the platform state that,
viaw IF thn nm IN IN, amt ,,atriot;o |