The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1899-03-25
HOM. DON CAEEERY.

The following well-writen letter
appeared in the Houston Post sew
eral days ago. 1t is highly COM
plimentary to the senior senator
from Louisiana, Hon. Donaldson
Caffery. The Gazette agrees with
the Texas gentleman that if the
people of this country want a man
at the head of their national affairs
who has honesty, ability and back
bone they will make no mistake In
selecting Mr.. Caffery. But the
time is not yet when a Southern
man can be elected to the presi-
dency. There is one way, how
ever, in which the Democrats of
Louisiana can recognize the worth
and eminent fitness of Don Caffrey
Let them send him back to the
Senate. 1t is true that he kicked
out of the traces three years ago,
and 1t is equally true that he is not
a silver man, but he is more than
high time for the Democracy of
Louisiana to recognize true worth.
The time server, the slave of public
opinion, the calculating trickster
and INSCRIPTIONS dickerer should
give way to the man of backbone
and prin ciple.
The following is the letter men
toned in the foregoing lines:
To the Editor of The Post.
San Antonio, Texas, March 6.-Some
men drift into the presidency others cap
ture it by storm. Piping times of trade is
sues gave us Van Buren,, Polk and Mckin-
ley; turmoil, crisis and peril gave Wash
ington Jackson and Lincoln.
Since Mckinley evolved into president
the nation has gone from one another.
We have emerged from the era of tariff and
| money! which found its exponent in McKin-
ley, into the era of constitutional question
ing, of revolutionary enterprise and of ma
,onal convulsion, which calls for an expo
| nent as broad as Washington, firm as
| Jackson and strong as Lincoln.
| A storm is brewing for the American sys-
TEN of government. The frenzy of con-
quest, the i,ch for trade, the pride of power
in army and in navy, all combine to threaten
|
overthrow Swift and complete will be the
! destruction of our ideals if conquer and
govern beyond the limits of continent.
European ENHANCEMENT would be no more
| dangerous than Asiatlc invasion.
| The issue, then, is expansion. Para
mount, momentous and pressing, 1t be-
Titles all others into nothingness. 1t is a
question of the form and nature of the
Il
questions of administration? How much
tariff shall be levied by the government?
What form of money shall be used by the
government, are high and grave questions.
but can we consider them when de-
| Gliding what the government itself shall be
While such an issue is pending, there can
| be no division over questions OF tariff and
finance among the adherents of the constitu-
ton and of the undiluted Republic. The
issue is too great be decided on skrmish
lines; nothing but the direct shock OF Or
gained hosts can do it justice; nothing but
the concentrated effort of a devoted party
| can be trusted to settle it rightly.
| We cannot trust party, placed in power
on the tariff issue to incidentally settle it.
| Let us have, then, the party OF ''home
rule the party standing for 'sOld America,
|
| ieners-sshome rule in its fullest and
| truest sense.
The country is facing the issue, and i,
needs but the appearance of leader fol
! the party to spring into existence That
leader the South will raise up. New ma
tionaI issues have obliterated old ones: the
cold South has disappeared in cold
| America and, to cement our united coun-
try, in this great crisis. the next president
must come from the South, if it has prtriot
and statesman, true, road, wise and great
enough.
| There seems to be rising star in Louisi-
ana In the United States Senate from
that State, there is a man who measures up
to the Evolutionary Southern standard. The
| independence, courage and strength OF
| Donelson Caffery have won the admiration
of the whole country. The superb back
! bone that won Immortality for Jackson and
| Lin colin, is his also. In this great era, no
candidate for the presidency is eligible who
| cannot hew his way into the White House,
| and this the Louisiana senator can do better
| than any man of his time.
CALHOUN.