The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-11-21
EXPANSION DID III.

EXPANSION DID IT.
Here IN an Earnest, Eloquent Analysis
of the Republican victory.
John Temple Graves, in Atlant;
NeWs.) "a,
make bold to differ with the cur
rent Democratic estimates. OF the cause
of Tuesdays tragedy, Qf ballots.
L think that the ghost of free silver
struct less terror TO the soul OF suffrage
than the living issue Of giving ut
what our arms and blood have won i L
the Pacific seas.
o, 1 believe that Tuesdays ballot was
an expansion victory, and the result
solidities my conviction that the senu-
ment of this country is overWhelmlh-
gly for expansion.
Silver in this campaign was a shad.
owy ghost that revisited the polltlcal
battlefield only during the pale Gimp
ses of the moon. 1t had no terrors
and it scared no votes.
The vital, breathing, present issue
the paramount ISSUE" If you Will -
was the commerce of China and the
Pacific ocean, and the trade winds
blew the ballots in storm toward the
party that stood for these colossal facts
This is q commercial age---more's 8 the
pity. The dominant thought of the
world is trade and accumulation.
Moral ideas make scant headWay
against vast and evident commercial
interests. And when the moral ideas
are challenged by the missionary fer
,yor of both liberty and religion, and
the commercial interests are patent
and towering, the result of the poll
battle ought never to have been in
doubt. 1t is easy 10 see this now that
it is all over. 1t should have been
clear before.
1 do not thiuk that the republican
majority, great as it is, fully illustrates
) the strength of the expansion sentl-
ment.
II Thousands of eXpansionists---and l
am one of them-.--followed the flag OF
Democracy for the issues that it carried
which seemed greater and deeper than
any commercial consideration.
The normal Democratic majority in
Georgia is about $4,000. The returns
this morning indicate only about 10000
majority. Ihe $4,000 silent voters,
in my Judgement, are expansionsts.
And behind these are some "2o 900
other votes that would follow the flag
to the East" if they could 60 without
treason to Democracy. believe that
the thinking South is for expansion.
There is every material reason why it
should be. No section of the republic
has 80 great commercial stake in the
trade of the east. We have been war
wasted and poor. While the eastern
and middle states have rloted for hall
q century in prosperity, we have
travelled in the stsuggle tor recupera-
tion from proverty and desolation.
10 our staple and material products
Z the open markes of China and the
I Pacific islands make the industria
light in the east. They shine wit"
golden promise to our farms and fac
tories and mines. More than this:
The establishment of our national
power and influence in these Pacific
Seas is the only, possible guarantee
W hich the future holds for the compile
.tiop >tf- the, Nicaraguan canal. That
great enterprise has been for 20 years
: The plaything of lobbyists in the
house Of congress. The American
flag in the Philippines makes ils
completion imperative and sure.
- And when that imperial waterway
links the two imperial oceans of the
/. world, these gulf and southwestern
states become the geographical center
! of the worlds commerce---with all
the measureless impetus which that
! tremendous fact will give to her sea-
port cities and to her inland trade.
What people, then, haye so vast an
interest in the alag in the East" as
+ we have, and if Materialism be the
god of this age, Is it any wonder that
its votaries should follow in thousands
7 where his mercenary banner leads?
Mark you 1 do not say that the
south is in favor of imperialism as
Mr.. Byran defines it. There is no
Endorsement here of colonies Of slaves
!. and of proconsuls enriched with
spoils. All the instinct and traditions
of Cowpens and Kings Mountain
: would rebel at that.
But there was somehow the pervad-
ing hope that the Mckinley policy, in
7: its fuller evolution would conserve all
these Republican ideals, and on the
other hand the perv aiding apprehension
that Bryan in his strenuous zeal for
liberty, might loose the substance
while he bound the shadow.
Since, then. the policy which wraps
our highest interests has won-.--with-
out Cooperation or consent-.--it is
! high time that the business south
speak its mind to those who represent
itin the national legislature. We
are free now from the immediate
fealty to pal ty which bound our ton
CUES. Our political cause has been
--staked and lost. We are at liberty to
u find ourselves among new conditions.
.The way of our material welfare is
plain. Let us summon our public
servants to help us "work the road"
Let US make haste to make friends
to ourselves of the mammon of un-
Righteousness, that when we die they
may receive US into everlasting
habitation."
Il For Byran and his great battle there
is increasing love and admiration.
No cause in the republic has had an
!. abler or q nobler leader than the cause
and the man just fallen by the ballot
Time will vindicate the cause and the
man who fought its battles. Some
where, somehow, at sometime, be
will rise again. \. .
To me his worth is undiminished
his prestige all unbroken.
He is the last tribue Of the common
and ha 10 rrronIor on1 doc rpl