Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-04-24
.MgLAURIN At CHARLOTTE.
he SPEAKS SENSlBLY AND IN AN INTER.
ESTiNG MANNER. ses
SENATOR B. R. 1|LLMAN CR|T|C|SES
His Colleague, and mcLaurln Comes Back a,
Hlm-Deflnes and Defends His Position.

MS COIeague, anu mCLaurln comes Back AT
Hlm--Deines and Defends His Position.
Charlotte, N. c., April 18.-Thore were
some unusually ablo speeches at the
banquet of the Manufacturers Club to-
night, but by far the ablest and tho most
important, so far as tho people of South
Carolina and the South are concornod,
was that of Senator John l.. MoIaurin.
1t was listened to with intense interest
throughout, especially because of tho
advanced position that tho Senator has
taken upon certain new issues that have
recently confronted the country, and be-
cause all had reason to expect some very
plain talk of kind that few Southern
statesmen dared indulge in. Senator
McLaurin's speech in full was as fol-
| lows:
Mr.. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: l
desire to make q statement of somewhat
a personal nature before proceeding with
tho speech which intend to delivor to-
night. A certain newspaper correspond
ont in the city of Washington has por-
sistently spread tho report that l was
coming to Charlotte to make speech
which would launch new party in tho
South. The report is absurdly false. If
l had any such intention good tasto
would prevent mo from taking advant-
ago of an opportunity of this kind. L am
content to advocate within Democratic
lines the policies which l believe to bo
best for tho South, and whom l can no
longer do this l am ready to retro to
private life.
In the South we arc to-day realizing
somo of tho dreams of it's far-sceing
statesmen and business mon of fifty
years ago. With prophetic eye they saw
the industrial and commercial possibili-
ties of our highly favored Southland.
With an advance Of thought that is
really surprising, they suggested enter
priscs of wonderful magnitude for it's
upbuilding and commercial dominance
From 1885 to 1850, conventions wore
held to voice tho demands of q deep
seated public sentiment for industrial
progress. The story Of these movements
is chroniclod in a South Carolina publ
cation, which, under tho name of De-
Bows Review, did for tho old South
what the Manufacturers Record is doing
for tho South of to-day.
The same spirit which enabled our
fathers to leave the field of defeat with
nothing but their courage and their
characters left, still lives i'll tho South,
and inspires you to-day in your great
undertaking.
The plans of the great Southern bust
ness men and statesmen of fifty years
ago arc no longer idle dreams. Post
poned by cruel war which destroyed
our social and industrial system, and
which for years rendered cooperation
in National undertakings almost i'm
possible, such men as l meet here to-
night AFRO making these dreams actual
living realities.
Talk about the "New SouthW The
) name is a misnomor. 1t is the same old
spirit revived which sixty years ago made
the South the dominant power in this
nation-a position of which nothing but
war could have robbed her. What we
need now to again attain that proud emf
ncncc is the same broad conception and
the same comprehensive grasp of the
true situation. Tho last twenty years
have wrought an industrial revolution in
the South which must iind expression in
our social and political life.
The time is past for tho discussion as
to whether this government is to be on,
consolidated in its structure or a loose
aggregation of (so-called) sovereign
States. Tho civil war settled that.
1t is useless to discuss the question OF
whether this is to be a purely Theoretical
Democratic government or an expanding
and giant Republic. Tho Spanish wal
settled that why not then accept con
ditions rs they are and make the most OF
them
The agitation of such issues onl,
serves to silotrack broad American doc
triucs and should not be made part,
questions, because they grow out OF
actual political and economic conditions
which it is beyond the power of cithc,
party to change. care not of what
political faith the occupant of tho White
House might have been; for, if a true
American, mindful Of the honor ant
dignity of the nation, tho results of th,
Spanish war could not be widely differ
ent from what they are to-day.
Why should our people be tho only
ones to close their eyes to what is going
on? Why should wo move along in tho
same old ruts and insist that politica
policies and old traditions, long sine,
dead, are vital living issues, and depend
upon them for the salvation of the South.
The triumphant reelection of Mr.. Nc
kinlcy in the last campaign is full o
significance. 1t is a stubborn fact con
fronting tho Democratic party to-day
suggestive of rcproachful remembrances
and fearful mcnaces. What Il reflection
hat this new Democracy did not carry q
State where the issues were discussed
and Judgment passed by the people upon
them on their merits. OF course with us
it has been impossible to decide elections
upon issues 1t has been simply qucs
ton of white supremacy. In the North
and the West, dissolved into factions
tainted by the errors of Republicanisn
and the follics of Populism, the part,
could not withstand the tide Of popular
opposition excited by unreasonable crti
ciSm of tho conduct of foreign war
and by the vicious and incendiary ap.
peals made during the last month o
the campaign to class hatred and prciu
dice.
Fundamental principles were lost sight
Of, and in an insane effort to secure
party success at any cost, the attempt
was made to combine socialism, Popu
lism and sectionalism, with nothing 6u,
the sentiment and traditions of Democ
racy. The real Democratic leaders in
been Allcn, Teller and Pcttigrew, all OF
them able me.; but one Populst, ono
! high-tariil Republican, and tho Other
do not kno~ what. All of them
opposed to State banks of issne, with
proper safeguards, and most other things
we need in the South This was called
he New Dcmocracy' in contradistinc-
ton from the old, and some Of it's leaders
stated that its crceds were revolutionary
and were so designed to be.
TO SOW discomfort with industrial con
ditions and distrust of the governing
power; to array class against class, in
the hope of securing fancicd social and
industrial equality, is to my mind the
first step in revolution. The South is
the American end of America. In nc
mont, so much conservatism. and so pllre
a patriotism. What political paradox
then it is for our people to bo the allies
of profcsscd rcvolntionists elsewhere.
1t was not the pure type of Southern
| hnt 4 J,n l,n1, .