The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-05-10
TERRITORIAL EXPANSION.

| hluer, 100, that III Is not how 1T Will
effect the Constitution but our insti-
tutions Tho Constitution is an ex,
pansiye instrument; it should bo al
lowed to grow. On this point I am
at variance with the Democratic
party. While tho question Of OK pan
sion is one Of great Importance I do
not think Democrats should split on
it and form an altogether different
party. Senator McLaurin would
teach tho people of this State that
acquisition of tho Philippines would
be the means Of wonderful increase
Of trade for the South. That is an
egregious error. On the other hand,
it would moan tho removal Of the
negro as laborer, because cheaper
labor would be imported, and it
would mean the introduction Of cot
ton goods from Japan and the Philip
pines, which could be sold here cheap
or than thoy could be manufactured.
TIE SOUTH WOULD SUFFER.
"Tha* would como about in this
way. If tho islands arc attached
American ingenuity and money will
flock to the islands. Machinery will
follow, because labor over there Is
dreadfully cheap. Tho natives, seek
ing new fields, will flood out this field
and, I might add, white labor in
some instances. Growers Of cotton
in the South will naturally expect to
ship the raw material TO the new is
lands, and the cotton cannot be ship.
ped, but you must bear in mind that
conditions will thon be such that cot
ton will be grown on tho islands and
the neighboring countries and i'm
ported from India, 40 that by compo-
tition American will be too expansive.
The samo will be the case with manu-
factnred product. Transportation
charges will be heavy and, labor here
being not as cheap rs in the islands,
there will be no sale for American
cotton goods. In fact they can be
manufactured SO cheap over there
that they can be imported to this
country and sold cheaper than goods
manufactured at homo. That, truly,
would be dreadful state Of affairs
eff the islands are acquired there
will be no way to levy duty and there
can be no exclusion law. The out
come will be that thousands of Orien-
tails will rush to country this and in
time supplant much of the labor we
now have. Take the negro labor in
the South, for example. The negro
has three virtues-to raise cotton,
tobacco and rice. Many of them
migrate to the North, but it is only
q question of time before they drift
back South. They are, as a rule, q
worthless set and indolcnt. Now at
present Northern capital, seeing the
advantages Of Southern labor in cot
ton mills, is moving South with the
mills; coming to tho cotton folds.
With the introduction Of the cheap
foreign labor new and larger mills
will rise like magic in tho North and
tho Southern industry will bo Grip
pied. Then this labor will take the
place Of the negro in the field. There
is no doubt about the capability of
the Foreigners to work in this coun-
try. The recent silk strike up North,
whore 400 operatives woro thrown
out and as many Japanese brought
to the country and put in their places
illustrates the point. The labor
unions cried that tho alion labor
laws were being violated. Tho Ja-
panese ministers reminded us of the
$76,O0o,O00 of contracts placed in
this country that could be broken if
tho imported labor was kicked out.
They stayed and have since proven
that thoy are hard and intelligent
workers.
MIR. LEWIS SOLUTION.
"Ny solution of tho Philippine
question is that wo should lift tho
tariff on exports from this country,
ask for coaling station and free
trade treaty, and bid the foreigners
goodbye. We would thon give the
foreigners liberty and be rid of the
expense of maintaining govern.
ment."