The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-05-29

n was never contemplated by the toul
c ders of that party that 1T should becom
j., q purely sectional affair, yet to-da
e there is no Democratic party Capabl
2 of making itself felt outside of tn
: South. In the North and West, it
D permented with socialism, and ha
I. dwlndled away into the party Of a sec
t tiOn, not a nation. | do not propose
| however, to pursue this line of though;
| 1t is painful and can accomplish II
good purpose.
TIE MONEY QUESTION.
= Beginning with the panic of 1893
there has never been such rapid in
dustrial changes in any country Thcs
changes were in progress, and our wa
with Spain served as hash-llght t,
show us what was going on. In 1896
we had campaign upon the money
question. Everything was depressed
Men seeking employment, cotton under
live cents, wheat below the cost of pro
duction, and idleness, discomfort, dis.
trust and misery everywhere. We
were told that the salvation of the
country depended upon the free coin.
age OF silver. l believed then, and
believe now, that theoretically we were
right; but new and unforeseen forces
came into play, and have enough
sense to recognize the fact that the
restoration Of conlidence,n about
which MIR. Cleveland talked. and about
| which l did not know enough at the
time TO understand, the discovery Of
gold in the klondykc, the influx of
money from abroad seeking invest
ment, and the increase in banking
facilities, for the time at least, have
settled the money question, and no.
body but fool would make Il free
silver speech now. Instead of II
depleted treasury, there is in it to-day
the largest amount of gold in the his
tory OIL the country, and actually the
Secretary of the Treasury, few weeks
ago, deposited money in Spartan
burg bank, something that has never
been done before III the history of our
State. L have been listening for some
body to cry out Rcpublicauism," be-
cause l was instrumental in beginning
movement which hope in the future
may enable our farmers and merchants
TO secure money at lower rate of i'll
terest.
Another great change as the result
the panic of 1893, is tile rapid dcvcl-
opment OF our export trade. Our
home markets failed us, manufacturers
found themselves with immense stocks
of goods on hand and nobody to buy
them, this forced them to seek markets
abroad, anu Que C'.Gerp sing I'm, j
ISirtI N han, |. Shi,,rnI :.
of iron to Europe. At that time iron
could be bought for 5000 per ton in
Birmingham, and this small shipment
six years ago was the beginning of the
Sl3O,000,OOO worth of iron that we
shipped abroad last year, 300 900 tons
going from Alabama.
To-day, entire Europe is alarmed at
the development Of our commerce. and
we see every day indications of trade
combine on the part of Europe against
the United States. In the financial
world, instead of depending upon Eu-
rope as we did seven years ago for our
money, England, Germany and Russia
have recently had to come to New
York TO place their government loans.
l have given nothing but mere out
line, and yet l ask any man within the
sound Of my voice ii these facts do not
present totally changed condition.
The Spanish war suddenly awoke us
to the fact that our country was one
of the great commercial and political
powers of the world.
Believing as | do that there are vital
issues which, growing out of changed
industrial conditions, are higher and
broader than mere party questions,
have, as your Senator, looking beyond
the line marked by scctionalism and
partisanship, strivcn to promote the
material, political and commercial in
terests of our common country-for in
80 doing, can best serve the interests
of the State of South Carolina. For
this ! have been arraigned before the
people of this State and charged with
allying myself with the Republican
party. Criticism, abuse and gross mis-
representation has been indulged in.
Not content with this unfair method of
attack, some of the papers in their vile
persecution have deceived the people
by Withholding information on one
side of these great national issues and
CIV CNcIyI
on the other. They have persistcntly
held me up as renegade, and on more
than one occasion alleged that in
tended to resign and accept Federal
appointment. Amid all this persecu-
ton II have maintained my silence,
confident that when an oppo, tunity
was offered, the people would see that
l received fair play, and that they
would at least accord me honesty of
purpose.
There are two question that l sub.
NIT 70 the people of South Carolina:
First. Am | honest in the views
advocate? Second. Am | mistaken?
AS to the first. All that l have to
say is that my people have shed their
blood for South Carolina IN every con-
test in which she has ever been en-
gagged. L was born in South Carolina,
| took my wife in South Carolina, and
when l die | expect my bones to be
laid beside five generations OF honest
men and true women who have gone
before. | have children who must
bear my name, good or bad. Every
dollar that have is invested in this
State, except small amount in NORTH
Carolina and Florida. My interest.
are inseparably interviewer with The
Interest OF nv State no GOOD can com,