Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-06-22
oTHE SPIRIT OF COMMERCIALISM."
An Able Georgian Fears 1T Is
Sweeping the Country.

An Able Georgian Fears 1t Is
Sweeping the Country.
John Temple Graves in Savannah
News.
1t is perhaps a little too early to
laugh McLaurin, of South Carolina, to
scorn.
The caricatures that picture him as
beaten and despairing may be as pre-
mature as they are at present popular.
From another point Of view the
South Carolina senator has played his
cards with consummate skill, and is
yet to be reckoned with in the real
crisis of the game.
I do not admire Senator McLaurin.
Neither his personality nor his record
appeal to my respect, and I do admire
the rugged old Populist lion who rules
the Palmetto state.
But neither likes nor dislikes should
blind the public commentator to the
facts as they exist. and the man who
writes for accuracy rather than partl-
san compliance will see that Tillman's
colleague is in a much better position
than he was week ago.
To my mind he has accomplished all
that he has set out to do, and has done
it most effectively, advertising his Of
fetal station at the same time.
Senator McLaurin has projected
clearly, definitely and with dramatic
effect upon the public opinion of South
Carolina the issues which are inevita-
bly bound to divide the Southern De-
mocracy.
No combination Of circumstances
could have concentrated the South
Carolina mind so intensely upon these
questions as the stirring events of the
past fortnight. The issue is raised,
clear and startling. 1t is there to stay,
to rankle, to revolve to grow, until it
is settled at the ballot box.
This is as it should be. That is the
meaning of the ballot-the mission of
popular government.
Now whether by good fortune or
shrewd manipulation McLaurin has
accomplished this without losing his
position, and in so doing he has emerg-
ed from the shadows of uncertainty
that enveloped him and emerged into
the dignity and repute of an accredit-
ed leader of a very interesting and VI
tally important movement.
It would perhaps have been disas-
trous and certainly unfortunate for
the junior senator to have put the for
tunes of his propaganda in crisis at
this time-so soon after its statement
and with only brief and hurried cam
paign of discussion to impress his
views upon the people. Delay is OF
golden value to him. Time is the fac
tor of advantage. The sixteen months
between these issues and the ballot box
may change the political complexion
of South Carolina.
There is no discounting the force
and importance Of McLaurin's political
views, nor the dignity and influence OF
the interests which support him. He
is distinctly the leader of an increas-
ing, intelligent and resolutely growing
sentiment in the state.
It must not be forgotten that Caro-
lima leads all the Southern states in
the proportionate advancement it has
made in manufactures and in agricul-
tural development. The "Hotspur OF
Secession" the Harry Percy of the
Union," has been the industrious Mas
sachusetts of the South. There is no
Southern state in which the new order
of economic and of policy finds
stronger and more practical endorse
ment than among the manufacturers
and producers of the state of John c.
Calhoun.
The same drift Of interest that is
loosening the loyalty of the east to the
Baal of Protection, is stirring among