Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-05-25

VI d6dihSl Sodi DC ldDl ildo
meant to the cotton mills Of the South.
Cotton Planters Sacrificed to a Sem
timent.
This is not the place to explain what
| the retention of the home market
means when q manufacturer seeks a
foreign outlet. will refer, however, to
the duty on raw cotton, which advo-
Gated at the time. Cotton, corn and
| wheat are our great exports. Now
want to ask any man of reason, why
is 1t that duty Of rs cents per bushel
is put on wheat, and Is cents per BUSH
ell on corn, while nothing Is put upon
cotton. The three stand exactly upon
the same basis. 1t Is this. Northern
representatives protect corn and wheat
against importations from Canada and
elsewhere, while cotton has been sac
rif1ced to a mere sentiment. I think
that I am the first representative In
congress to point out the danger to the
cotton planters arising from the i'm
portation Of Egyptian cotton. Ten
years ago there were no importations
| to speak Of. The year I made this
speech there were in round numbers
| sc, 900, 900 pounds, and last year there
was almost 7O,0OO,OO0, an increase Of
nearly 20 per cent. Since then two
mills have been built in South Caro-
lima Tin one Of which I am interested)
using nothing but Egyptian cotton.
Now I contend, If the cotton farmers
were protected like the wheat and corn
planters we could produce anykind Of
cotton that is needed. South Carolina
is the home of the cotton plant. No
cotton comes into competition with our
sea island cotton, and common sense
| tells me, that we can develop any
grade needed between that and the
short staple. Ten years ago the CAL
len long staple was planted all over
upper South Carolina, and I know Of
some men who bought gins especially
adapted to this cotton, but they had to
throw them away. Egyptian cotton
has driven them out Of the business The
red hills of this up-country are the
very place where this cotton should be
grown, but how can we develop 1t In
competition with the cheap labor of
Egypt? What are we doing now? Meet
ing and passing resolutions to reduce
the acreage, while English engineers
are constructing dams in the valley OF
the Nile, which in two years will add
one million and one-half bales, or one
eighth Of the cotton crop; while we are
reducing the acreage here our compet-
itors are increasing it, and we are to
furnish the market for the increase. I
say, away with the impracticable
craftsmanship which will sacrifice the
cotton planters Of South Carolina to
those Of Egypt. After I was elected
to the senate I attempted to pursue
the same line in everything; but I was
very i'll for a long time after my cam
paign, confined to my bed at one time
for seven weeks. These terrible cam
paigns Of ours in the heat Of summer,
making speeches day after day, sitting
for four or five hours, your clothes wet
with perspiration, in the sun, and one
half the time without dinner, there are
but few men who have gone through
with it and not had their health i'm
shortened the days Of the gallant Earle
and even rugged John Irby.
The Treaty With Spain.
While I was in this physical and
mental condition, the war with Spain
came on and I had to grapple with
these new questions. I was sick, heart,
body and soul. All that I wanted was
peace and to be let alone. The cruel
taunts and sneers Of Republican and
traitor" hurt me then, while I can
laugh at them now. I made up my
mind not to create any further issues,
but tamely fall in and follow the lead
of Jones, Tillman, Pettigrew & Co., and
then to quietly retire at the end Of my
term. My intimate friends know that
this was my intention. When they
concluded to defeat the treaty, could
not see what great harm could come
to the country from forcing the Repub-
licans to call an extra session. 1t
would only postpone matters by one
month. At the request Of some Of the
Democratic leaders, I made speech,
not against the treaty but against i'm
perialism, which speech was at the
time, and with the lights before me,
my opinion. I had not drawn the dis
tinction between expansion and impe-
rialism, and fully intended to vote
against the ratification Of the treaty,
was so tired of being abused and ac-
cused Of disloyalty to my party. At
that time, however, I contended IN pr1-
vate that the rejection Of the treaty
was unwise even from a party stand
point I had then, as I have now, very
little confidence In the political sagac-
ity Of Senator James K. Jones, and l
believed that Senator German was at
heart an expansionist, because he Vo-
ted for the acquisition Of the Hawaiian
islands, and suspected him Of an am
bition after Mr.. Bryan advised the rat
iflcation Of the treaty, to defeat 1t and
Not that objected to this, for German
is a conservative man, and might have
been elected president the last time,
could he have commanded the nomina-
ton. However, on Sunday afternoon,
the day before the treaty was to be Vo-
ted upon, the news was flashed over the
wires that our troops had been fired
upon by the very people whom we had
freed from the tyranny of Spanish op-
preston. This presented an entirely
new situation, and before I had finish
ents of the New York Sun, and I
think of The World, called at my
house before I had consulted with
any human being, and I expressed
this opinion, as the files Of the
newspapers will show. One month
of delay might mean serious conse-
quences to the people Of the United
States It must be remembered that
Spain had the sympathy Of entire Eu-
rope, and after the battle Of Manila
nothing but the tact Of Dewey and the
attitude of England prevented us from
being forced into war for which we
were totally unprepared. To defeat the
treaty meant that we were still at war
with Spain, and that our soldiers were
intruders in the Philippine islands. TO
ratify the treaty meant not state or
war, but a mere insurrection and de-
prived other nations Of an excuse FOR
interference. 1t seems to me any way,
that no matter what the situation or
causes may be, that the only position
for man to take when we are engaged
in foreign war is to stand by his own
country. right or wrong. Let me re-
view the situation a moment. In the
first place, I had not as long as 1t could
be avoided, been in favor Of the war,
and had but little sympathy with the
nf1ammatory addresses made in con-
gress, which embarrassed the president
in his humane efforts to avert the war.
could not but look with distrust up
on those men who forced the war on
by frantic appeals and then, the very