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

IL " England prevented us from bein
}, iorced into war for which we wer
IF totally unprepared. To defeat tn
d treaty meant that we were still at wa
: WIN Spain, and that our soldiers wer
intruders i'll the Philippine islands. T.
ratiiy the treaty meant not state O
: war, put mere instruction and de
prlVed other nations of an excuse 70
interference. 1T seems to me any way
I that no matter what the situation O
causes may be, that the only position
, ior man to take when we are engaged
III foreign war Is to stand by his owl
, country, right or wrong. Let me re.
} view the situation moment. In the
hr.t place, L had not, as long as il
could be avoided, been in favor of the
war, and had but little sympathy with
Iue lnliammatory addresses made in
Eon!ress, which embarrassed the
PRESIDENT in his humane efforts to
avert the war. | could not but look
win dlstrust upon those men who
lorced The war on by frantic appeals
ana then, the very moment that hos
tliitios were begun, criticised every
movement made to bring the war to a
/ speedy and successful end. 1t was n
snali and petty part for Senators to play
hSulnaldo had many warm sympathiz-
ers In Congress, who compared HIM to
NGeorge Washington" and his half
naked followers to the heroes of KINGS
mountain and Bunker Hill. Some of
tneh now cannot conceal the chagrin
mnlch ,hey feel as the capture of
ASulnald0 and the cessation of hosiil,.
ties. IL ls charged that my vote rati-
ned the treaty and stopped the war.
Il 80, l am proud Of the fact, and
am thankfnl .hat | had the strength
10 40 my duty and cas-. that vote. I
lear that | would not have had the
courage to do it, had | not felt that nv
vote was absolutely necessary Ln,
realizing the far-reachlng effect and the
learl'ti responsibility, cast my vote
accordingly. have never seen the ,lay |
Wnen regretted it, and my children |
WIZ remember it after am dead. with
pleasure and pride, as the most giori-
GUS act of my life.
EXPANSION.
VIII not undertake to demonstrate
the wisdom of expansion, but will con-
tent myself by simply say ing that we
are nation of expansionisls. We
nave expanded during the last one
hundred years on this continent from
eight hundred thousand to four millio,
square miles. Expansion is the bed
rock OF Democracy. Thomas Jefrer-
'oE' tne hrst expansion President.
added l,l21,O0O square miles to our
area. 1he annexation of Texas, Cali
,orhla, Arizona, New Mexico and ,,
Nevada were by Democratic Admins
.ratlons. Andrew jackson would TO-
iay De denounced as an imcerialist by
nc very same people who eat "Jack-
son day dinners " and worship at his
shrine. Old Hickory said on this .,
SUBJECT, 81 have thought with the '.
ancient Roman, that it is right never |
% cede any territory within the bound :,
'fy OF the Republic, but always to add !;
IL oy honorable treaty, thus extend +,
nS the area of freedom" All this talk l.
about imperialism Is hosh. The nen- q
'le understand it as the cry Of "wolf - !
phcn there Is no wolf. When Mr.
}ryan abandoned the money question
ma attempted to substitute GImpcrial-
sm," he stood about rs much chance
u being elected as a split-foot bull +
rog did Of kicking all the water ont
u Lake Michigan. AT least, that is I
ne opinion of friend of mine. The
'rlce paid for these islands has been
,iVen as an objection. This is absurd. :
England, France, Germany, Russia or /,
'apan would pay ten times as much
occupy our position in the Philip-
,ine Islands. Lying as they do along /
ne hslatlc coast, they are the gateway
o the Orient. Tie people of the '
south arc vitally interested in the trade
u China; so far, we have only touched y
me OF the provinces. Minister WI. /
ne other night in Charlotte, told of /
he teemlng millions in South China.
ma SAID the great problem was to =.
'lothe the people. They are forced to :,
Use SILK TO make their clothes, but that
his was expensive and almost an i'm
possibility. / am told that, for fear of !
Wearing them out, the Chinese very !
arely wash their clothes. | have
heard it wittily said that the chief diff !
erence between the Chinese and Jan. ,
lnese Is, that the former never wash =
heir clothes, and the latter never wash
heir body. | believe it was Mr.. WI
VINO said the other night, to teach the
Jhlnese to wear cotton shirts and then
get the emperor to issue an edict TO
make the tails only one inch longer. q
md the cotton crop of the South :.
would be exhausted by that one inch !.
md none left for Europe. If any
argument was needed to show the I'M
,ortance Of these markets, the effect ,,
'f recent troubles IN China is sufficient
Cotton goods are stacked up in the {
unstable, and when the
pest judges thought last fall that cot Il
on would be twelve and one half C.
lfieen cents per pound, it has declined =,
more than three cents. am al ex-
favor the political, com
nercial and religious expansion of our
country. This is along the line Of
progress. We cannot attain certain
growth and then stand still. AS IN
,he individual, so in the nation. We
either move forward towards perfcc.
,lon, or backwards toward decay.
There are certain crises in the life of
every man which seized leads to- sue.
cess, let them pass and the chance is
lost forever. The capacity to take ad-
vantage of opportunity constitutes the
difference between the man who sue
CceuS and the one who fo;)s .nl o, - |