Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-04-22
4 New Note in The S nth.

uC siSs sPSCSh vi A'SAaeo' "''>
Laurin of South Carolina, de-
livcred, last Thursday evening. at
the banquet of the Southern Manu-
fac turing Association. certain
to attract wide attention. Senator Nc
I.aurin is a representative of the pro-
gresSive element OF his section. He is
IA young man of 49, of the best blood
of the South, college bred, friend OF
ship subsidies and protec-
ton Of American industries. He sees
the great injury which the South does
itself through clinging with snch
bigoted tenacity to Democratic tradi-
lions. He has called himself a Demo-
crat only on account of the negro
issue: and now that the disfranchise-
ment which has gone into operation III
many Southern states. has made the
negro a less important factor at the
polls. he urges the intelligent. progress
sive white men of the South TO con-
slider the desrability of getting out of
the Democratic rut and catching up
with the times.
In the North as well as in the South
his speech will be read VITA much in
terest. 1t is n new note, and well
come one. to be sounded by one in au-
thority in the South. We cannot give
his speech in full but we give below n
running summary of it with several
verbatim extracts:
Talk about the New South. the
name is Il misnomer. 1t is the same
old spirit revived which sixty years
ago made the South the dominant pow
er in this nation-a position of which
nothing but war could have robbed
her. What we need now to again at
tain that proud eminence is the same
broad conception and the same COM
prehensive grasp of the true situation
The last twenty years have wrought
an industrial revolution in the South.
which must find expression in our
social and political life
The country is not loose agglOmer
alton of sovereign states; the war of
lS6l-'65 settled that. 1t is not theory
bound democracy but gigantic and
expanding republic: the war of 1883
settled that.
Why not then accept conditions as
they are and make the most of them?
The agitation of such issues only
serves to sidetrack broad American
doctrines: they should not be made
party questions because they grow out
of actual political and economic condi-
tons. which it is beyond the power of
either party To change. l care not of
what political faith the occupant of the
White House might have been: for. if
a true American. mindful of the honor
and dignity Of the nation, the results
of the Spanish War could not be wide
ly different from what they are today.
Why should our people be the only
ones to close their eyes to what is GO
ing on? Why should We move along
in the same old ruts and insist that
political policies and old traditions
long since dead, are vital living issues
and depend upon them for the saliva
ton of the South?"
In last years election the party Of
Mr.. Bryan, the new Democracy" with
populism, socialism and sectionalism
in il, did not carry a single state in
which the people voted on the merits.
That was not the case in the South
There the people voted once more for
industrial agitation and revolution.
THE South is the American end of
America" Yet. as things are in pol
itics, single doubtful state up North
commanded more consideration than
all the Southern states put together.
one party said to the South; why
should | consult you? l have nothing
to hope from you" The other said:
I've got you any way. and will do as
| please; help yourself if you can"
What a position for a brave. high
spirited people. bound hand and foot.
the miserable slaves of one party and
a football for the other. l. for one. do
not believe that the people of the South
are ready to trust this government
into the hands of this So-called new
Democracy to begin the leveling
process through the exercise of the
taxing power: and yet this is exactly
what this new propaganda means, and
outside of the South it is proclaimed
by the very same class who preach
and practice social equality between
the races. The two doGmas are insep-
arably interviewer. Go into the West
attend one of their campaign meetings
scratch beneath the skin and you will
find the same old social equality dog
ma. to the tune of which the soul of
John Brown is still marching on. Tax
alton for the purpose of equalizing or
| redistributing property is rank social
ism. not Democracy"
The talk about Imperialism is folly:
lit dcceives no man of intelligence. =
The expansion we are seeing is not
merely territorial: it is an expansion of
American political ideas. commerce
civilization. Those who oppose it will