Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-10-20

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should excite In our minds the mes,
contemptuous adherence, are the men
who have achieved great wealth, on
any other form Of success. in any saw
u clean and straightforward manner
So much for the general subject of
industrialism. Now, just a word IN
reference To one OF the great staples
of this country. which Is peculiarly a
staple OF the southern states. OF
course | mean cotton. am Glad 10
see dlversifications of industry In the
south. the growth Of manufact res as
well as the growth OF agriculture. AMI
the growing growth OF diversiflcation
OF crops In agriculture, Nevertheless
u will always be true that IN certain
Of the southern states cotton Will be
the basis Of the wealth, the malnstay
Of prosperity In the future as In the
past. The cotton crop is OF enormous
consequence 10 the entire country. II
was the cotton crop OF the south that
brought four hundred million dolla"s
Of foreign gold into the United States
last year. turning the balance Of trade
In our favor, The soil and climate Of
the south are such that she enjoys q
practical monopoly In the production
OF raw cotton. No other clothing ma.
terial can be accepted as u substitute
for cotton. | welcome the action OF
the planters In forming a cotton Al.
ISOLATION, and every assistance shall
be given them that IA be given them
by the national government. More
over. we must not forget that the
work of the manufacturers In the
south supplements the work Of the
planter. It Is an advantage to man.
ufacture the raw material here and
sell TO the world the finished goods.
Under proper methods Of distribution
It may well be doubted whether there
can be such a thing as overproduction
of cotton. Last years crop was near.
ly fourteen million bales, and yet the
price was sufficiently high to give a
handsome profit to the planter. The
consumption OF cotton increases each
year, and new uses are found for II.
This leads me to a matter Of our
foreign relations. which directly con.
Germs the cotton planter. At present
our market for cotton Is largely In
China. The boycott Of u goods In
China during the past year was espe
cially Injurious to the cotton manu-
f~acturers. This government Is doing,
and will continue to do, all II ear to
put a stop to the boycott. But there
is one measure to be taken toward this
end In when ! shall need the assist
ance OF the congress. We must in
sist firmly on our rights; and China
must beware of p~ersisting in a course
OF conduct to which we can not hon.
orably submit. But we In u turn
must recognize our duties exactly as
| We insist upon our rights. We can
not 60 into the international court of
equity unless we 60 in with clean
hands. We can not expect China to
do us justice unless we do China JUS
tice. The chief aus In bringing
about the boycott Of our goods In
China was undoubtedly u attitude
toward the Chinese who come to this
country. This attitude Of ours does
not Justify the action Of the Chinese
In the boycott, and especially some OF
the forms which that action has taken.
But the fact remains that In the past
we have come short Of our duty to-
ward the people Of China. 1t is our
clear duty, In the interest Of our own
wage-workers. TO forbid all Chinese OF
the coolie class-that is. laborers,
skilled or nnskilled-from coming
here. The greatest Of all duties Is
national self-preservation. and the
most important step in national self
preservation is to preserve in every
way the well-being of the wage.work-
err. / am convinced that the we'll
being Of our wage-workers demands
the exclusion Of the Chinese coolies,
and It Is therefore our duty to exclude
them, just as 1t would be the duty Of
China to exclude American laboring
men II they became in any way a
menace to China by entering into her
country. The right Is reciprocal, and
in our last treaty with China It was
explicitly recognized an inhering In
both nations. But we should not only
operate the law with as little harsh
ness as possible, but we should show
every courtesy and consideration and
every encouragement to all Chinese
who are not of the laboring class to
come to this country. Every Chinese
traveller or student, business man o'
professional man. should be given the
same right to enter to, and the same
courteous treatment In. this country
as are accorded TO the student OF
traveller. the business man or pro
fessional men Of any other nation
| Our laws and treaties should be 81