The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-21

obligations aud the man who acknow-
ledgcs no internal law save that Of his
own viii aud appetite. Above all Wc
should treat with a peculiar contempt
uotis adherence the man who in "a
| spirit OF sho0 cynlcism debauches
either our business lif6 or our pollti-
cal life. There are men who use the
phase practical politics" as merely
a euphemism for dirty politics and Il
Is such men who have brought the
word politician" into discredit. There
are other men who use the noXious
phrase business is business" as an
excuse and justification for every kind
Of mean and crooked work; and these
men make honest Americans hang
their heads because ~ some of the
things they do. 1t Is the duty of every
honest patriot TO rebuke i'm emphatic
fashion alike the politician who doe"
not understand that the only kind
of practical politics" which a nation
can with safety tolerate is that kind
which we know as clean politics, and
that We are as severe i'm our condem-
nation of the business tickery wNch
succeeds as of the business trickery
which fails. The scoundrel who fails
can never by any possibility be as
dangerous to the community as the
scoundrel who succeeds; and of all
the men in the country, the worst
citizens, those who should excite in our
minds the most contemptuous abhOr-
renee, are the men who have achieV-
ed great wealth, or any other form of
success in any save a clean and
Straightforward manner.
Cottcn and the South.
1t will always be true that in Ger
tain of the Southern States cotton will
be the basis of wealth, the mainstay
of prosperity in the future as in the
past. The cotton crop is of enor-
nous consequence to the entire coun-
try. 1t was the cotton crop of the
South that brought four hundred mill
lion dollars 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 a practical mo-
nopoly in the production of raw cot
ton. No other clothing material can
be accepted as a substitute for cotton.
/ welcome the action of the planters
in forming a cotton association and
every assist.,nce shall be given them
by the National Government. More
over, we must not forget that the
work of the manufacturers of the
South supplement the work of
the planter. 1t is an advantage
to manufacture the raw material
here and sell to the world the finished
goods. Uuder proper methods of dis
tribution it may we'll be doubted
whether there can be such a thing
as over-Droduction of cotton. Last
years crop was nearly fourteen mil
lion bales, and yet the price was sur-
ficiently high TO give n handsome
nrofit to the planter. The consump
ton of cotton increases each year,
Our Relations with China.
At present our market for cotton
is largely in China. The boycott of
our goods in China during the past
year was especially injurious to the
cotton manufacturers. This govern
ment is doing, and will continue to
do, all it can to put a stop to the
boycott. But there is one measure to
be taken toward this end in which l
shall need the assistance of the Con-
gress. We must insist firmly on our
rights; and China must beware of per-
sisting in course of conduct to which
we can not honorably submit. But we
in our turn must recognize our duties
exactly as we insist upon our rights.
We can not go into the international
court of equity unless We go in with
clean hands. We can not expect
China to do us justice unless we do
China justice. The chief cause in
bringing about the boycott of our
goods in China was undoubtedly our
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 especial
ly some of the forms which that ac-
tion haN taken. But the fact remains
that in the past we have come short
Of our duty toward 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 unskiled-
from coming here.
L am convinced that the well-being
of or" wage workers demands the
exclusion of the Chinese coolies, and
it is therefore our duty to exclude
them, just AS it would be the duty of
China to 1<clude American laboring
men if they became in any way Il
menace to China by entering into her
country. The right is reciprocal, and
in our last treaty with China it was
explicitly recognized as 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 or
professional man. should be given the
same right of entry to, and the same
courteous treatment in. this country
as are accorded to the student or
traveller, the business man or the pro-
fessional man of any nation. Our laws
and treaties should be SO framed as
to guarantee to all Cinnamon, save of
the excepted coolie class, the same
right of entry to this country and the
same treatment while here as is guar
anteed to citizens of any other nation.
By executive action | am as rapidly as
possible putting stCc TO the abuses
which have grown up during many
years in the administration of this law.
/ can do good deal, and will do a
good deal, even without the action of
the Congress: but | can not do all
that should be done unless such ac-
tion is taken, and that action / most
earnestly hope will be taken. 1t is
needed in our own interest and especi-
ally in the interest of the Pacific slope
and of the South Atlantic and Gulf
States; for it is short-sighted indeed
for us to permit foreign competitors
to drive us from the great markets of
China. Moreover, the action | ask
is demanded by considerations that
ioI inf