davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
A UNIFYING
FORCE

The Republicans cannot agree with
his tariff views; the country, we are
sure, will never put him into the presi-
dency, but assuredly he must be con-
coded to be the ablest, the strongest, the
most influential Democrat in Congress
to-day, and he has shown a marvellous
capacity for leadership. His party asso-
ciates stand solidly behind him, and that
could not have been said of any other
man in recent years who led the Demo-
Gratis in the House of Representatives:
The shrewd Republican politicians
who predicted that the Democrats IN
the House would be split into a dozen
bitterly fighting factions in less thar a
month, are now amazed at Underwood.s
success as a harmonizer and a uni
fving force. He has succeeded where
everybody else failed; it seems likely
that with the prestige of success he will
grow larger and more powerful as time
passes. We detest his political prlncl-
ples, but it would be folly to deny his
strength and capacity-The Post En-
press, Rochester, N. Y. June q, 1911.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
a New Leader
From the South

"The Presidents veto, of course, de-
stroyed the Free List Bill, as we'll as
all the other features of the Democratic
platform. The special session, however,
was not without far-reaching results.
Its chief accomplishments were 4 reor-
ganized Congress and a resurrected
Democratic majority under a new lead
ership. 1t also emphasized the new
part which the Southern States are now
playing in national affairs. With a
Southerner as Chief Justice, a Southerner
as majority leader in Congress-, and
Southerners as prominent candidates fol-
the Democratic presidential nomination
Clark, Underwood and Wilson-the
nation is certainly more united than al
any time since the Civil War. No man
r~ejoices more over this changed situa'
ton than Underwood. He is ever more
interested in the solidarity of the forty
eight States than in the union of the
Democratic party."-Burton 7. Hen.
drick in McClare's Magazine, February
1912.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Underwood
for President

The argument that he lives too far
South to be available is without weight.
The country has reached that state of
union-has been so closely drawn to-
gether by railroad and telegraph-that
Alabama is brought to the door of New
York. Massachusetts, and Texas are near
neighbors and even the two Portland,,
of Maine and Oregon, stand within easy
hailing distance Of each other. So far
as any feeling of sectionalism is con-
cerned, or any prejudice against the Sc
lection of a Southern man for the presi-
dency, Underwood is, like Lincoln, a
native of Kentucky, and therefore as
much Northern as Southern, was born
during the Civil War, and grew to man.
hood after the old bitterness between
North and South had died out. He is
a big, brainy, courageous man.-BGlt
more Sun, July 26, 1911.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Southern
Leaders

Naturally the men who have led the
Democrats in the House of Representa-
tives so successfully under trying con-
ditions are freely mentioned at the pres
ent time as possible candidates for the
presidential nomination by the Demo-
cratic Convention. These leaders are
Champ Clark, Speaker of the House,
and Oscar w. Underwood, a new and
coming man.
Both are Southerners, by the way, but
in my mind there is no reason in these
days of broadening views and lessening
prejudices why a Southerner should not
be nominated and elected to the presi-
Dental chair of the United States. In
fact, there are many reasons why it
should be so."-London cable of William
Randolph Hearst in the Nsv York
american, Monday, September Is, 1911.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03

Candidate

Mr.. U~nderwood's service to the coun-
try during nine terms in the National
House of Representatives has been most
distinguished, and has made his name a
household word in the homes of the
people. For more than 20 years he has
been in the very front of his party's
battle line, a leader from his youth, and
ever faithful to his party's principles
and candidates. No Democrat can find
a flaw in his political record; no charge
of desertion in any campaign; no accu-
sation of serving special interests can
lie against him.
His congressional colleagues respect
him for his sincerity, his high sense OF
honor, his sagacity and his acknowl-
edged ability, and this in itself is an
infallible proof of his merit, for none
know so we'll the capabilities of a
statesman as those who have served
many years with him and noted his
conduct in days of peace and those OF
political storm.-Cincinnati Enquirer,
October %, 1911.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03

The most humiliating paradox in
American politics to-day is the shrink
ing attitude of one OF our W people
toward the presidential possibilities OF
Southern men.
The civil war, the memories of which
furnished the nursery for this indefensi-
bic sectional abasement, is so years at
our back. Ninety per cent of the Amer
lean voters who elect a president re-
member this war and its dividing rancor
only as history. With outstretched
hands, having given every proof of view
ing Mason and Dixon's line as no more
a political barrier than the Mississippi
or the Rockies, the dominant generation
at the North invites the South, its pub
lie men, by right of citizenship and by
right of demonstrated ability, into full
fellowship in the nations counsels.
South Wanting in BoIdness
What has been the answer of the
South-at least, the answer that may be
interpreted by the silence or the diff
dence of hundreds Of thousands of rep
resentative S!outherners?
Obsesscd by the ghosts of half a CEN
fury ago, guilty of an embarrassment
and a self-consciousness that is nothing
short of arrant sectional cowardice,
there is a feeling among many South
erners that the wraiths of the sixties
still stand between the South and the
White House-the South and that par
~ticipatior in the nations voice, the ma
TONS destiny, to which the nation is
eager to admit us.
The consequences of this abnegation OF
common manhood could not be more
forcefully portrayed than in the words
of the Constitutions Washington CORE
spondent, in a dispatch discussing the
presidential status resulting from the
Harvey-W Wilson, atterson episode. III
he" writes our correspondent, canvass
ing the possibilities of Oscar Under,
wood, the brilliant Albanian, along
with other Southerners, pays the penal
ty of being a Southern man, it will b
the South and not the North to ex.
act it"
South's Political Stage Fright ,
That is also an accurate delineatior
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Takes Up
Underwood

The years since the Civil War have
rolled too fast and far to permit it to
be conceivable any longer that the cir
cumstances Of Southern birth should
constitute in Northern judgment a dis
qualification in any degree whatever.
Both as to nomination and as to cleo
ton the Southerner will be rated in 1912
on his individual merits. AS far as this
particular Southerner, MI. Oscar w.
Underwood, is concerned, it is agreeable
to note the absence of geography in
the regard in which he is held in all
parts of the Union.-Ne7V York Sun,
1911.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03

of the manner in which the North views
the situation. We use Underwood only
as an illustration, though his magnificent
record as House leader during the spe-
clal session would, as our correspondent
declares, have assured his nomination
with a sweep"-had he lived at the
North! To the North, it makes no diff
ference where Underwood, or any other
one of the galaxy being discussed, was
born. The representative Northerner
does not bride at mention of Bull Run
or Gettysburg. 1t remains for the South
to develop political stage fright over
these diminishing chapters in Our his
tory. The last s%mouldering embers of
sectional acrimony were stamped out by
the Spanish-American war. The last
barriers between North and South were
crumbled before the achievements of
Joe Wheeler, of Fitzhugh Lee, and of
many of the younger generation on both
sides.
The most convincing evidence of this
fact is the name in which the nation
received the announcement of the broad
and patriotic action of President Taft
in elevating Justice White, a Confed-
crate veteran, to the Chief Justiceship of
the United States Supreme Court. A
protesting snarl 'ose here and there
from the irreconcilables. And the voices
most bitter in denunciation of that
jaundice came from-the Northern
press! 1t is only essential for the occa-
sional freak frebrand to rise and at
tempt to wave the bloody shirt" to be
buried with ridicule, not only by his
confreres, but as we'll by the news
papers of all sections of our common
country.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
AGRICULTURAL

By this measure agricultural tools and implements of every kind are placed
on the free list in order to remove or to prevent any possible discrimination
against our farmers in the prices Of these necessary articles and to PLACE them
o ar equal footing with their competitors elsewhere in the world Our do
nestle manufacturers OF agricultural suI tools implements, vehicles and mahhn-
and combinations. These organizations are selling their products all over the
world, meeting and overcoming all competition. They need no protection.
and, as a rule, ask for none. For a number of years they sold many Of
their products in foreign countries at lower prices than at home, and
so recently as 1907 agricultural associations in public resolutions protested
against this practice. The imports of these agricultural implements ae in
significant; the value of all such imports, free and dutabIe, in 1910 amounted
to $l223O2 The exports of these implements have become a matter of nor
Importance than the domestic trade, the figures indicating an increase from
$3s59lS4 in 1890 TO $28l24O33 in 1910. This foreign business, will be greatly
aided by the removal Of duties from lumber, as provided for in this BILL
BAGeNe AND BAMNG MATERIALS.
1t is of the greatest Importance to or producers of cotton and other agi-
cultural commodities that the materials necessary for basgng sacking, baLng
or otherwise packing these commodities be made free from duty so that they
may be available to the producers at the most favorable prices possible, with
out shelter for the exachon of unreasonable prices by trusts and combinations
of manufacturing interests. The bill, therefore, places all such materials and
articles o the free list including cotton bagging and cotton ties, jute and jue
butts hemp, flax, seq, tow, bunaps, and other materials or fberS suitable for
coverings, and bags or sacks made therefrom, together with all hoop or band
iron or hoop or band steel for baing any commodity and wire for bahng
agricultural products. All these coverings and materials for making coverings
ARE essentials in the transportation of agricultural products % their markets.
The products cnn not receive the benefit of any protection in these markets
and for this and other reasons it is unfair and unjust to continue duties OF
coverings for agricultural produce. These duties have annoyed and burdened
farmers and have served principally to increase the profits of exactng trusts
and combinations
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
LIST BILL VETOED
BY PRESIDENT TAFT
DRAWN BY CHAIRMAN UNDERWOOD OF THE
WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE
A Bill of Direct. Benefit to the Farmer, Whose
Hopes Were Dissipated by a Repub-
ICan President
Mr.. UNDERWOOD THE FRIEND OF ALL CLASSES
MR. UNDERWOOD, FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND
MEANS, SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING REPORT (EXTRACTs).
ITO accompany H. R. 4413]
ITO accompany H. R. 4413.

The Committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred the bill Oh. R.
4413) to place O. the free list agricultural implements, cotton bagging, cotton
ties, leather, boots and shoes, saddhry and harness, fence wire, meats, cereals,
-four, bread, timber, lumber, sewing machines salt, and other articles, having
had same under consideration report it back to the House without amend
ment and recommend that the bill do pass. #
1t was expressly stated Gin the Democratic platform Of 1908 that the bcated
promises of tariff reform made at that time by the Republican Party were a
tardy recognition of the righteousness of the Democratic position OF this ques-
ton, but that the people could not safely intrust the execution of this i'm
portant work to a party which is so deeply obigatedsto the highly protected
interests as is the Republican Party
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Unwise Changes Now Proposed.

1t is now proposed by som that we shall in part abandon the representative
government enacted by our Revolutionary fathers, and adopt a system that in
the end would establish a direct democracy when the ultimate power to make
laws would be placed directly IN the hands OF al me people ane ne .mf epe enc
judiciary intended to protect the Constitutional guarantees OF individual liberty
would become subservent to the will of the majority through political COM
We may forget that Madison and Hamilton, soldiers in the war for Ameri-
can Independence, brought their great minds and mature judgments to the
framing Of the Constitution of the United States, but there is one whose sincere
as compared with a direct one, even by those who doubt the sincerity of pr-
pose and the honesty Of opinion OF other men.
JeAerson's Wise Views.
In speaking of "the equal rights of man," Thomas Jefferson declared:
Modern times have the signal advantage too, of having discovered
the only device by which these rights can be secured, to wit: Govern
mmt by the people, acting not in person, but by representatives chosen
by themselves"
The author of the Declaration of independence, knowing that all popular
failed and ultimately had reverted into uncontrolled depotsn1, reUced that
ne hour had come when a representative government could express the Will
Of government established by our fathers and revert to the direct action of
the people to the principle of ar Athenlan democracy adapted to modern
conditions.
Representative Government Only Check on Excuses and Passion.
Orr representative government was established to guard against the TX
and because or government does not at all times Immediately respond to public
sentiment there are one who insist that the principle Of government is at
Judge real public sentiment that att other times the Instruments of the govern
mcnt (e representative whom the people can change at recurring periods
is at fault and not the basic principle OF the government ITSELF
NV experience as a legislator leads nj to believe that the Congress OF the
United States will always ultimately respond to the enlightened AM matured
sentiment of the people.
With the changing tides of public sentiment, we have repeatedly experienced
changes in the exercise of the taxing powers:
We have seen the legislative branch o: the government in direct response
to public sentiment in recent years enact railroad rate legislation. pure toe
the arid West and build the Tsthmian Canal Can it be truthtuly SAID tina
the Congress has faled ultimately to place on the statute books the laws that
a majority of the American people were in Fave OF as a result OF their perna-
"" "N N Continued OF Next Coumn)
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Not a Question of Expodlency or
Discretion

In the face of these cumulative facts,
there are some in the South who still
question if, ION account of past Of
fenses," it is discreet" or "~expedient"
for a Southern man to offer himself for
presidential honors! We insult our
selves, we debase our manhood, we sur
render the rights the North is so willing
to concede US, when We permit our
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Continued from First Column.)

The response may not be as rapid, but it is probably more permanent and
there is certainly not as much, danger Of enactng hastN Ilconsdered or bad
Legislation.
Cannot a committee of the Congress, composed of representative men,
initiate legislation, within the limitations of the Constitution, guard against eN-
and abuses, protect the rights of the minority, voice the wishes of the
majority, as well or better than the partisan friends of a measure who, in order
leave a wake of destruction as to collateral matters the measure touches?
Untrustworthiness of Petitions.
1t is true that under the system proposed, a petition by a percentage Of
voters would first have to be obtained. But let every man ask himself how
often he has signed petitions 10 please or get rid Of the person who presented
the paper, to determine what thought and elaboration will be exercised by
the average maj who signs a petition.
People Suffer More From Failure of Law Enforcement Than From
Lack of Proper Legislation.
Should I stop to crihcise our government I would say that the people suffer
far more from the failure to enforce the laws OF the statute books than they
do from the lack of proper legislation. How many remedial laws are to be
found on the statute books, that if fairly enforced would remedy the evils
we complain against; but it is SO much easier to cry nut tor new Legislation
than to insist that our nelghbor shall go to Jail tor violating ne Id" we al
ready have. -.
If there are evils in our government a it exists today, it is not in its
organic form. 1t is due to the failure of those in office to honestly, fairly
and Justly perform the duties imposed upon them. The remedy is plan
and the way i. clear. The people should drive from the places Of power and
responsibility the unfahhul servant and elect those who will be faithful and
true to the trust imposed upon them.
The People and the representatives.
You tell M the people cannot elect honest and faithful servants I tell you
that the nasseso of the people are far better judges of men than they are OF
measures, and are far more likely to select an honest man than an honest
measure. III -ou,
the will of the people in his office, and be faithful to the Constitution OF his
country, I say you reflect on the very first principle OF tree government All
mhiudee the honesty and the intelligence of the American people.
was ripe in the hearts of men. For a century it has wlthHood ne storms OF
var greed, and intolerance; through the tempsts of discomfort, danger AM
disaster, it has protected the lives liberty and propery OF our people
let us elect honest men to public office. men who have the courage to stand
for the true interest of the Constitution they represent regardless OF what
effect it may have N their personal fortunes. There then will be n demand
for a change of the fundamental principles of our government
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Worlds First Written Constitution.

They proclaimed Ito the world its first written Constitution, created a gov
ernment of law in absolute contradStncuon to a government of men. The
trainers of the Federal Constitution were familiar with the repeated fail
ues of governments based on the principle of a direct democracy, where the
people were the direct 1aw-makng power and in some instances the ultimate
judicial power of the country
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, AS CON-
CEVED BY TRAINERS OF CONSTITUTION,
ONLY SAFE BULWARK OF CIVIL LIBERTY
Danger of Departing from Path Established
by the Fathers
SPEECH DELIVERED BY Mr.. UNDERWOOD BEFORE CATHOLIC
CLUB OF NEW YORK CITY DECEMBER 10, 1911.

The main purpose OF government is the protection of life liberty and prop
ery The safeguarding Of property rights is essential to 1.-THE dvancemen OF
Il civilization.
Men do not always awake to the realization that the just enforcement OF
the law is more essential to good government than the enactment OF new
statutes
Less than a century and a half ago the Federal Constitution was written;
it become the pattern in its fundamental features for or State Constitutions
The world had experimental with almost every conceivable method OF govern
ment for thousands of yeas before the birth of our republic. The statesmen
who created the form Of the new government we're essentially students Of the
them had offered their lives and their fortunes in the struggle for their countrys
INDEPENDENCE. No man can justly charge. them with either lack of informa-
ton regarding the essential principles of government, or want of honesty
Of purpose to create a government that would secure to themselves and their
children "a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility
provide for the common defense promote the general Welfare, and secure the
Blessings of Liberty to themselves and their PoIerty"
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Dangers Of a Direct Democracy.

They knew from the history of the past that those governments had failed
ii their purpose; that the liberties of the people had been destroyed by the
extremes and excuses which marked the administration OF a government where
The laws were made in the forum by the assembled multitude, and were not the
mature product of selected men especially trained for the work in hand.
They knew that the failure of every direct Democracy was. due not to
The lack of honesty or purpose O the part of the aggregate citizenship as
sembed in the forum, but % the fact that they were often swayed by their
desires. passions and prejudres, and lacked intimate knowledge of the re-
sutant effect of their actions.
No honest nan in his individual entity will controvet the Golden Rule
that all men should do unto others a they would be done BY but it is rarely
the case that the assembled populace car divorce itself from its selfish desires
and deal out abstract justice to those who may be temporarily in the minority:
Realizing the danger and excuses of a direct Democracy, the trainers of
our Constitution endeavored to establish a government that would protect the
rights and liberties of the individual and at the ame time reflect ultimately
the vii. Of the majority in the enactment Of the law of the land.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-04-03
Ours a Representative Form of Government.

To accomplish this end, they established a representative form Of govern
nnt designed to create a law-making power responsive to the WI VIII OF the the
neool. and at the same time they wrote in the Constitution certain checks and
balances Intended to prevent the more brutal force of a majority from de-
stroying the liberty and property rights of the individual
II nus always be borne in mind that the trainers OF our Constitution were
nt attempting to establish freedom Of Government, for they created a Gov
ernnent with only certain delegated powers expressly given to. the Nation by
the States, reserving to the States the right to make most of the laws that
affected the liberties of the citizen. The underlying principle of the Constl
tution was to guarantee the liberty of the citizen and the protection OF his
property rights against the power of the Government ITSELF.