The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-07-09

sons on the altar of their country
that they felt that they were making
an unholy sacrifice? Is it not now
plain that, but for that sacrifice the
world would long ago have had but
one master, and he the tyrant of
autocracy? And if majority of Mr..
Dominick's associates in Congress
had voted as he did, unquestionably
the worst of our forebodings would
have happened.
| War was declared. The allies il
desperation sent their representa-
tives to us to urge us to- send help at
once, or all was lost.We had mere
! handful of men, about a hundred
/ thousand, drilled and equipped. Tc
have raised an adequate volunteer
army, Judging from our experience
in Mexico, would have taken full
three years, if it could have been
done at ALL France was bled white.
| to use the Kaiser's own expression.
Haig's back was against the wall. Italy
was retreating before the Austrians.
Russia was paralyzed and Belgiur
and Poland lay bleeding at the kai
ser's feet. The fatal end seemed dis
tant, not years but months, and Z
Kaiser laughed at our supposed i'm
potency, thinking that we would d"
pend upon the slow process Of v"'
unteering, while his conquering a!
mics proceeded to grind the life Or
of his enemies.
The Draft Act.
But here again the great wisdom
of our Presidnt foresaw the all bu'
superhuman task, and set in motor
that agency which wrought a mira
Gle. He proposed the straight con-
scripion draft act, which passed Cor
gress by vote of 397 to "a. Mr.
Dominick voted mo" with 90 of hi9
associates.
Viewed in the light of subsequent
events, the impartial selection of ric'
and poor alike, the all but miracr
lous massing of millions of men in an
incredibly short time and the produc
ton of the most effective army TIA
ever wrested victory from defcc'
who will say that Mr.. Dominica
Judgment was not in error when J.
voted gainst the draft.
Again Votes @NO"'
Again, when our country was
launched on a policy Of war, and
German spies were in every city and
; hamlet, ih the army, in the navy. in
the very Offices in Washington; when
such tremendous newspaper syndi-
Gates as the Hearsts papers were i'm
peding the governments efforts and
giving out information that would
benefit the enemy, an amendment :c
y the espionage act was proposed in
congress, known as the Gard"
amendment, which proposed to limk
and to punish the activities Of thos'
papers which were avowedly agai'
the war and against the preside'''
conduct of it. On this the vot'
stood 272 for and 12s against. ~
Dominick voted with the minority.
I might mention the prohibition
bill for the conservation of food; the
censorship bill and other bills favor
ed by the administration as war
measures and opposed by Mr. DOM
inIck, bu. sufficient has been said 10
indicate my meaning, when saw
that Mr.. Dominick's votes in Con-
gress in the most vital period Of orr
national history were out Of accord
with the majority Of his Democrat'
associates in Congress, and, as I be-
lieve, did not reflect the sentiment o.
his home state.
In the oath prescribed for candi-
dates for Congress and for the Unit
ed States senate by our state Dem
ocratic convention, we find the fol-
lowing: "I will support the political
principles of the Democratic party
during the term of Office for which
may be elected and work in accor
with my Democratic associates in
congress on all party questions"
The purpose of this oath is evi'
dent would certainly call for thu
most deliberate consideration by !:
legislator before casting his vote
against majority Of his Legislative
associates on a question that involve'
the very destiny Of our nation.
II as many people believe Mr.
4oI If