The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-06-19
CHI sTON.
SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 10, 1869.
The Friends of the workingman.

The Friends OF the Workingman.
The Irish Convention which meets at
Chicago will. according to- the kilograms,
declare in favor, Of protective tariff, uni
versal suffrage and war with England. The
last planks in the platform are not difficult
to understand; but why does convention
which represents the American Irishman,
advocate principle which, to the working
man, is never-ending oppression and loss /?
The convention, it is presumed, represents
tho Irish Radicals, If there are enough Of
them in the country to make up respecta-
BILE delegation; but whether Radical or DEM
ooratic, there is no rational excuse for at
tempting to give strength to system which
makes New England and Pennsylvsnis rich,
but taxes every article Of food, and makes
dear every stitch Of clothing that the work
ingmsn may wear. 80
At the same time, the Irishmen Of the
South should not allow themselves to be
persuaded by the soft words Of Senator
Sprsgue, that oven that eminent New Eng
land manufacturer is the friend Of the bone
and sinsw Of the land. tits his desire, sp-,
psrsntly, to redistributs the currency OF
the country, 50 that the States Of the South
may have enough capital to enable them to
farm high and produce large crops. This
is well enough, and Senator sprsgue is
doubtless sincere when he says that the
Carelinas and Georgia. and the Mississippi
States want moro banking ospital. But the
drift Of the argument is to encourage the
production Of cotton and reduce the wages
Of labor. Cotton is the thread upon which
hangs the life Of New Eugland; thread
which, it is feared, new habits and manners
may cut in twain. Senator Sprague wants
cotton for his mills, and New Englsnd,
though it can produce four thousand pray
ing parsons and Peace Festival with one
hundred real anvils, cannot produce the
aeeoy Southern staple. This must come
from the South, and hence the interest which
Senator Sprague takes in its general Guilt
vation. Again, Senator sprague desires to
reduce the cost Of manufacturing the staple
by decreasing the rate Of wages. Skilled
labor commands high price, too high
price to be agreeable to the man who pays
the bills, and the New England Senator is
anxious, by hook or by crook, to reduce the
price Of fair days work. This would I'm
prove the position Of the mill-ownsr; but
1t would take money out Of tho pocket Of
mon who have not now more than enough
for the support Of themselves and their
families.
One thing more. Senator Sprague, al
though he denounoes with characteristic
vigor the frauds and corruption Of the Rad
ical party, the iniquity in high places, and
the political Generalization Of the whole
country, elings tensoiously to Protection.
In sll his speeches he warns the people
against FREQ Trade, and advocates . policy
which has already strsngled American COM
msrce and piled mountain high the bur-
dsns under which the workingmsn srosns.
High tariffs ipjure the working classes in
every direction. They make the laboring
man pay more dearly for his clothing, for
his tools, for the neoessaries Of life. The
cry Of the workingmen should always be,
FREE Trade AND Low TAXATION. This is
the whole platform; and necessary to it are
economy in the administration Of public
affairs, the imposing Of equal burdens upon
all Glasses, and return to specie payments.
Offree trade Senator Sprsgue is the deadly
enemy, and we say, therefore, that while
he holds that doctrine he cannot be the
friend Of the workingman. Had he gone
before the people with free trade principles
on his lips and in his heart, he could have
carried with him the whole Of the white
working men Of the United States. As it
is, he only proves that he is our enemy
rather than our friend.
We think that Senator sprsgue is as hon.
est as he is earnest; but his principles are
not our principles and his ways not our
ways. As long as he is . protectionist he
is foe Of the South; and that he has very
sensibly bought real estate in Columbia and
will spend money there, is no reason why
our people should bow down and worship.