The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-06-19
CHI A r T. f. S TON.
SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 10, 1869.
The Friends OF tho xVorkingman.


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 plapks in the platform are not difficult
to understand; but why does convention
which represents the American Irishman,
advocate o principle which, to the working
man, is q anever-ending oppression and loss :?
The convention, it is presumed, represents
the Irish Radicals, If there are enough Of
| them in the country to make up respeota-
BILE delegation; but, whether Radical or Dem
ocratic, there is no rational excuse for at-
tempting to give strength to system which
makes New England and Pennsylvania rich,
but taxes every article Of food, and makes
dear every stitch Of clothing that the work
ingman may wear.
Atthe same time, the Irishmen Of the
South should not allow themselves to be
persuaded by the soft words of Senator
Sprague, that even that eminent New Eng
land manufacturer is the friend Of tho bone
and sihew Of the land. It is his desire, ap-
parently, to redistribute the currency Of
the country, so 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 Sprague is
doubtless sincere when he says that the
Carolinss and Georgia and the Mississippi
States want more banking capital. 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 England; thread
which, it is feared new habits and manners
may cut in twain. Senator Sprague wants
cotton for his mills, and New England,
though it can produce four thousand pray
ing parsons and Peace Festival with one
hundred real anvils, cannot produce the
feecy Southern staple. This must come
from the South, and hence the interest which
Senator Sprague takes in its general culti-
vation. Again, Senator Sprague desires to
reduce the cost of manufacturing the staple
by decreasing the rate Of wages. Skilled
labor commands q high price, too high q
prioe to be agreeable to tAsakaan who pays
the bills, and the New England Senator is
anxious, by hook OF by crook, to reduce the
price of o fair days work. This would i'm
prove the position Of the mill-owner; but
it would take money out Of the pocket Of
men who have not now more than enough
for the support Of themselves and their
families. e.F
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 decentralization Of, the whole
country, olings tenaoiously TO Protection.
In all his speeches he warns the people
against Free Trade, and advocates policy
which has already strangled American COM
mercs and piled mountain high the bur.
dens under which the workingman grosns
High tariffs injure the working classes in
every direction. They make the laboring
man pay more dearly for Ibis clothing, for
his tools, for the necessaries Of life. The
cry Of the workingmen should always be,
FREE TRADE AND Low TAXATION. This 10
the whole platform; and necessary to it are
economy In the administration Of public
affairs, the imposing Of equal burdens upon
all classes, and q return to specie payments.
Offree trade Senator Sprague 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. Az 1t
10, he only proves that he Is our enemy
rather than our friend.
We think that Senator sprague is 90 hon.
sst az he 10 earnest; but his principles are
not our principles and his ways not our
ways. AS long as he is . protectioAjst he
is foe Of the South; and that he has very
sensibly bought real estate in Columbia and
will spend money there, IL no reason Why
our people should bow down and worship.
------~e-ee-sAD..s-s
Tho Late Horny j. Rsyaona.
Mr.. Henry u Raymond, the editor Of
the New York Times left the office Of that
Journal apparently in good health ct mid
! night on Thnrsday, and died 81. ave O'clock
yesterday morning. Mr.. Rsymond was in
the prime Of his intel1Aatual viror hAsno