The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-01-16
A New Application Of Old Principles.

A New Application Of Old Principles.
Mr.. John j. Patterson is the new United
States Senator from South Carolina, elected BY
the Republicans, and, possibly. to be greeted
by motion for committee of investigation
before he has warmed the seat of his senatorial
armchair. The charge of his having bought
the Legislature of his State is made against
him in the most unequivocal terms, and an
opportunity ought to be given him to disprove
it if not true. That he denies it was to be e1-
pected, but simple denial is not sufficient,
and ought not to satisfy either the public or
himself where the accusation is so grave and
80 circumstantial.
But Mr. Patterson does not simply deny that
he resorted to any improper means to secure
his seat; he affirms what special influence he
did use, and by which he captivated the legis-
lators of South Carolina. He is, it seems, na.
tive of Pennsylvania, and is proud to uphold
in the State of his adoption the principles
which are supposed especially to distinguish
that of his birth. He went, he says, before the
people of South Carolina as a candidate for
the United States Senate "on the broad princi-
Piles of protection to home industry" He pre-"
sented his views also in legislative convention
of both parties, and so acceptable were they
that number of Democrats gave him their
votes in addition to those of his own party:
The purchase of the Legislature was this and
this only-that he promised that South Carroll
ma should be under the bene6cent rule of pro-
lection as great and prosperous as the State
from which he came.
Mr.. Patterson's presentation o. the subject
was both simple and comprehensive. All that
South Carolina needs, he told his people, ls
that she should manufacture her own raw ma
terial, instead of sending it to Europe and New
England, to be manufactured there and re-
turned in cloth. He seems to have assumed
that so far as South Carolina is concerned there
is no protection against foreign competition In
manufactured cotton goods, and yet he, of
course, knows, whether they know it or not in
South Carolina, that there is nc possible tex
ture of cotton that is not covered by the tariff.
The protection then that the people need, ard
which Mr.. Patterson refers to, is not against
foreign competition, for that they have already
in common with the rest of the country, but
against Northern competition. 1t is the goods
from Lowell, Lawrence, Newark, York Mills
and elsewhere that must be kept out Of South
Carolina in order to encourage her people to
manufacture their raw material. She must
have State tariff, and as, of course, they are not
so mad as to hope for any such thing by State
action-for notification in any form must be
understood by this time to be losing business
they can only mean to ask for it of Congress.
Mr.. Pa.terson's first duty, after disposing of the
committee of investigation, will be to introduce
bill for the protection of home industry in
South Carolina.
And why not? Why may he not reckon
with reason upon the support of his fellow,
members of the same faith in both houses of
Congress? If it was good thing to foster the
manufacturing interests of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island against the competition of Eng
land and France, why is it not an equally good
thing to protect South Carolina against Mas
sachusetts and Rhode Island? Why, indeed,
is it not better and more reasonable thing
to do this last than it ever was to do the first!
The raw material is not the growth of New
England as it is of the South, and therein the
South has great advantage over the North.
There is not an argument or consideration
that was ever brought forward to uphold the
wisdom or the necessity of a protective tariff
for this country as in competition with any
other that may not be applied with ten-fold
force to the competition between the South and
the North. That the New England State and
Union, and, therefore, there can be no recog-
milton of any antagonistic interest between
them, is an objection of no force whatever; for
if the antagonsm really exists, and tariff can
be made to protect the interest of one portion
of the people at the expense of the other, then
the Union is oppressive and cruel. So let Mr..
Patterson bring in his little bill and push his
protective friends to conclusions. Give South
Carolina the protection she needs if that be
the true policy. A principle is good for moth
ing that will not bear the test Of the EXTREMIST
application, and there could not be fairer trial
than the suggestion of which Mr.. Patterson
intimates secured him his election.-Mew York
Evening Post