The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-10-16

After long experience Of the dlsingcnuOuS-
ness with which statistics are used IN political
controversies we can recall nothing which
surpassed in hardlhood the attempt to spread
the belief that The customs duties levied al the
southern ports represent the extent OF the con
trlbutiOn Of the southern consumers to this
branch of the revenue. Senator Conkllng, OF
course, knows perfectly well that the dlstri-
buting agencies Of foreign goods beng mainly
at the north, the bulk of the duties paid by
south are paid in New York, Boston and Phil
adelphia. He knows also that the southern
contributions to the internal revenue are not
to be measured by the amount of internal
revenue collected at the south, lnasmnch as
southern consumers repay IN the price OF
northern goods the tax paid by the manutac-
turer at the place of production. He knows,
further, that the exports and imports at north
ern ports are made up in considerable de
gree of articles of southern production and
consumption. We are not so sure that he
knows, but we strongly suspect it, that the
falling off III the exports of cotton, in spite OF
the rapid increase OF the crop, ~ largely due
to increased consumption by home manufac-
lures, and that In this increased consumption
the south itself has a respectable share. His
proposition that the south cannot be safely
intrusted with the government because Its
mines only produced in 1870 three and quar-
ter per cent as much as the northern mines,
must be one of his rare touches of humor.
We have taken 1t for granted that the south
crn property holder IS the same kind OF human
beng as the rest of us, and has to be concillat-
ed by the same methods. We have thought,
therefore, that the denuncistory tone of repub-
lican platforms and speeches and articles ever
since 1860 was, as a matter of practical poll
politics, a mistake, and that, with more for
bearance of speech and more blindness
to faults which were, IN moving world,
plainly temporary, and little liveller
perception of virtues on our part, the owners
of the commercial, financial, and industrial
interests at the south might have been largely
won over into sympathy with, if not active
support of, the party at the north which is, In
our eyes, unquestionably the guardian OF those
interests all over the country. The policy
which has been pursued, however, and OF
which Mr.. Cankling has been one of the fore.
most supporters, has been that of organizing
through Federal agents, the non.taXpayers OF
the south against the taxpayers in political
party, and preaching to them at every election
hatred and diStrust of the very persons &c
whose skill and intelligence the south mus,
mainly look for the revival of her material
! prosperity. The mischief thus done We be
! lievc to be incalculable, and speeches like Dir
/ Conkilng's, which have not even the eXcust
/ of fauatical ignorance, cannot but greatly
aggravate IT. because they convince the south
erners that the republican party is determined
! to hate an pursue them whether they prcsen
4 themselves rs taxpayers or non-taNpayerS.
| Ii the republican party should father th'
}, senator's doctrine that those sections of III
country which have most capital and manu-
lures and the best mines ought Ia have mos
political power, and that the distribution o
I this power, as made by the Federal constltu
ton on the basis partly Of population ant
q. partly of historical unity, is In practice dan
rerous and unfair, il will insure itself as deel
I and swift damnation a overlook the Fedora
party for sins much less gucvouS.