Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-02-02
Another .Irrenressible Conflict."


The tactics of the foes of reform in every
age are pretty much the same. To go no
further back than the passage of the re-
form bill in England and the free traae
agitation. we find the advocates OF tne
status mo giving utterance to the most
gloomy predictions Of the effects OF
change. Yet. when the reforms were ac-
comnlisbed. many of their stoutest op-
moments became their warmest cham
pions.
That England is not infinitely better for
the changes wrought by the reform bill
and the triumph of Golden and his fol-
lowers no student of English progress
can maintain.
For years past the people of this broad
land have been paying tribute opriylleged
classes under compulsion of system OF
taxation unworthy even of China. Every
voice lifted against the continuance OF this
system of legaIized spOliation has been
regarded as that of a traitor to the coun-
try's welfare.
No later than Tuesday last an honest,
able and patriotic Senator from the state
of kentucky was charged, on the floor OF
the Senate by a brother Senator from
Massachusetts with playing into the
hands of British capitalists because, for
sooth, he sought to curtail the contribu-
tions levied upon the masses of this coun-
try for the benefit of his accuser's con-
stituents and their co-benefciaries of
the protective system. of course, Mr..
Dawes did not intend to imply
that any share of that much-talked-of
british gOld'' went into Mr.. Beck's peck
cts as a retainer for his services. But for
the purposes of demagOgy the remarks
of Mr.. Dawes had all the effect that di-
rect charge of corruption might have had.
The " hole phalanX of high prOtectiOnists
is ringing the changes in the familiar tune
of danger TO business interests" 1t is
time that this hypOcritical chant sub
sided. The manufacturing interests ofthis
country are important, but they constitute
but part of the aggregate wealth of the
Republic. The country's fertile fields are
its main source of wealth. In, probably,
the darkest hours of our financial history
it was the pluck and industry of our farms
ers that brought wealth out Of the soil and
set our silent factories humming with the
whirr of machinery and restored conf
/ dence and prosperity. The farmer is the
chief worker in the cOuntry's
/ maintenance and its sole re-
I lance in financial tempests.
His claims have been studiOusly
/ ignored. Most of the legislation of recent
/ years has been enacted without regard to
/ his interests. Compelled to accept the
natural law of supply and demand, he is
forced to sell his products at rates fixed
/ at the centres Of largest demand, while he
/ IS obliged by legislative enactment to pay
artiticially enhanced prices for his sup
plies to the favOrites of special legisla-
/ tiOn. In nearly the same cate
CORY are found the other pro-
ducers and consumers. who are not
benefited by the special favOrs melted out
to the protected ''barons." And even the
4 employees of the ''barOns'' are reciprocally
taxed for the benefit of employers.
The time has come to begin the battle
for reform. There is a good deal of gong
beating and similar tactics going on, but
the conflict is irrepressible, and must be
fought out. 1t cannot be decided at once.
Step by step it must be contested,
but every advance made will be the
peoples gain. The policy of the barons
is to stifie agitation. Agitation and crit
cism are fatal to their cause. This cOun-
try is too grand, too vast, its resources toe
varied, its people too daring, too skilled
and too enterprising TO have its economic
policy patterned after that of China OF
-, II
die ages were robbers. The ''barOns" OF
America are elegantly maintained
paupers. The victims of the one class
We're unwilling serfs. The supporters OF
the other are veritable dupes.