New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-02-09
RRLIIIINT RTT blind.

BRILLIANT BUT BLIND.
Il misfortune for ilr. Lamar, and not for
Mr.. Lamar only, that his brilliant rhetoric and
IMPRESSIVE oratory have not always been EN-
ployed for the public welfare. when a man Oh
such gifts makes a mistake, and gives Ills aIu u
the wrong side, tho fact Is sure to DE reiheih-
bered. Thereafter, men may admire tne orator
but they distrust his reasoning ana 90 no'
dare to follow his leadership. There are men
living in poverty who lost everything tney hau
i'm the world because they followed the Dill
liant Lamar in defence Of slavery anu III
secession for the sake of slavery. lhere are
men living who know now that the white people
of the South never made m1re costly iiig,'aho
than when they pushed the former slaves INTO
an attitude of permanent p0itlcal hos'l'9 NY
resisting reconstruction and by the moueS Oh
that resistance. The colored people were
fins thrown into solid and compact BODY
utterly without confidence in the good 1aith
or good will of the property owning whites,
and liable TO be mirled by dcmagogucs ana
kn,ves Yet no one was more earnest or
elooucnt in resisting reconstruction than Mr.
Lamar and in no other State have extreme
means been more systematically employed
70 mt the majority of the people at the
mercy of minority than in Mississippi,
where his influence is so great. IN short Tor
more than n quarter of century Mr. Lamars
eIoouence has been employed to lead his people
INTO disastrous errors, and some OF them have
been the most fatal mistakes ever made 10y
civilized community. II the South mas iaIeh
into deep d1ches It has been not 80 mnch De-
cause the people were blind az because they
perssted in following blind leaders.
Now Nh Lamar employs his eloqnence to
defeat reasonable notifications of the tarif.
lie argues that the protective system Is VI
cious and hurtful that the country ought to
have tariff for revenue and not for protection,
and that, therefore, notifications such AS have
been proposed by the Tarih Commission ana
the Senate Committee on Finance, designed
To reduce revenue aud yet to MAINTAIN protec-
ton of home Industries, ought to be defeated.
As usual Mr. Lamar is strong in rhetoric anu
weak in reasoning. His premises. II era nteh'
would not support his conclusion. We do not
pr1pose to follow him this time into debate
about the theory of protection. The people
have decided that question. aud Mr.. Lamar Is
shrewd enough to know that his party would
not retain some means OF cheating part OF the
voters with the idea that 1t was really III favor
of protection of their Industries. But If 1t
were true that the country ought to move a'
fast A. il safely can toward a tariff FOR revenue
only a. Mr.. Lamar urges, still IL would not ho
the part of good sense To reject at tins session
the moderate reductions which Protcctoni-t'
have proposed. Mr.. Lamar is trying to lead
l..
his people into another disastrous hiunIcr,
even from his own point OF view. lie thinks
they ought to get down from the top story To
the ground, but insists that they must not d''
the stairs, but must jump out OF the eighth
story window.
Ifamoderatc and reasonable reduction of the
tariff cannot bc made at this session, there Is
danger that Mr.. Llmar's friends will attempt
one that is not moderate or reasonable. The
consequences would be most disastrous, and
nowhere more disastrous than at the south,
where manufactures are beginning t. get foot
ing Even the fear OF such "A cnangc, and the
consequent stngnatiOn of business from the an
of March to the end of the year, would involve
evil consequences which are beyond the power
of Mr. Lamar To forc-cc. These consequences
would fall with peculiar severity upon his own
State, which depends very greatly uron the
production and marketing Of n single staple
because stagnatiOn Of cotton manufacture III
this country would put holders and producers
Of cotton entirely at the mercy of foreign
BUYERS The yield last year was 40 largo, aud
the Weld probable this year Is so large, that
shrinkage of consumption would mean exceed
ingly low prices for the chief product of the
South. But Mr.. Lamar's rhetoric, rs usual, rI.es
superior to dull considerations of practical
good
In peroration more impassioned than accu-
rate, Mr. Lamar advises the manufacturers of
this country to take the lead themselves in
reducing the tariff, lest worse befall them. lie
does not seem TO know that this is exactly what
they are trying to do, and exactly what he is
The Iron and Steel Association,
represented by Mr.. Oliver, favored n reduction
III duties on iron and steel the wOollen manu-
facturers, headed by Mr.. Hayes, favored II
reduction In the duties of wocllcn goods. and
40 on Had Mr.. Lamar been as careful about
facts rs he il about metaT hors and polished
phrases he would have realized that such per-
Grafton, recommending the precise course
which he was opposing, was not calculated to
give his speech great weight with reasonable
men. Apparently, his judgment was drowned
in the food Of his own eloquence. Once more
he is a blind leader Of the bird.