Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-03-28

The Psslties sf the South BASED en-
Resentnenf-Why the south Wants
British Free Trade and Desires to
Maintain internal Roveaae Taxes
N a War Rats

II keoenemenf-Whyt the South Wants
4 British Free Trade and Desires to
Maintain internal Reveaue Taxes
~ st War Rates.
)! Correspondence n. Z. SUM-
GARLAND, Ala. Feb. 1.-THE talk
about the tariff IN the cotton States is
. generally absurdly childish. There is
an almost universal demand for British
free trade among the people, aud not
one In hundred comprehends what he
Is talking about. They demand free
iron. free Goth, free everything except
ing free sugar, free nee and free juse
Any product that the South is interested
In should be projected; any industry
that furnishes employment TO Northern
capital and workIoen should be unpfo-
tected.
i To understand these Southern people
and the motives that control their po-
iItical thought it is necessary to state
that IN the cotton States all the men of
education and wealth are Democrats.
TWse men believe that all Northern
gentlemen are Republicans have of.
ten heard this remark in the South: IF
lived in the North would be Repubii-
can. All the decent men up there are
Republica The rank and file of the
Northern Democracy correspond TO the
niggers Of the South. ALI intelligent
men should array themselves against
ignorance and dishonesty. Damn a
Northern Democrat" The impression
In the South is that the majority Of men
employed In Northern manufactures
are Democrats. This being SO, ard the
southern Democrats despising the
| Northern wing of the party, they think
1 @hxr <.f
more consideration than are the negroes
| OF the South. Negroes are paid at star
| walton rates throughout the colt N
States. Men who have lived on the
unpaid labor VI other men cannot, in
oEe generation, be educated mp to the
simple truth that they who perform the
manual labor Of a country are entitled
to decent living out of the proceeds of
| their work. The Southern men, withou. |
any exception that know Of. believe in |
low wages, the lowest possible wages, |
Tor iaborers. Naturally the talk of |
Northern men, who believe in protec- |
tive tariff that compels large wages for |
workmen in mines, mills aud furnaces. |
Is regarded as the insincers utterances |
OF persons seeking to advance their own |
political and material prosperity. "Pro- |
lection of labOreys. Pooh. Grind them
down. Pay them just enough to keep
them in bacon and corn meal" That is
the Southern policy as ID is today il &C
tive operation throughout the old slave
States.
All argument and entreafy for the
prOte ctton of American workuen goes
for naught with these people. The fact
that the passage of a low tariff hill
would injure hundreds of thousands OF
Northern worknaan would not have the
least effect On the majority of Southern
Congressman. These theorists talk of
being robbed at the cnstem houses: de-
clare that the necesSarieS of life, by
reason of protection, cost more than
they should; that agricultural tools Cost
more than they would if there were no
tariff, ETC., etc. The fact that they do
not import anything of value, that they
have not imported for years, and proba-
bly, never will be large consumers Of |
foreign goods are utterly ignored in the
South. They talk about the increased
cost of the agricultural tools used in the
South as result of the tariff, when the
truth is the value of the agricultural
tools used in Ohio and Illinois far OK
Deeds the value Of all the agricultural
tools used in the cotton States. The
agriculturists of the North never howl
for q low tariff so as to reduce the cost
of plows by three and one-half cents
cal Economy in Yale College to believe
that British free trade would really
cheaper harrOws, reapers and blows
in Iowa and Dakota. Underlying all
Southern politics is feeling of hostili-
ty toward, and envy of, the North. Any
political measure that would tend to
injure Northern industry would meet
with much favor in the solid South.
Their pretence Of belief in the virtues
of British free trade does not spring
from reason, as they would have US be-
lieve, but has its rise in resentment. 1t
is probable that the growth Of manu-
featuring industries in the South will
modify their views on the subject of
protection in the near future.
The era of sectional good feeling is
said to be at hand-yes, to be actually
here. Northern men are invited to
come South and invest their money in
worn ont farming lands that have been
abandoned to field pines. Men of small
means are desired. Laboring men are
not wanted. Southern newspapers are
filed with the cry Of this poverty-strick-
Northern men to come to their aid.
when the H0utherners significantly SAY;
"You Northerners had better come in
colonies, you had better bring your
society with you," it indicates that they
do not intend to b friendly with the
damned Yankee" The true explana-
ton of the apparently friendly invita-
ton TO Northern men to invest in South
orn lands ia that these people have at
last understood that they cannot make
agriculture remunerative, and, it being
out of the question to sell their worn
ont lands to each other, they are all
anxious that Northern men como among
them, so that they can unload on them.
The Southerners want Northern money.
They fairly banker for it; but they do
not want Northern men. To outwit a
Northern man or corporation is consid-
cred praiseworthy. There is, too, a
misty idea among this people that the
Northern troops carried great deal of
valuable personal property out of the
South in their knapsacks; and there is
that the North freed their slaves and
impoverished them. Any scheme that
viii bring Northern money into the
South, even IL it ruins the investor, is
considered wise and just. The ruin Of
the Yankee investor is capital joke,
and after being laughed over is dis
missed with tho remark. 1T is only
getting some of our money back again.
These people pay SO small a proper
ton of tho public revenues that they re-
gard the national Treasury az an oyster
to be opened by Southern Congress-
men, who will distribute the longed- for
meat among their hungry constituents.
Any one would naturally think that the
Southern people would be in favor of
repeating the internal revenue taxes.
The creation Of these taxes was war
measure. Il is an unjust, oppressive,
inteFmeddling system, wholly contrary
70 tho spirit of democracy. Are the
Southern States in favor Of abOliahing
the Internal Revenue Department? No.
They realize that the bulk Of the money
collected BY this department comes out
Of Northern pockets; 60 they are in
favor OF keeping II alive. 10 reduce
the revenue, they would reduce the
tariff. Whyl That would injurs the
North. I'VE are in favor of keeping up
the internal revenue taxation and re-