The Greenville times., 1883-03-03
Senator Lamar's Speech.
New York Nation.l

There is an effort made by the
advocates of protection to cry
down Mr.. Lamar's speech in the
Senate against the protective Sys-
TEN, as the utteranee of a man who
was always given to wild faneies,
and who has many times in the past
misled the people of the South,
greatly to their own detriment.
This will not do. There is no pub
lie man of prominence in the South
to whom such description would
be more unjust than to Mr.. Lamar.
1t is true that in his younger days
he was swept along by the whirl
of the secession movement. But
when the war was over, no South.
ern man recognized the new order
of things more promptly and just
ly, and no one used the voice of
peace and reconciliation more i'm
pressively than he. He did this,
too, although representing one of
the most hot-headed and turbulent
of Southern constituencies. Meth.
er should it be forgotten that when
the seductive cry of cheap paper
money rang all over the South,
and when the silver craze had
reached its highest mark, Mr.. La.
mar had the moral courage to
throw himself against the preju.
dices and follies of those who had
sent him to Congress, and to de-
fend the cause of sound money at
the imminent peril of losing his
place in public life. With such q
record of self.sacriicing fidelity to
his convictions, Mr.. Lamar may
claim that respect for his utteran-
ces which established character
and ability command.
While o great part of his argu-
ment against protection as a sys-
TEN is not novel in character, and
in the nature of the case could
not be-for it is q well-worn sub.
ject-hc sets forth two ideas with
peculiar force which deserve the
most earnest reflection on the part
of the American people. One is,
that this is probably the only coun-
try in the world whose people
have been severely and supertiu.
ously taxed for a series of years
because their rulers were unable
to devise q mode of reducing tax.
alton, for the simple reason that
the taxes were not imposed for
the one legitimate purpose of rails
ing revenue, but for the purpose
of paying bounties to certain bus.
mess interests. We present, there.
fore, the curious spectacle of a
people complaining of excessive
taxation, possessing also the su.
preme power, through their repre-.
sentatives, to do with taxation
what they please, but vainly strug.
Cling to get rid of the burden be.
cause it conceals and disguises IT,
self in a variety of specious pre-.
tences. How true this is, and
how pitiable is the exhibition, the
debates in Congress demonstrate
every day. The other leading
thought in Mr.. Lamar's speech is,
that the protective system has
brought forth a vast organization
of capital and labor which profess
ses to be dependent for existence
not upon the natural development
of resources and the natural
growth of industries, but upon
taxation by the government: "two
millions of capital and millions of
people-the one for profit, the
other for bread and butter-de-
pend upon an aye-and-no vote of
the government" And after a
high tariff Of twenty years dura-
ton, the industries so propped up
profess to be in a state of embar-
rassment tottering on the verge of
disaster, their respective repre-.
sentatives declaring on oath that
if the duty affecting them be re-
duced their business will be de.
stroyed. 1t needs no further ar.
gument to show that such a con-
dition of things is, in the long
run, intolerable and untenable,
especially in a country with free
institutions.
Mr.. Dorman b. Eaton, appointed
chairman of tho Commiaciop on