The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-04-06

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apparently never occurred to this miner
that his argument was unsound and per
nicious. Carried into effect, the princi
pie he acted on would compel consumers
to pay exorbitant prices for his iron
without the privilege Of going elsewhere
to buy cheaper and better goods. 1twas
pure and simple selfishness, and that is
the bottom principle Of protection. Pro.
lection doesn't take the buyer into con.
sideration At all.
ain the good old Democratic days be.
fore the war the South supplied the
lions share Of statesmen and political
economists. George w. Jones, Of Ten.
nessee, was for twenty years known as
the Watchdog Of the treasury, and tits g
matter Of record that he saved the coun-
try over $5O,OOO,OOO. No Southern SEN
ator or Congressman could be bribed
Now, as a matter Of fact, think the
South will eventually solve the the tariff
problem, and it is determined to begin
the fight at once. The Northern people
are so devoted to manufacturing that
they fail to see'the evils Of protection on
account ofthe accidental benefits attend
ing it. In Massachusetts town, for in
stance, where ne-tenths Of the popula-
ton and wealth are hid in factories, it is
only natural that they would want to
kill off all opposition by unjust tariff
taxation. The farmers and other indus
trial producers and all the consumers
suffer, and even the protected few are
injured in the long run.
The South is going to take its proper
stand in the matter Of protection. It will
take its proper place also in the govern
ment Of the future. By that l don't
mean that it should jump into saddle
and override the bounds of equity, but
it will raise its voice against corrupt
legislation, and will labor to stamp out
that hydra-headed monster, protection.
We are even now in danger of being
swampeds by excessive taxation, and
what will tho future bring forth I?
"Garrison, Summer, Phillips and
Beecher preach free trade: so did the
bulk Of the statesmen. Protection is
q modern makeshift but is as far from
being an improvement. 1t is as great a
curse to the protected industries as
slavery was to the shareholders, and
those who snatch it from them, like the
abolitionists, will be their best and truest
friends. The advocates Of protection say
it would never do to tinker with the
tariff at this late day--it might unhinge
and unsettle our entire political and
economic scneme. The same thing was
said of slavery yet slavery was abol-
ished, and the whole country was i'm
measurably benefited in consequence.
But even if there should result tempo.
rary upheaval, protection, like its twin
sister, slavery, must be destroyed, be-
cause it is morally and in principle
wrong"
Eject Of bargains Speech in Columbia.
COLUMBIA, S. c., March 3O.-[Spec-
ial. THE Free Trade Club is some
what disturbed over President Bargains
'parallelism" address in Brooklyn.
Some of the members do not realize the
necessity for making comparisons be-
tween African slavery and industrious
slavery. They think there may be some
resemblance between these subjects but
don't like the comparisons all the same.
They may now believe that negro slav-
cry was wrong, but they cannot promise
the Abolitionists who they believe
brought on the war, that desolated SO
many bright homes in this land of ours.
These men, they are willing to admit,
may have been actuated by good mo-
tives, bot they are not ready to applaud
them for the course thoy pursued in ad-
vocating their principles. Perhaps the
Northern papers object just as much to
the address of Mr.. Sherman, who intro
duced Col. Dargan, to the Brooklyn au-
dience, and who said that no Southern
Congressional Representative had ever
been accused Of dishonorable actions in
the discharge of his public duties, while
this could not be said of the Congress
men from Mr.. Shermsn's section Of the
Union. The free traders of the North
need the assistance of the free traders