The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-04-06
fighting for Free Trade.
from the New York STAR


The Hon. John J. Dargan, prozni-
mont citizen Of South Carolina, was in
New York few days ago in the inter
est of his pet theory, free trade, which
he says is growing more and more pop
ular in all the Southern States. MIR.
Dargan is . well-preserved man of for
ty-hve, with a wealth Of black hair and
wiry, black mustache. He is the son
Of . slave holder, and owns q cotton
plantation Of over five hundred acres.
His opinion on all political and indus
trial questions is highly valued in his
native State, and he is much respected
throughout the Western and Middle
States, where he is we'll known.
Mr.. Dargan has made q close study Of
the tariff question in the broadest phil
osophical sense. He employs trenchant
arguments to show the iniquity Of pro-
lection, which he says, robs the poor
and wealthy alike to enrich a few.
"John C. Calhoun said Mr.. Dargan
to . reporter. twas the apostle Of free
trade. He announced its benefits in
shundering tones in the Senate, and was
backed up by Webster. Away back in
1874 both Webster and Calhoun voted
against protection, and Massachusetts
and South Carolina, with the excep-
zion Of one representative, voted with
ahsm.
"Proteetion at best issnly a provisional
scheme. It is relic Of the war, and like
other useless and hurtfsl n.ementoes of
those bloody times, it ought to 60. 1t
first sprsng up in Now England. and for
long time WAS exceedingly unpopular.
1t gradually undermined shipping and
commerce, which are the mainstay of
every country, and drove capital into
manufacturing channels. Nobody pre-
tended that it was not wrong in princi-
pie. In the course Of time, however, CAP
italists found they coald thrive upon the,
aecesst ek tie situation. and placed
millionsapon millions Of dollars in man.
features. They were protected from
healthy competition by the high tariff
placed upon imported goods, and that
left them free to charge what they liked
foe home products.
The consequence vas that the buyer
paid from 10 to 40 per cent. more than it
was worth for almost everything he
bonght. Labor, Of course, received a
slight benefit from protection, but the
cost OF living was advanced out Of all
proportion to the average mans income.
Naturally the country soon began to
suffer from over production, and the
price paid for labor dropped, without
any corresponding decrease in the cost Of
living. That brought on hard times and
the labor troubles which have been sg;-
tating the entire country for the last ten
years.
''As have said, Massachusetts, taught
South Carolina the lesgon of freedom.
Now the time has come for South Caro-
lima to pay back the debt-to teach Mas
sachusetts that there is higher and
broader freedom than the mere immu-
nifty from chains-the liberty to 60
where one Wills, do what he Wills and
buy what he Wills without being obliged
to pay tribute to iniquitous taxation.
Cotton was king once, and the advocates
Of slavery claimed that it could not be
swept away without destroying the bull
warks Of national prosperity. Slavery
was at length wiped out howevor, and
the South stills stands frmer than ever,
with the cotton crop fully twice as great
As it ever was at any time before the
war. The same holds good with respect
70 tariff protection. 1t will be wiped out
at no distant day. and the utter wreck
and ruin which its advocates claim to
see in it's abolition will fail to follow.
Unjust taxation has been the bane of the
American Republic from the start. We
can never be prosperous people until
sffclsss discrimination, which protec-
ton directly favors, is abolished. Pro-
lection IS it now stands shelters the cap
italist at the same time that it cripples
snd crushes honest toll.
"Not long ago a wealthy miner in
Pennsylvania asked Congress to place .
heavy tariff on iron. His reason fop so
doing was as follows: His mines were
hard to work, because the veins were
Embedded deeply in rock and were ira
verSed and cut mn into rnckv coct;ons