The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1888-02-21
The Protective Tariff.

one of the most cit artsiniUg pau
ohets published in quite while Is
political tract with the same titl3 az
the caption to this article. 1t is de-
voted to showing some of the sdvan-
tages of the American SYSTEM" and
its author very appropriately styles
it "the voice OF one crying in the
Wilderness" The work is from the
pen of G.. l.. f lwards, Esq, of the E'-
lis county bar, located in the town OF
Elnls. 1t is peculiarly the child OF
his brain: terse and ep'gtsmmatic,
wild and woody; 'gabby and gaseous;
saturnine. and sardonic; every line
bears the impress of his striking in
dividuali,v. Mr. Edwards is 8 rare
bird in the earth, and as the poet
says very much like black swan.
He runs in gang by himself and has
considered it worth his Will, to en-
phssiz3 his isolation by writing un-
solicited pamphlet in defense OF
railroad corporations, Bat Mr.. J. =
wards Is not the kind of man the cor
porations want. He is a star and
dwells apart lie is big man with
the dyspepsia. If they should ever
warm up to him, he would grow cold
to them consequently he is LETT,
Ike the mel Mcholy Democritus OF
old, when wesried of philosophy and
tired of science, to private lite only
reliey ed by the privilege of laughing
at such ridiculous objects as his fell
low creatures.
Mr.. Eiwards' book is just like
every other book, everything is grist
that comes to it's mill. Every panic
since the inception of the govern
ment was according to him brought
on by the efforts OF the free traders
And when he does find period OF
unprecedented prosperity following a
low tariff like that of 1916
he explains it by the discovery of
gold in California, or srl)t in France
or some other equally remote circum-
stance. The only panic which Mr.
Edwards skips entirely is the panic
of 1873, perhaps the most disastrous
in the history of the country and
certainly the one we know most about
Bat as the tariff was then at least sky
high; that panic was not needed in
his business.
Another curious argument of Mr.
MIR, Edwards is that New Engtanc
got rich because that section believed
in high tariff, and the south grew
poor bccanse she did not believe in {
high tariff This is the merest fol- de
rol-de-do. Both sections were living
under the same laws; at the beginning
of the century the south had tn
bulge on the north; now 1t is the re
verse. The same law that made New
England rich made the south poor
The great cause of this contrary oper
alton of the same laws seems to hay
utterly escaped Mr.. +. lwards. 1t is tn
tact that the south has z barbar
Gus and utterly unassimiable pee
pie within her borders. Th
negro population of the sout
made her agricultural and will cor
tinue her in that line, except in
few localities 1t is folly to leave
out of account in any estimate of tn
' past or forecast of the future. Wit
tlis people here, the south can neve
stand up with the north nor againt
the north
# For all that, Mr.. Edwards pampt
c is very entertaining; it affords foe
5 for reflection. 1t is enchanting
~ volubh, 1t is instructive to
But nothing about it is so refreshiu
H. s. the naive way in which this Ell
Is county lightbearer fts up his hAr
S beau with all the cast iron cons
"" quence OF Barlholji's statue of Ii
.r erty eniightcuing the worl /.
ID But let no one tail TO get the PAL
phl.t 1t IS we'll worth its prl(
| IL