Evening journal., 1888-06-02


the contrast they present of the pres
ent time, when under the beneficent
influence Of protec ion, with resultant
spending or keeping our earnings at
home. have carried the price of our
4 per cent. government bonds to
nearly 30 per cent premium. AS that
terrible period of distress and bank
rupicy was preceded by conditions
very analogous 70 those Of TO day,
when our national su p'us was very
great, when the last dollar OF bonded
indebtedness was nearly due, and
money enough in the Treasury to pay
il, British and American free traders
clamored for repeal Of the tariff aud
reduction Of revenue, a brief review
Of the then existing conditions and re-
suits is in order.
IL will be remembered that in the
eatlier and better days Of John .. Cal
hcun. when his love for the whole
country was greaser than his Idolatry
OF bis natl We state, South Carolina, he
was distin guishtd fer his al as
proicctionist, arguing that it would be-
ths strongest and best possible bond OF
union for the whole country. Bul
when he refs cted that, however bene-
licial pro teotion might be for the free
producers Of the Nor,hcfn States ana
home mar kets sherein, chattel slavery.
especially when rsp.ring for foreign
marksta. required precisely opposite
conditions "a as ta produce cheaper
cotton than even Asia or 8frics could.
be as stsenuoualy opposed protection
as he had formerly advocated Il
When the Tar lf act Of 1882 was passed.
iacreasing the foImer rates OF impor
dulieg. South Carolina, under hi
leadership, ref used to pay custom
house Suties, bur was compelled TO Dc
50 by the iron will OF tho thin Presi
dent, Andrew Jackson. But that ole
hero, brave rs he was, dreaded Tn,
horrors Of civil war, and the leadert
Of both the great political psrte
agreed upon what was known 's th'
Compromise act of 1888, which wa
approved March Of that year.
That act provided for n graduai re-
duc,ion Of all duties above 20 PER cent.
until June 80 1912. when ell eucl
excess should be removed leaving onl,
"a protection OF 90 per cent.
Industries We're prostrated; rui
everywhere prevailed, increasing il
intensity Is the action Of the lasg,
crushed one Am iicaa industry SIDE
until even Thomas III. Benton
free trader though he was
honseJly admitted (see his "rhirt,
Yeare' Views,' vol ., p. 2i6) that th,
law had been "a complete illusion in al
ths good IL had promised aud sac
reality in all the i'll that had been pre-
dicted fer it,"
b fore the law went iato operation
President jackson, in his annual mes
sage. December3 1888, seid to Congress
"Our condition abroad is no less hon
orsble than it is prosperous at home
y II Providence permits me Z,
meet you at another session / shal
have the high gratncation O.
announcing to you that th
national debt is extinguished,
which great performance was prompt,
Nine years after, viz
December Z, 1882 the then Pfe'ideni
John Tyler, announced that the admin
istration had b en- unable to borrow
he twelve million Of dnllars author
ized by Congress the previous year, not
withstanding great efforts and offers O.
large interest in this country and Eu-
rope.
Thus had England, as a sneak thief
acting under the mask of nullifica-
lion aud free trade fifty years ago.
scourged us even more cruelty thar
when generation later, masqueradinp
in the garb of secession and free trade
he involved us in a war and swep
,ur commerce from the high seas. II
Tho former case she exterminated oui
and credit, in the latter
he annihilated our ocean shipping
Had ehe met us openly in arms as sh
lid in two former wars che could not
have injured us so much. OF the tno,
5ngland the bully is not go dangerous
IS England the sneak thief.