The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-01-16

. 40 PtooSSSioh abu pIoICCtlOu tlOuS UnaI
not only defends us against the pauper
labor of Europe, hut insures us against
strikes, converting every manufactur-
| ing establishments into an eleemosynary
institution, and giving to every opera
4, tive, along with his weeks earnings.
never cut and always paid, n chrome,
bearing on one side picture of the
mill at Homestead, and the other the
head of William Mckinley in halo !
FREE TRADE VERSUS PROTECTION.
| do no not claim nearly so much for
free trade. claim that it will make
more work by creating wider markets.
| ! claim that it will decrease the cost of
living in greater measure than it will
reduce earnings. The question of
wages Is question of supply and de-
mand, pure and simple. In the crowd
| ed cities, where men must work or
starve, they take what they can get,
and wages are low. In new and less
crowded communities, whore oppor-
tunities are open to oil and good men
are at premium wages are high. AS
our waste places are filling up, the
problem is how shall all, who want to
work, be kept in steady employment i?
Relatively, wages are bound to go
down as population increases and
labor-saving machinery take the place
OF handwork, and this problem is. how
shall we decrease, in fair proportion.
the cost of livingP NV answer to the
first problem is, by breaking down the
barriers that shut us out from free
commercial intercourse with the rest
of the world, which wants as much of
us as we want of it. And to the second
by fairer distribution of the fruits of
labor between the employer and the
employed. But am asked. can these
two things be done without ruin to the
American manufacturer? My answer
is that they can be done and have been
done to the eminent good fortune of
American manufactures and COM
merce, and can be done again with the
same result: that we have had good
and bad seasons under all tariffs, high
and low; but the low tariff offers ad-
vantages to many by curtailing sub
sldy and limiting monopoly, while a
hlghtariH pOurs wealth into the lap of
the few by the opportunities it offers
to combinations and trusts. For proof
| point to the operation of thirty years
OF protection: enormous wealth in u
few hands; a universal struggle to
1--we among the many: deeper. darker
contrasts of life, and discomfort every
where.
FROM THE FEW TO THE MANY.
appeal from the selfshncss and
timidity OF the politicians to tho COM
mon honesty and common sense OF the
American people. l appeal from the
rapacity Of the American aristocrat.
rolling in luxury and wealth, to the
simple and homely genius of that
Americanism which won the revolu-
| tionary battle for liberty. and made
the constitution. do not confuse the
issue. am not the slave of a single
hot l., Il.
and practice is another thing, and that
craftsmanship is a practical science
But he is no statesman who does not
hitch the steeds of action to the hack
ney-coach OF theory, and even then
US he stands with the reins in his
hands--he must look far before. seeing
not only with the eyes in his head, but
out of those eyes of the mind that reach
much further. 49,
| believe inthe integrity and courage
of Grover Cleveland. / believe in The
patriotism and genius of John G.. Car
Isle. If we could put the two into one,
jackson would live again. | am Civ
ing the admins tration the most
earnest and disinterested support, be-
cause | believe it is trying to do right.
and because. in the main, my judg-
ment approves the fruits of its inten-
tion. My judgment docs not approve
the Wilson bill, either in method or in
detail, but If 1T is the best that can be
got out of Congress, so be it.. l shall
say nothing, do nothing to make its
transit harder. 1t is, at least, some
degree better than the Mckinley bill.
since it proceeds upon the lower and
not on the higher scale, and faces in
the right direction.
But 1T Is far, very far, from a meas
ure that can be truthfully described as
embodying the idea OF "taritf-for-
rcvenue-only." 1t is merely better
than the Mckinley bill in degree, not
in kind, and if protectonism is ever to
be dislodged [ doubt the Trojan-horsc
strategy to which it seems to incline
We live in the age of the Carnegics
and the Goulds, not in that of Priam
and Asneas.
The robber barons know their busi-
ness. They never go to sleep. They
relinquish nothing. Their rapacity is
Unsuitable. 1t was the history the old
slave power that the more it got the
more 1T demanded. 1t might have had
emancipation, and its gradual and peace
full elimination from the body-corpo
rate. 1t refused this, to end in blood
and flame, carrying with them vast
losses and cruel hardships. Yet, ir
spite of the tenacity with which the
Southern people clung to slavery, go
ing to war to defend and maintain it
the South would not have j. back to-
day on any terms.
Mr.. Wilson's moderate dose o
revenue powders in protectionist
capsules is rejected by the protec
tionists as vigorously as the slav,
owners rejected Mr.. Cay's suggestion
of emancipation. Like the slavehold.
ers, the robber barOns yield nothing
They will not reform them. The work
must. therefore, be done from without
1T will never proceed from within
And when it is done. if it be done BY
statesmen and not by the sword. tho
American manufacturer will rise like
one who has been in chains. amazed a.
the slave owner was, to find that the
theory he cherished was Il curse. an:l
not blessing. The Chinese wall re.
moved, the world will be at his feet
Does national character count for moth
ing Does land tecming with origi
nal resources count for nothing? Arc
the creative energies and inventive
genius of people who have reversed
the feudal policies of the Old World tC
build fabric in the new whose corner
stone Is competition, and whose watcf
word is " freedom" to ,be accounted
nothing?
THE WHY'S AND WHEREFORES.
The cry OF the poor goes up to Goo
for work ! But there is no work
| Whur Rannnc, fhopo 10