The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1894-09-14
WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY
THEY FIRST MAKE MAD.

NHNM TIL H8uo A8bhH DAnihV'
THEY FIRST MAKE MAD.
The meeting of the sugar planters las
week at the Hotel Royal, is another cas-
IA which The ancient aaage proves true
IN moment Of madness they have lie
tsrniinsd to transfer their allegiencs from
the democratic to the republican party,
What do they expect to gain by this
move Has the republican party ever
boon the friend Of the south, Or any oi
its interestsf II was that party that
I first put sugar ON the free list. Why
Because Il was the ono article which pro
anced the greatest revenue with the least
protection to lhe Favored few. In fact,
as one Of our Contemporaries expresses it,
sugar is the corner stone of revenue
tariff, and must be abolished to make
room Tor increased protection for the
favored industries Of tho northeast. The
idea Of bounty was an afterthoHglit md
aiopted for the same reason, viz: to fur
ther deplete the treasury. then full, and
afford an additional reason for inoreassd
duties, which were imposed by the Nc
Kinley bill, and at the same time throw
a bit Of sop to the sugar planters of Lou
isiana, and We doubt not that certain of
the most astuta members of the republic
can party saw, with prophetic eye, the
very condition that now exists.
m 4 a.
Of its views on this subject. We have
ever contentled for duty on imported
sugars which Monld bring a large revenue
to the treasury and incidentally afford all
the protection needed to the sugar inter
ests. AS for bounty, we are its uncom-
promising enemy, Is there any reason
why the growers of sugar cane should be
given a bounty, paid by all the people of
the United States, while the cotton
planter, the wheat raiser, and other agri-
culturists are left to the mercy of a mar
ket still more depressed than that of
sngari The idea is repugnant to nine
-tenths of the people of the union, and
whatever else may happen there will
never more be bounty ON sugar
We are pleased to see that we are in
harmony with large majority of the
papers in the state, and the following
editorial which we reproduce from the
New Iberia Eate,prisc is far specimen
of the views held by most of them on this
question:
Three meetings of sugar planters have
been held this week, the first Mt Donald |
sonyille, the second at Franklin and the |
third in New Orleans, and in each of them |
the almost unanimous sentiment was to I
leave the democratic camp and join the /
because of recent tariff legis- /
lation as applied to sugar. The step is |
an ill-advised one at this time, when the |
temper of the American people is to de- |
str0y the aystem of special privileges to |
favored classes, maintained for quarter |
Of century by the republican party. 1
The campaigns of education carried on
by the democracy in 1890 and ~ have |
made clear to the people Of the United
States that protection means the taxing
Of the people as whole for the benefit
Of q few industries, whose projectors com
bIne and become millionaire m0nopelists. {
with power to cut down the wages of
their employees whenever it suits their
purpose, causing the existing discomfort /
among the working classes, resulting in
strikes that have led in several instances
TO open anarehism. But worst of all,
whose power is now clearly directed To
the control of the government. If the
sugar planters of Louisiana choose to ally
with these enemies of the re-
public. in preference to directing their
efforts to make their industry self-sup-
porting and forcing these recipients of
special privileges upon an equal footing
with the other industries of the country,
then the democrats of Louisiana who are
democrats from principle will have to
buckle ON their aTInor and march against
them in serrisd ranks until they are CON
luered and brought back to the under
that it is the duty of the citizen
to support his government and not the
province of government to rob one class
lf its citizens for the enrichment of the
other. The Communism of pelf7' is on
he run and all true American freemeu
mean to dissipate it like mist in the noon
lay sum-