The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-04-07
BILL ARP IS TALKING SQUARE.
United States Senators Should be
Chosen by the People-The Old
Idea and the New.

These times remind me very much
of the times when l sold goods nearly
fifty years ago, when cotton was or 7
cents a pound and bacon about the
same as cotton; chickens were 124 cts,
eggs cents dozen and sweet pota-
toes % cents q bushel; sugar and coffee
were twelve pounds to the dollar. We
called these few years hard times and
the negroes felt the pressure too and
lmprOviscd q song with a chorus Of
Hard Times Come Again No More"
But gradually there came on a change
for the better and prices Of everything
advanced just as cotton advanced.
That is why cotton was called king
1t seemed to regulate everything. And
so we thought these harG times would
soon pass, but they show no sign
Nearly everything has come down to
hard time prices and the consumers
could live cheap enough if they could
get anything to do. There is the rub
The Irishman who came over here
complained that chickens were 2 shil-
lings apiece and said he could get one
over in Ireland for q siXpence. "Well,
why dident you stay over there and
buy them ?" said the market man.
Faith and begorra, couldent get the
sixpence," he replied. That is the
consumers fix now. The necessaries
of life are cheap enough. The farmers
and producers complain that they are
too cheap. They want some kind OF
tariff that will make everything that
they have to buy as cheap as dirt and
raise the price OF what they have to
sell. An Irishman heard Dutch
butcher say that the way to make
money "vaS to puy sheep lcheap) and
sell deer (dear)." He dident under
stand how that could be done and asked
u Scotchman, who ruminated over it,
and said it was to buy mutton and sell
1T for venisOn. But we can't do that.
Our young men who are every year
swarming to the front are ready and
willing to work, but they can't get
work to do. No wonder they leave
their homes ard go West or to Mexico
and Brazil. / was Illuminating about
advising some of them to go to Central
America aud raise coffee. There must
be money in that business. For years
and years sold coffee at twelve pounds
to the dollar and / don't understand
| why it advanced to double the old price
and for years has maintained it. / was
reading about the island of Jamaica
and found that for thirty years the pro-
, duct averaged 25, 900, 900 pounds year,
but when in 1843 England emancipated
| her slaves there the production dropped
in ten years time down to 1900, ,00l
pounds. In fact, everything dropped
away down except rum and that still
| holds its own.
| wish that ! was great Statesman
and could see through all this tangled
up business like the x rays penetrate
dark and hidden things and bring them
to the light. l remember when the
great national question before the peo-
| Pile was whether the governments should
make internal improvements or not
The Wings said it should and the Dem
ocrat5 said no and the Democrats car
ried 1t. At the next election the par
ties changed sides and q system oil
internal improvements began. Appro
priatiOns were made for rivers and
harbors and custom houses and post
Offices and this policy has been estab
lished and gets wider and bigger as
the years roll on. Then again there
was the great question about declaring
war with Mexico and later on about
annexing Texas and the presidential
elections turned on these issues. Nov
we have got the tariff and the currencN
and party lines are very much unset
: tied. But as the preacher said: "Evei
this will pass away" Georgia Is to b.
| the forum of the great discussion ant
the people are to be the judges. an
glad that 1t will be over soon. Let tn
} people hear and then make choice. 1
is no new thing it is old and the pee
4 pie have been reading about it for thre
! years and almost everybody Is read
: for the vote. | like this way OF tn
r people having voics in the choice @
Z q senator. Why not? What Is tn
| difference between senator and
4 representative? The old.time theor
3 was that the senators reprented tb