Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-04-14
Misesllansoas geadimg.
AS SEEN BY A LAYMAN.
Strong Endorsement of the Position Taken
by Mr.. McLaurin.

Strong Endorsement of the Position Taken
by Mr.. McLaurin.
Since the delivery of his recent tar
iff speech, Congressman McLaurin has
been receiving numerous letters Of en-
dorsement from all parts of the state,
and, with the consent of the writer,
has given out the following, dated Lis
bon, Laurens county, April Q:
DEAR SIR: I hope you will excuse
me for intruding on your time; but l
have just finished reading your speech
on the tariff and feel it my duty to ex-
press my thanks to you and to COM
mend you for the stand you have
taken. The southern members should
have taken that position long ago !;
then, perhaps, we might have been in
q better condition financially today.
At least we would have the satisfaction
of knowing that we had stood up man
fully for our rights and not tamely
submitted to every demand that the
north has exacted of us. Your speech
is the ablest exposition of the internal
deviltry Gf you will pardon such an
expression) and the canting hypocrisy
of the descendants of the Mayf1ower
pilgrims that it has ever been my
pleasure to read. 1t should be read
by every man, woman and child in the
southern states. 1t should be scatter
ed all over the United States. 1t will
be one of the best campaign documents
that could be asked for. If it does
not open the eyes of every southern
farmer as to the manner in which they
are being fleeced to enrich the New
England manufacturers and stop the
production of any more Samps. Popes,
c. S. Nettleses and George Won Koln-
itzes, no argument will. The north
expressed great sympathy for France
when Germany took Alsace and Lor-
raine and demanded two billion franks
as war indemnity but when it comes
home, she has no sympathy for the
south. After destroying the south's
property, the north has forced her to
pay as pensions 10 the northern SOL
diers a far greater burden to the i'm
poverished south than that imposed on
France; and added to that is the trib-
ute she has exacted of us under the
guise of protection. While the south
ern members of congress foolishly de-
mand free raw material, the northern
fellows, with an eye to business, helped
to secure their wish ; at the same time,
knowing where the profits were, they
got the manufactured article protected.
By placing everything the south
produced on the free list, they have
been able to import the raw material
free, or force the southern producers
to accept their prices for southern pro-
ducts. They then manufacture the
raw material, purchased at free trade
prices, and sell back to the producers
at protection prices. No other peo-
pie or country but southern people
and the south, placed in the condition
they were by the war, could have sur
vived such drain. 1t is time for US
to call halt, and your speech is a
timely notice that the new south in.
tends to made departure from old
customs and will no longer quietly
submit to the unjust exactions of New
England, but will demand equal rights
to all and special privileges to no one
section of the Union.
Not being one of your constituents,
1 feel delicacy in addressing you,
but being South Carolinian and in
full sympathy with you in this, is the
only excuse have to offer.
Yours respectfully,
ALEX J. SMITH.