The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1900-01-29
A RefnddIed Organ.

The Philadelphia Press referring TO
the present prosperity of the New Eng
land cotton mills contrasts IL with the
conditions which prevailed after the
panic of 1898. At that time. 81 says,
mills were moving south by the
score, and hundreds Of new mills were
being erected in The latter neishbor-
hood also" The reasons for the
tranference Of an important Industry
were cheap southern labor and The
nearness OF the cotton fields" This
movement. The Press says, was aided
also by the Grover Cleveland soup
house tariff. which compelled moau-
featuring on the cheapest scale, or not
m an.
The Constitution viii hardly be nc
cuscd of championing Grover Cleye-
land under any circumstances, but we
must protest against the injustice with
which The Philadelphia Press treats
him. MT Cleveland was no more re-
sr0nsihlo for the tariff law enacted In
1891 than tho man I'm the moon. The
measure that he and NJ Carlisle We're
responsible for was known as the Will
son tariff bill 1t was utterly un-
democratic The platform OF 1892
pledged the party TO q revenue tariff
a tariff that is TO say, which would
supply the government with an ade-
uuate source Of revenue. Tho bin
which was dictated 10 the ways ana
means committee by the cleveland adj
miuistrauou. instead Of supplying rev.
enue would have created "a deficiency
of $4,000. Geo a year. aud this def
cheney was provided for i'm the in
come tax law. which the supreme
court. after a good deal OF snunling
and chicancry. decided TO be uncon-
sti.ulional.
The Wilson bin passed the house,
but when it reached the senate, the
protectionists took charge of &c. and
produced in its place "a measure which
Mr.. Cleveland denounced as peridiOus
and dishonorahie Considering all the
circumstances of recent political hiss
tory. We should think that republic
an organ would find ii mn easy matter
TO DO justice to Grover cleveland.
But there is another fact with which
the editor of a republican newspaper
should be familiar. namely. that The
cotton schedule of the German tariff
law was prepared by the manufacture
ers OF New England. was presented by
Senator Aldrich. of Rhode Island, and
was adopted in It's entirety, without a
single blot or erasure. Il these man
ufacturers were not fully protected un-
Ger that tariff, it was their own fault.
The truth is that their troubles had
no connection whatever with the tar
iR law, as they very well 6new. The
people had no money TO buy cotton
fabrics. and prices went down in the
absence OF a demand. The low price
of cotton and the low price of wheat
went with the general depression, and
cotton goods hit the bottom. The
trouble with the mills vas not that
the price of their products was so low,
but that there was no demand for their
goods even al the low prices.
But If the Gorman-Wilson tariff was
responsi BILE for the growth of the cot
ton industry i'm the south, what is TO
be said of the celebrated Dingley meas
ure? Since it has been I'm operation
there have been more New England
cotton mills duplicated in the south
than during the whole previous his
tory Of the country. Taking larger
view of it. there have been more new
mills built during the past three years
than during any previous three years;
there have been more spindles and
looms put in operation, more capital
/ invested in the cotton manufacturing
industry, and more new mills planned
for since 1894 than dtring any corre-
spending period in the history Of the
south.
And the Gorman-Wilson tariff has
bad lust as much influence on this
movement as the Dingley law, and
that influence in both cases is zero
less than nothing. What opened the
ewes of investors and capitalists to the
possibilities of cotton manufacturing
i'm the south was the fact that during
the hard times, when the northern
mills we're running half time, and CIV