The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-07-04
THE SOUTH NOT TO BE REpIJR1 ICANIzED.
RusTs AN ENEmX TO SOUTHERN BUSINESS I'M
WHAF WE MOST NEED is AoOEss WORLD


heavy exporting industry operating
under the laws of competition. It i
can unde,scll its rivals in foreign
markets, 1t can certainly do the same
thing in its home market with freight
charges IN its favor.
Our manufacturers Of uncOl0rcd cot.
ton goods are, therefore, in the same
situation now with the growers Of raw
cotton, and in that fact there is much
hope for those patient ploddcrs Of the
soil who have toilcd SO long to make
others rich. Aud they arc not with
out other prospective allies, for every
industry that reaches a vigorous cX-
porting. development becomes ipso
facto, an economic enemy of a high
tariff, excepting always, and, OF course,
those brlgands Of commerce, the trus' s
that are able to crush competition at
nome and exact for their goods a pre-
MUM in the home market over and
above The price asked in the foreign
market.
No two industries in the South arc
more directly antagOnistic to the Re-
publican high tariff than cotton grow
ing and cotton manufacturing. In
view Of this fact, how strange it seems
that this new movement to Rcpubli-
canize the South should apparently he
fathcred by the cotton mill presidents
Of our neighborng States of North and
South Carolina! Perhaps The stock
holders will soon apply the proper cor
rcctivc. 1t is possible, too, that the
men behind the looms may have some
10 IN
party has always favored our access to
the markets Of the world. The Re.
publican tariff helps to shut those
markets against us.
What has been said of cotton grow
ing and cotton manufacturing is rcla-
lively true Of Southern coal and pic
iron, both of which have Outyrown
home consumption. The "oil gushcrs"
OF Texas certainly need no pl election.
That recent meeting Of manuIactur.
crs III Detroit, at which foreign mar
Hels were demanded for surplus pro-
ducls and Tariff reductions advocated,
gives abundant proof that many other
industries in other sections of the
country have reached The stage OF cx-
portalion, which economically inter-
prcted, means the stage Of tariff re-
duction.
From The present indications the cx-
porting industries of the United States
will soon be III position to demand a
reform Of the tariff and to enforce that
demand at the ballot box, though they
will be bitterly fought by those trusts
that have monopoliZcd the home mar
kct and that sell to foreigners cheaper
than to home people.
What our cotton producers and cot
ton manufacturers most need IS a
market for their products. Such is
the volume Of our output that no SUI
licicnt market can be found without
going to foreign countries.
The chief obstacle to foreign mark
cts is our exclusive tariff system, which
bears so unequally upon us. We can
not sell permanently to other nations
unless we permit them to sell to us.
Trade, III its last analysis, is an ex-
change Of products.
The Hamiltonlan doctrine of pro-
toction to ''infant industries" to round
off and perfect the symmetry Of our
scientific basis, although the South
was compelled to make the heaviest
sacrifice for this national good to the
enrichment Of the North. But in most
lines we have now passed beyond the
stage Of "inGanL industrics,' and the
national welfare no longer demands
such sacrifice.
1t is an economic wrong, and ought
to be for any free people an intolcra,
bic injustice that they should be taxed
to protect an industry that sells its
products in foreign countries cheaper
than at home. Why should we pay ;
premium in order that our trade com
petitors may get a discount?
TO illustrate, Southern Russia i.
now entering into competition with II.
in the production of cotton. Bu
American steel rails to equip road in
Russia to open up cotton lands can bt
bought in the English market chcapc
than those same rails can be bought II
the American market to equip q roat
through cotton lands III Georgia @
Texas.
The steel company Is only one of th
many thus sheltered by the tariff
These trusts, like the serpent in th
fable, arc biting the breast that warm
cd them into life.
Our government expenditures ar
too colossal and our industries built u
on protection scalfolding are too n""
and too insecure for us to talk sci
ly now about dcmolishing the
system, but common sense and
mon justice cry out for reform
abuses.
The Republican party, judged
past, is not competent for this
IL would be ditlicult for good a
can citizens to find better employ
just now than knocking bricks OF
: top of the tariff wall.
BY all means let us have broad
| ccptions, independent thought,
free discussion, to the end tina
may find out the truth for the 9,
= the country rather than of party.
, independence Of thought does n
quirc us to become Republicans
! does it permit such transform