The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-09-25
THE SUPPORTERS OF RAILROAD SUBSI-
DIES OPPOSE SHIP SUBSIDIES.-WHI?

DIES OPPOSE SHIP SUBSIDIES.-WHI?
It is surprising to know how
many good citizens are under a
misapprehension about Senator
McLaurin's position on the policy
of subsidizing our merchant
marine, and how they have been
misled by the News and Couries,
Columbia State and other news
papers that have taken a aposition
against McLaurin, and who may
be the employed advocates of the
railroad subsidy crowd.
There are two factions atwork
in Congress, one is endeavoring
to get aid from the government
for the building of American
ships to carry our products to
foreign ports in competition with
the ships Of foreign countries,
who give their ships aid. The
other. is and has been getting
aid from the government to help
certain railroads, Northern Pa
cifc, Southern and others. These
railroads are making a desperate
fight to prevent the building of
American ships, because if these
ships are built it will reduce the
freight carriage Of all Southern
raised products, that are now
being shipped across the CONT
nent before they are put into the
the hole of a vessel bound for
foreign ports. A bale Of cotton
shipped to China, instead of be-
ing loaded on a vessel at Char
lesion and taken direct to its
place of destination, it is taken
across the continent on the trains
of the Northern Pacific and load
ed on an English or German YES
sci at San Francisco. Thus
making the farmer pay this un-
necessary expense Of railroad
trackage when if we could put
the cotton on the vessel at Char
lesion, the expense Of putting it
into a Chinese port would be ac-
tually' less than it takes now to
get it to San Francisco.
These railroads had a strong
lobby at Washington and they
subsidized many strong and in
fuential newspapers to fight the
ship subsidy bill. Senator Nc
Laurin is not in favor of what is
known as the Frye-Hanna bill
that was discussed in the last
Congress, because that bill was
not sufficiently guarded by pro-
per business restrictions to pro-
tect the peoples interests, and
he so declared when discussing
the resolutions of the Southern
Cotton Spinners Association.
He said then that he could not
support that subsidy bill, but if
modified with proper restrictions
it would have his support, as he
believed that the placing Of
American ships on our high seas
would rebound to the benefit Of
the Southern Cotton grower.
Senator McLaurin because of his
expressed intention to support a
bill which will encourage build
ing American ships, has be-
come marked for defeat by the
friends of that gang of railroad
subsidy robbers who have had
their hands into the public treas
ury for years, and who have been
supported in their raids on the
treasury by every Democratic
Representative from this State.
Senator Tillman has voted to
give subsidies to these same
railroads, and now he is in the
forefront in denouncing Nc
Laurin for intimating that ship
builders should have support
also. The terrific fight that is
being made against McLaurin
by the Columbia State and the
News and Courier formerly the
bitterest of Tillman's opponents,
and Tillman being lined up with
them in the fray, looks nightly
as if the railroad people had used
a mighty persuasive argument to
have proven thatit was 'sdamna-
BILE robbery" to vote a subsidy to
encourage the building of freight
hau1ers on water, and sublime
craftsmanship" to vote a subsidy
for freight haulers on land. We
will not pretend to charge that
the News and Courier, State and
Tillman have been bribed, but
we have no hesitency in believ-
ing that something more than an
honest difference of opinion was
an influential factor in bringing
about such complete conversion
of these two newspapers, that
not so long ago were the vilest
Of slanderers, or they are now.
Senator McLaurin has not had
fair treatment from either of the
two mentioned papers, they will
print any and every contempti-
BILE fling that is made at him,
even when they know it is false,
they will not give him due credit
for what he does, and what he
says is either ignored or distort-
ed, but Notwithstanding all of
this, they are beginning to real
ize that McLaurin is gaining
ground every day, and that the