The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1901-08-29


, facturcrs Of material used in the con
structlon Of vessels TO put their price
up to, the highest limit was forcibly cx
posed by Senator Tillman and other
III the bill before the Senate, calln!
for appropriations for steel plates usct
III the construction of war vessels. |
was clearly shown by Senator Tillmal
That the bids for supplying this armo
were not competitive, and that tho
price demanded was far in excess OF
that paid by the European Powers
Now, if the manufacturers felt sc
strongly cntrcnchcd behind the bul,
warks OF protection that they could
ovcrcharge the government, il is very
easy to perceive how they could bleed
the private citizen.
The United States has cheaper coal,
cheaper IRON, that is far more of it.,
and great many other advantages
not possessed by England and, this be-
ing the case, it IS scli-cvilcnt that if il
has very little merchant marine that
the protective policy Of the Republican
party, the party responsible for the
present navigation laws, must be al
fault, and that this is The main, if not
the only, reason that our country
makes such miserable show IN the
way Of a merchant marine.
England has pursued Il policy direct
ly opposite to that or The United States
and, if We judge by results, we are
forced to the conclusion that our
friends across the water know a great
deal more about the laws Of trade than
we do.
Previous to the war for Southern in
dependence, when the country was I'M
der Democratic rule, the United States
had large and growing merchant ma
rlne, being strong competitor with
England for the carrying trade of the
world. AS a result Of the war the mer-
chant marine suffered heavily, but
would have long since recovered and
surpassed its former prestige except
for the whitening blight of Republican
rule.
AS an illustration Of how easily tins
could have been brought about by the
enactment Of wise laws it is only ncces-
sary TO cite the case of Germany. Pre-
vious to the war Of 1870 with France
the present German Empire was tllvid-
cd into a number of States, not even
the greatest of them, Prussia, having
anything worth mentioning in the way
OF navy or q merchant marine. There
has been IL great change in the past
twenty-five years and to-day Germany,
with not tenth as much scacoast and
a great deal less in the way of re-
sources, has strong Eavy and great
and rapidly growing merchant marine.
The writer feels that it is hardly nee
cssary TO have said this much, for if
there is any other tangible reason than
the one given above for our lack of
merchant marine he, the writer, pleads
ignorance OF its existence and would
like for some Of the new converts to
set him straight about the matter.
AS has already been remarked, we
must accept results, and when Eng
land can flourish her free trade laws
with one hand and with The other point
10 her great fleet Of merchant ships it
ought to convince every reasonable
man thai the present navigation laws
Of our country should be discrcditcd
and abandoned, for they have been
weighed in the balance Of experience
and found wanting.
At the time OF the passage of the
present navigation laws OF England it
was predicted that her commercial su-
prcmacy had received its death war
rant, but the very opposite result has
taken place, while the United States,
pursuing a diamctrically opposite poll
cy, Of which so much was predicted,
has made signal and disgraccful fail.
urc, thanks to the boastcd commercial
foresight Of the Republican party.
The writer is perfectly aware that
there ls nothing new in this, but then
the truth cannot be too often told, at
least as long as error stalks abroad in
the ltnd. 1t must, however, in Justice
to the Republican party, be admitted
that 1t has been consistent in the pur-
suancc of this policy, for the whole
trend Of its legislation has been to cn-
rich the individual at the expense of
the masses in other words, to make
robbery not only possible, but give to
the robbcr the protection Of the law.
w. ID. WOODS.
Darlington, Aug. 1t.