The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-04-16
M'LAURIN ON CHINESE BILL.
Opposes New Measure for Exclusion Of Mon
eolians-Would Iniure Cur Trade.

SOISnS-nOu!Q ululC OGi AAouS'
Washington, April l4.-Special.-
Senator McLaurin of South Carolina.
addressed the Senate this afternoon IN
opposition to the pending bill for eN-
clusion OF the Chinese. This was the
first speech of the Senator since his
clash with his colleague, and on this
and on this account as well as because
of his position on the measure particu-
lar attention was given to his argument.
Mr.. McLaurin declared that the bill
as it is presented for passage is faulty
in conception, faulty in execution. faul-
ty in deduction, faulty in logic, faulty
in its premises and its conclusions. :
He declared that the law now in effect
''nourisheS our trade with China and
therefore should be preserved, whereas
the new measure would check and stun;
if not ruin it,
Speaking for South Carolina specific
allv, Senator McLaurin said: South
Carolina demands first of all that this
country shall do its duty on a question
of honor-that it shall maintain its IL
tegrity in the fulfllment Of its treaty
obligations. and, next, that this coun-
try shall so legislate as to secure fair
play for all its sections and all its citl-
Zens alike-for rich and poor, for the
laborers on the Pacific coast and also
for the labOrers on the Atlantic coast,
for the miners of California and also
for the mill workers of South Carolina.
Ave, fair play, too, for the governments
and respectable citizens Of all foreign
nations as well. including China. South
Carolina does not want contract labor
or cody labor in this country, and
would not tolerate it. Nobody wants
it. 1t is out Of the question-out OF the
calculation altogether. 1t will not be
had under the present law or under the
proposed law or under any other law.
past, present or future. But fair play
we ought to have and must have for all
respectable labor, for all respectable
business men and enterprises, and for
all respectable governments under the
sun.
Now. is it fair play to the people OF
the South, just as they are beginning
to prosper in manufacturing and com
mercial enterprises, after long. years OF
trouble and privation, to tear down and
crush their new enterprises, on the as
sumption that such ruinous policy IS
necessary in order to keep out the Chi
nese. when in point of fact it is not at
all necessary and the Chinese are being
kept out by the existing law? That IS
the plain business proposition at the
basis of the whole question.
"South Carolina is now the second cot
ton manufacturing State in the Union.
The development OF its cotton mill in
dustry has been without parallel IN any
other part of the United States. In
1890 there were 81 establishments IN
South Carolina devoted to this indus
trv, representing capital of Sll, al, :
S33, employing SOL wage earners, and
turning out products valued at Sc, $780,
1913. In 1900 the number of establish
ments had increased to so, the amount
of capital to $50. .25S, ,9+6, the number of
wage earners to 30,20l, and the value
of products to S29, ,723,9l9. While for
the whole of the United States the av-
eraee increase for the decade of capital
employed in cotton manufactures was
80 per cent, that of South Carolina was
252 per cent. While the average IN
crease in the number of wage earners
was 3l3 per cent, that of South Caro-
lima was 274 per cent. While the aver
age increase increase in the value OF pro-
ducts was 26S per cent. that OF South
Carolina was 203 per cent. The manu-
facture of cotton goods is now the most
important industry of South Carolina,
since it gives employment to 62.1 per
cent. of the wage earners employed in
the State, and turns out 500 per cent.
of the total value of the manufacturers
produced in the State. The develop
ment of this industry, which was tenn
porarily arrested by the Chinese trou-
bles year ago, has been vigorously re-
sumed, and bids fair to proceed at such
a pace that South Carolina, which has
already passed Rhode Island, will in
the next ten years take the place OF
Massachusetts as the foremost cotton
manufacturing State in the Union.
This brilliant prospect can be
blighted-the prosperity Of the South
Carolina mills and the gaining OF a
livelihood by an army of 5000 workers
can be interrupted-is only one way,
and that is by shutting down OF the
export demand for American cotton
cloth. That demand amounted in the
FIRST two months of the present calen-
dar to more than S6,000,000, and it is
being maintained at a rate without ex-
ample in the commercial history OF the
country, so that for the current fiscal
year cur exports of manufactured cot
tons will probably exceed in value
$50, 900, 900, or fully s6,oO0,000 more
than in 1900, the most prosperous OF
any of the proceeding years. Oh this
export demand 60 per cent is repre-
sented by our sales to China, and it IS
on the continuance and increase OF
these sales that the prosperity of the
cotton industry, not only OF South Caro-
lima, but of the whole United States,
absolutely depends"