Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-01-25
TARIFF IN THE SOUTH
SIGNS OF AN ECONOMIC WAX
ENING PLAINLY VISIBLE.
Democratic Newspapers Are Begin
ming to Consider the Value of the
Principle of Protection as Applied to

"A Au"OSA VI puDA1ouCN
in Southern cities are engaged in dis
cussion which is certain to be produc-
tive of good results. It is a healthful
sign when Democratic newspapers in
that part of the country fall to discus
sing tariff matters as related to the in
terests and welfare of their own peo-
pie. That Is what is now going on. It
should be kept up. Southern people
are, as a rule, averse to taking their
political cues from Republican news
papers, but they are willing to receive
argument when advanced by journals
Of their own political faith. In this
way they are likely to absorb some
new ideas on the tariff question-ideas
new to them, but very old and very
strongly in favor in other parts of the
country.
A considerable portion Of the Demo
cratic press of the South seems to have
awakened to the fact that the Repub-
lican doctrine Of protection to domes-
tic labor and industry is worth while
considering, in spite of the fact that it
papers have begun to suspect that the
protective tariff is not a sectional af-
fair-not, as Calhoun used to preach,
after he turned free-trader, a device
for the enrichment of the North at the
expense of the South, but a policy
which builds up and benefits all parts
of the country. We find evidences of
this gratifying discovery in a recent
issue of the Charleston News and
Courier, a rock-ribbed Democratic pa
per, as follows:
'"The Louisiana delegation, it need
not be said, is wholly consistent with
itself in supporting the application Of
the Dingley tariff to the products Of
the foreign Philippines, and it is right
besides. There is no justice in the
agricultural sug2r interests of the
South and West being butchered to
make a reciprocity holiday for the
manufacturing interests of the East.
And the delegations from Western beet
States will doubtless be forced to be
Of the same mind. Let well enough
alone; or, if the holy tariff must be
scaled let it be scaled even"
Commenting on this expression the
New Orleans Item says:
"This is in line with Senator Nc
Laurin's views and indicates that since
South Carolina has become the fore
most cotton manufacturing State of
the South, her views are getting back
to those entertained by John G. Cal
houn before the days of slavery agita-
ton. And yet, Notwithstanding the ne
cessity for a protective duty to defend
and build up our cotton mills, we find
every Democrat in the House, except
three Louisianians, voting to break
down the tariff wall and let the prod
ucts Of a hundred fertile islands and
ten millions of cheap laborers into the
United States in competition with our
sugar and cotton"
The Item then proceeds to remind
the Democrats Of the Southern States
that they are badly and wrongly rep
resented on the tariff question in Con-
gress. It points out that the cotton
grower is as much interested in pro-
tective tariff as the sugar grower.
Even with the present 40 per cent duty
on cotton goods, there is an import
from foreign mills of fifty million dol
lars worth of cotton goods annually.
If this tariff were removed every cot
ton mill of the South would go to ruin
and the labor which has been collected
by them into comfortable and prosper
Gus villages would be scattered to the
wind. AS soon as our our market is
I2ft open to the free competition of
Great Britain and Germany the mills
of Europe would fix the price Of cot
ton, and our friends would then see
the cotton planter not nearly, but en-
tirely, in the hands of the Sheriff How
much cotton the Philippines can grow
Is not yet known, but it is certain that
it can be grown in those islands, with
native and Chinese labor, as easily as
it is now grown In China. In the
olden days we used Nankin, or nan
keen, as it was called, in this country,
for clothing, and with the tariff wall
removed we may again find it cheaper
to get cotton goods from Nankin and
Manila. The New Zealander, casting
his nets from the ruins of London
Bridge was looked upon as an anus
ing absurdity Of Macaulay's, but it is
not beyond the bounds of credulity to
imagine the slant-eyed Manilans sell
ing sugar and cotton.
Quite in the same vein the New Or
leans Picayune, a stanch Democratic
newspaper, resents the action Of
Southern Democrats in Congress in re-
fusing to act with Louisiana's repre-
sentatives in defending Southern agri-
cultural and industrial interests
against the unfair competition Of
cheaper labor in the Philippines. in
Cuba, or anywhere else. Says the
Picayune:
eff raw sugar were allowed to come
In from abroad free of duty, the sugar
producers of Louisiana and of the
West, not being able to compete with
the sugar of Europe and the tropics,