The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-08-02
ESTABLISHED 1914

the beginning New England and New
York together have had two-tifths of
its membership, while the South has
never had more than one-fifth.
ut will be sorry day for American
industry when the question ofport diff
ferential or of the relations among
railway rates, anywhere becomes in
reality a political question. Do the
people of the United states wish to see :.
the great parties which perform such
useful functions in their government I,
divide upon the question whether
wheat shall be made into flour for the
use of Eastern consumers at Mime
apolis or at Niagara; whether live cat
tie or dressed beef shall be shipped east
of Kansas City, Omaha, and Chicago
whether New Orleans, Galveston, or
New York shall draw tribute from the
greatest quantity of export grain, or
whether the salt produced in New
York or Michigan or Kansas shall be
most profitably marketed in Iowa Y
And | may add, or whether the cotton
mills of South Carolina shall be per-
mitted 10 compete with the cotton mills
of New England?
Permit me here to give you the sub
stance of some views expressed by our
Third Vice President, Mr.. J. M. Culp,
who says: ...
"It is clear that if there had been,
when many of the rates were being
made for the stimulation of traffic to
and from the South, some central pow
er authorized 10 name and fix rates,
they would have been certainly made
with some relation to the distances,
and This. central authority would un-
doubtediy have considered that it was
not its business to make rates which
would take traffic from one section to
aid in the development OF traffic in
another section no matter ifsuch adjust
ment was necessary for the develop
ment OF the new industries. They
would have held that the rates must be
for the same distances from various
points of consumption. +,
"The South, by reason of her raw
material such as iron, coal, cotton, tim
Der, ETC., is in need of every aid to en-
able her to convert these raw products
into finished material and ship them
to the markets of consumption. This
will not be accomplished with consis-
tent rapidity, if ever at all, except by
the aid of the railroads in the South,
left free in the future, as they have
been in the past to make such adjust
ments as they may find necessary for
the fostering and benefit of the indus
tries and producing centers OF the
South. 1t is easy to imagine how diff
ficult it would have been twenty-five
or thirty years ago to have had COM
mission or other central power to make
these rates, assuming that complaint
was made TO them of the rates made or
propose d ON iron to the East and West
or manufactured cotton goods, or fur
niture, authorizing reduction in
these rates to the basis that was adopt
ed as against the efforts of the Northern
railroads and the Northern manufact-
ures. But such a commission or CEN
trail power would have prevented re-,
duction from Southern points unless
corresponding or relative reductions
were made from other established
points of production"
| Appeal to the s-ress.
And now am come to appeal to
you, our brethren of the press of South
Carolina, and through you to the press
of the South, not to allow anything to
distract US from our work of advanc-
| ing the best interests of the South. Hear
| both sides, or all sides, of this momen-
tous question OF committing to a pat
ernal government the right to circum-
scribe your developement; the right to
say what markets you may reach, and
of saying to the South, Thus far
shalt thou go but no farther" Not
even your best friends, the railroads,
shall be allowed to help you beyond
such dictum of this proposed most rad
ideal measure.
The South must be loyal to her own
interests and take care of her own
needs. She must protect her own
agricultural, commercial, and indus
trial necessities, including her rail-
roads.
This rate-making power by a bu-
reau of the government would affect
our whole land but J. consider, as q
business proposition it must affect the
| South at this time more than any 9TH
er section, because the South possesses
such limited undeveloped resources of
such varied and such needful kinds
that no other section can much longer
have the advantage if the South is
given fair showing and reasonable
opportunity. Now, at this critical
juDcture, if left free, she will soon
equal aye, even surpass, all other Sec
ions in her triumphant development.
Then let us do nothing to hamper or
hinder that progress of the. South. So
let us not be disturbed by the envying
of the sections, but let US emulate the
progress of other sections of our great
country. Let our watcbword ever be
that the South hath need of her sons.
Not in narrowness nor in selfshness,
but in spirit of the broadest patriot
ism, let US remember that here is our
home and this is our immediate re-
sponsbitity, indeed Cur glorious heri-
itage. Ourresponsibility is to advance
the progress OF the South and not per-
nit such national legislation, or any
other legislation, to cast us back ten,
twenty, forty years, and all the hard
work Of these years to be done over
again, with increasing burden and di-
minishing encouragement.
! Think Of the tremendous array of la
boring people who are dependent upon
railroads, directly and collaterally, for
a livelihood, numbering in this coun-
try from ten to fifteen millions people,
all their earnings with the tradesman,
storekeepers, with the professional
men, the press, ETC., and think what
they contribute to religious and chari-
table work, what good citizens they
are, and shall their needs have no