The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-04-01
TARIFF REFORM.
Most Important National Issue
Says Hon. John Gary Evans.
he GIVES HIS VIEWS

On the Other More Important Issues
Of the Canlpaigr-Favors Imni.
grafton to Meet State Problems
We Print Below His Formal An.
nouncement of His Candidacy fol
the United States Senate.
Sometime ago Ex-Gov. John Gary
Evans formally declared mis- inten-
ticn to be q candidate for the United
States Senate in the primary this
Summer in a letter, which we pup
lish below:
Evans Announcements:
The following is the announcement
Governor Evans gave out:
1t has not been deemed necessary
heretofore for a candidate for the
nomination of United States Senator
in a Democratic primary to write a
pletform, especially before the as
seE,bling of the State and National
conventions Of the party. | would
therefore, simply state that I am a
candidate for the nomination of
United States Senator by the Demo-
cratic party of South Carolina, but
as others have published what they
stand for, a word from me may not
be inappropriate.
I believe the most important is
sue to be pressed before the people
is, that Of tariff. I have in former
campaigns endeavored to show the in
iquity and injustice Of the Repub-
lican policy so far as the South is
concerned and l shall continue to
do so.
We are still an agricultural peo-
pie. cotton raising and cotton manu-
featuring are vi principal industries
and will ever be. These industries
furnished the United States las year
q balance in trades without which our
country would have been a debtor to
the rest of the world instead Of a
creditor. Since the war between the
United States, the South from it's cot
con crops alone has brought into
the States approximately fourteen
million of dollars of foreign gold.
This sum represents enough money
to purchase at their assessed valua-
lions for taxation today the States of
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsyl-
vania, New Jersey, Delaware, and
Ohio and a surplus sufficient to add
100 per cent to the taxable property
of South Carolina. If this money
could have been kept at home the
South would be the richest country
in the world. Where has it gone?
The answer is easy, to fatten the pro-
tected interests Of the States enum-
Grated. Our farmers who manufac-
ture nothing have been forced to
sell their cotton in Europe, compelled
to bring back gold only to be robbed
at. the custom house n forced TO
purchase their ploughs. boots. shoes,
buttons, coats and supplies from
home manufacturers at prices from
fifty to three hundred per cent. high
err than they could have been gotten
in the markets where they sold their
cotton, and yet we are told that the
Southern farmer is lazy and indol-
ent. The time has come for the
truth to be preached and demand
made for fair treatment,
The Republican party is fast be-
coming divided into two hostile
camps on the tariff. New England is
thoroughly developed, her manufac-
turers no longer monopolize the
home market, they are dependent
now for dividends upon the surplus
product which they are forced to sell
in foreign markets where the South
sells her cotton: The Western
Republican has become the extreme
high protectionist and Massachu-
sets is now for free trade in the
raw material, which she manufac-
lures. The shoes We formerly bought
in Massachusetts now come from
Missouri. The factories have gone TO
the hides just as they are coming 10
the cotton, and the East can no long
er compete in the home market with
the West. You cannot protect cot
ton so long as the home market con-
sumes but one-third Of the raw ma
terial. It is our duty, therefore, TO
combine with the free traders OF New
England and thus secure fair treat
ment for our farmers.
Our cotton crop for the past year
is estimated to bring into this coun-
try in foreign gold seven hundred
million of dollars, while our cotton
manufacturers bring in only thirty
two million. This condition should
not be allowed to exist. We must
manufacture at home every pound
of cotton we raise and instead or
exporting raw cotton cloth. Our
prosperity will never be permanent
until this is done. We should stand
by our cotton manufacturers M de-
mand for them fair treatment 1t IS
an anomalous fact that England last
wear built more new cotton mills IN
three counties than were constructed
in the entire outside world. COTTON
machinery can be purchased In Eng
land fifty per cent. cheaper tina the
mills can buy in New England and
vet we are forced by the ubiquitous
tariff policy to pay the price. The
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