The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, November 25, 1891, Image 10
The Press and Banner <
_ i
ABBEVILLE, S. C. |
BILL A III'.
A 151? Family whose History Ecgages the (
attention of Hill Arp.
Atlanta Constitution.
"Frinces and lords may flourish or ruay
fade,
A breath can make Ihem-as a breath has
made,
Etit a bold peasantry?our country's
piide, , ,
When once destroyed can never bo sup
plied."' 1
I thought of this at Warren, for there
stood before us 100 unpretending, honest ,
people all from obo family. The fair had
offered a premium of a larp;e and boauti
ful family Bible to tbe head of the Iar- '
gest family that assembled upon the '
grounds, Mr. Benjamin H. Parnell and
his good wife were there with ninety eight
living descendants. Did you ever see
100 people In a fbck? Just think of a
military company of eighty men and yon
can imagine what a show 100 people
make. It was a rare and novel spectacle.
The old patriarch was a clean shaven,
active, erect mau, with a ruddy, honest 1
face, and his wife a well preserved matron,
who looked as though she would
rather be at home, and had doubls about
the propriety of exhibiting herself to the
/tn*>?<\na rtftwa CA m o r??r ni? nflA
V.UWUUO \Jl ow LUCktrj |?**V
pie. She wa3 a good looking matron
without the usual signs of (kcay. Her
hair was silvered over, but there were do
wrinkles or crow's feet or sunken cheeks.
She had her husband's arm in the good
old way, and it wa3 with a timid shyness
that she occasionally raised her eyes to
look upon the speaker who was introducing
her and her offspring to the multitude.
The good Dr. Martin said : "My
ineuus, uere is a mau &uu vtuiuau ivuu
aro the heads of a family of ninety eight
living descendants. Seven girls and six
boys were born to them, and there has
never been a death under their roof.
Their children are all happily married.
This couplo have lived together in loving
and peaceful relations for forty-seven
years. They and their children have
given the public no trouble. They have '
been diligent in business and eaten hon- 1
63t bread. Young men, we commend to 1
you their good example. Go thou and do 1
likewise, and let us abolish the immigra- 1
tion bureau." 1
The Bible wa3 made to order, and had
plenty of blank leaves to register the '
names and marriages and deaths in their
order. It was a remarkable scene. Some
of the mothers and fathers had infants in
their arm*, and all had children gathered
around them in separate flocks, and all 1
were dressed in clean and comfortable
I
clothes. It was a pleasure to me to be
introduced to them, and, of course, I had
to quote some scripture and tell what
David said:
"Children are an heritage of the Lord,
As arrows are in the bauds of a mighty
man so are children of the youth,
Happy is the man who hath his quiver
full,
Tbey Bhall not be ashamed, but shall speak
with the enemies in the gate." i
That is, they shall be the ambassadors
to make treaties for peace. A man with
numerous children and grandchildren has
more at Btake and feela more concern for
good government. He ought to be the 1
man to speak with the enemy. If I live
to see another war impending I shall
speak a little myself."
And I recited David's prayer, ,;That
our sons may be as plants grown up in
their youth. And our daughters be as
corner stones polished after the similitude
of a palace.
"That our garners may be full and our
oxen strong, and there be no complaining
in our streets.
"Happy is that people that is in such
a case. Yea, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord."
That is splendid?isn't it.
Well, I had a pleasant talk with the
old gentleman. He is quick of apprehension
and said: "You may put down
that there is nothing againpt me nor my
people. None of us have ever been accused
of anything wroDg or brought into
court. Me and my wife have belonged
to the Baptist Church for nigh onto fifty
years, and I have voted the Democratic
ticket all that timo. I moved here before
there was any railroad in this country
and the people were powerful scattering.
I have made a good, fair living and am
doing it yet. The Lord has been good to
us and blessed us. Not a coffin has ever
been brought to my house."
There i3 a record of good citizenship.
No jail or courthouses for that family.
They have served on the jury and worked
the public roads, and been kind to their
neighbors, and have stood by their State
and their country. Their industry has
earned something for other people to live
upon every year. They have added to
values and besides have set a good example.
I forgot to ask that good mother
how many pairs of socks and stockings
sbe had knit in the years gone by ; how
many quilts and coverlets she and her
girls had tnado. She ought to bave a
pension and be allowed to rest the remainder
of her life. But no she would'nt
?rnrnm " - ! ????
rest. I have seen it tried. I wouldent i
charge their habits nor their religion t
oor their politics if I could. Some of ]
the9e day9 there will be n death?two i
iJenlhs? under that roof, but their good i
essmpie will not die. Ii never dies i
Anc* while I ruminated about, this family 1
rApaa r.f n/./sfixr s\n rr\c\ t f\ mr mfim. f
BU'JWiCl Jl'lfltUl puvu J V??'iiW VU u 3J wuvui ?
Dry that fits them :
"Far from tbo maddeDing crowd's ignoble
strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray,
Along the cool, sequestered vale of life, j
They kept the noiseless tenor of their
way." '
t
Sometimes I think we are doing wrong
in exciting r.ur children to more auibi- t
ti';us tbiugs and pointing them to the
bigh places of the <artb. Ambition is a
3ordid, lelfish world. It cornea from
"ambio" to walk around ?huuting for
rote?. That is what ray big dictionary
3.iys. Better cot aspire too high or expect
too much. As Cube Bays, "it won't
do for a man to strain his gun."
Next on the programme was the military
pi rformance of the broom brigade.
It was quite a small brigade. About
thi;ty girls from the school at Monticello
were brought to dress parade by their
professor. They were armed with brooms,
and dresstd in pretty uniforms?blue
ginghams, xvith;j"Dfgligre" waifcts and
white braid trimmings and rosy cheeks
find dama?b blushes, and other tantalizing
things. They went through the
manual of arm3 and all the evolutions
that are known to military companies,
with perfect precision. It astonished
everybody, and I r?marked to a veteran : .
"It looks like the girls are getting ready (
for the next war." "Yes," said he, "and ]
they may fight it. It was the likes of
them that hurried me into the last one." ,
Another remarked : "I wouldent be sur- ]
prised to hear of tbem being in theinfantry
serviee before loDg. They are Bhoot*
ing now?shooting Cupid's arrows."
On the whole, it was a pleasant fair? <
pleasant to all who attended; but there <
wa3 some disappointment because of the ]
l*f?t nf mrrinnltiiral flxhihits. Thfl enun
*"w" -~D
try people have an idea that somebody i
else will get the premiums and so they do i
not bring tbeir products. To make a ]
County fair a success every substantial ,
farmer in the County ought to take ,
something, even if it is only a curiosity? ,
a freak of nature, a curious ear of corn,
or a potato, or a three-legged dog or (
something. Most everybody has got <
something. I know what Bradly County ]
can do from what was there, but there '
should have been ten times as much corn <
and cottoD, and oata and potatoes, and :
pears, etc., etc. Mr. Pearce lives there?
the man who ginned the bale of cotton ]
that took the premium of $1,000 at the
world's fair?the highest premium ever ;
given to a bale of cotton. He gave me a |
roll of his best ginning of this year's i
crop, and I brought it home with me. ;
It is more like down than cotton. j
But I had to leave these good people
with my thanks and a blessing. I went j
overland to Monticello, eighteen miles. t
I cheated Jay Gould out of that much <
time and money. We made it in three
hours and that beats his railroad. Mon- i
ticollo is a more ambitious place than i
Wo??i?nn Knf Viqq nA Kolfor nonnlo Thfitr y
IT CbftlOU} k/UV UHW UW WVWV4 |fVV^?WI Jbuvj
Bhip 1C,000 bales from Monticello and j
the town has macadamized the streets ]
and is building up beautifully. From i
there I made departure for home. The <
railroad did not connect at Little Bock, i
so I bumped around the big room at the
depot until 3 o'clock in the night (seven ,
hours) and reached the river at Memphis |
next morning at 9 o'clock. It took us
two and a half hours to cross, and of ]
course the train was gone. I waited an j
hour, but couldent wait any loDger, bo I ]
/1aUwa/1 am until A n'/OftMr f.Viof
urns uciojcu rnuo uuvu v v v*wa ?UM>
night. It is ju3t awful when a man is i
anxious to get home. The hours are bo .
long and weary. I fully expected to be
left again at Chattanooga but the conductor
told me that if his train got in on
time I would have five minutes to reach
the Western and Atlantic as it passed '
along at its crossing on Main Street, and '
if I would jump off quick and trot along ;
lively and if the ecgiceer was in ;
a good, kind humor and would slow up a '
little I might possibly make it. And I
did. My valise was pretty heavy, but I
trotted and fox trotted and paced and got 1
to the crossing just in time, and I mo- ]
tioned in a pleading, beseeching way, '
and he smiled and nodded, and a stranger 1
Baid "give mo your hand, old gentle- 1
man," and I did so aud gathered the 1
haudrail and pulled up 175 pounds just 1
like it was nothing. The clever stranger '
tossed my valise on the platform aud I 1
was happy, yes, calm and serene. You '
see, I bad not only to run and jump from 1
one railroad to another, but from onesys- 1
tern to another, and it is no small thing
to jump syaietcsi. I jumped from the
Richmond Terminal to the Louisville and
Nashville and they don't connect at
Chattanooga. One goes out at one depot
while the other comes in at another depot
half a mile away. They are not synomomous
or simultaneous, nor "en rapport,"
and so the only chance is to jump for it.
Why, my folks thought J. was lost and
were just about to telegraph for me all ,
over the country. It took me two and a
half days lo travel 500 miles, But one
trouble i3 that the river i3 lower than it
hae been for years, and the ferry boat has
to feel its way along and every few min
itea strikes bottom or a sandbar and has
;o get off and try another place. At one
point we were twenty minutes in moving
brward twenty feet. But all this trouble
;vill be over by Spring, f.ir the gov?ronent
i? building a fn:e bridge scro.? the
river, and il will be h great relief Until
,hen, I must 9ay farewell, Arkansaw.
Urr r Ann
He Took Landanum.
Another tragedy was enacted in Atan'-a
yesterday, and Eugene H. Prather
ma appeared before his fellow man for
he last timeIt
v.as the same old story of dissipa,ion.
depDair and euicide.
At 2 o'clock yesterday evening Officers
roily, Whutley and Eiheridge found Eu
jene Prather in the back part of a bar:oom
at tho corner of Decatur and Calloun
streets in an unconscious condition.
Eo w&3 carried to the station house at
>nce and medical assistance summoned.
Dr. Ralph Smith responded, and made
)very effort to save the unfortunate men's
ife, but gave up the struggle, and *t 5
/clock Prather was deed.
Some time before he was discovered he
lad taken an ounce of laudanum, and
be drug bad takea such a hold upon his
lystom that all efforts to eradicate it
proved fruitless.
Numerous acquaintance* of the man
gathered around him and slapped and
rubbed him for three hours, but for all
;he effect it had the body before tbera
might have been Btone. Not even for an
iDBt&nt did he show eigns of consciousness,
and the end came so quietly that
those nearest hardiy knew when the end
bad come.
Eugene H. Prather was about twentyleven
years old, a printer by trade, and a
native of Williamston, S. C., where bis
mother lives to-day, the matron of the
Williamston Female school. He was of
ei good family and universally liked
where he came from. Ho was a hard
drinker and that eventually proved bis
ruia and causcd bis death.
He had been in Atlanta for about two
tveeks, and in that time bad done little
work, spending most of his time in dissipation.
It is supposed that when be dissovered
bis money was all gone, he grew
despondent and took the step which
ended his life.
This morning Prather was in conversation
with a friend, and seemed to be
eery gloomy. One of his remarks in the
light of after developments was striking,
rurning to bis friend besaid : "Old man,
will you put up 50 cents towards my
funeral expenses if I die soon ?"
A few hours after making that remark
be was dead.
He left no letter that gave a reason for
bis rash act. A telegram was found in
bis pocket addressed to A. B. Williams,
the editor of the Greenville, 8. 0., News.
rt read: "Is there any help for me?
3end to Keeley Institute."
His friends believe that Prather's
friends in Greenville made up a purse to
send him to the Keely Institute, and that
when he got to Atlanta his appetite for
whisky got the better of him, and he
spent all the money and found it impossible
to take the course of treatment. He
then wrote the message to Mr. Williams,
intending to ask for more help, and to
have the money sent direct to the Institute,
not being willing to trust himself
with it, but despair got the better of him,
and be ended the struggle by suicide.
It is a pitiful story at best, and his
death will doubtless be a great shock to
bis friends in South Carolina.
Wylie & Barclay have charge of the
body, awaiting orders for its disposition
from the friends of Prather, who have
been notified of his death.
The coroner will hold an inquest over
the body at 9 o'clock this morning.?
Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 21.
After 09 Tears,
Yesterday it was reported on the streetB
that Mrs. Carrie Fleming, of this city,
widow of the late Rev. W. H. Fleming,
had, by the death of a relative in the
Nortn, raiien neir do nan a mwnon aoi|ars.
The Herald has gathered the following
facts in regard to the matter :
Just ninety-nine years ago, a wealthy
resident in New York city named Edwards,
a near relative of Mrs. Carrie
Fleming, of this city, died. At the time
[>f his death for Borne reason he desired
that none of his immediate family Bhould
share in his estate, so he contracted that
it his death all the property he owned in
New York city, consisting of twenty-five
acres of land, much of it already improved
along Broadway and Wall si feels,
should not be sold but leased for a term
of ninety-nine years. Thia waa done
and it is said that the record of the transaction
is completed.
Mr. Charley Hoke, a brother in law of
Mrs. Fleming, is equally interested, and
is nov? |p New York pushing investigations.
Their attorney, Judge Wyckliffe,
of Walhalla, is also in New York, and a?
the lease will expire this year they will
take steps at once to recover the properly.
Mrs. Fleming was a Miss Martin, of
Qfreenville, and it is through her father's
relatives thatpbe is ponnected with Edwards.
It is estimated that in the event
this claim is established the share of each
of their heirs will amount to something
over half a million.?Spartanburg Hcrala,
October 10th.
? ??mb mmsaam t ' w 1
A Great Ball Fight In Tlie City of Mexico.
City of Mexico, Oct. 20.?The revival
of bull fighting in the City of Mexico
Sunday was in the narao of Charity.
A committee of ladiee of this capii.1
!tL *r ??
uii, wuu iura. uiaz, wire 01 me rresi*
dent, at their head, organized it for the
benefit of the sufferers from the floods in
Spain. It was one of the greatest spec*
tacles of the Mexican national sport ever
witnessed on the North American continent.
The time set was 2:30 in the afternoon.
For an hour previous, San Francisco
street, the Avinda Juarez and the Pas Eo
De La Eeforma presented a most ani*
mated scene. Carriages of every degree
from the landaus of ministers and sena
tor?, wich cockades and liveries, down to
the commonest hacks, jostled together on
the way to the bull fight. A stream of
pedestrians bent on the Bame errand filled
the side walks, while from balconies and
house tops thousands watched the passing
fhrong. At the Plaza de Torres people
came from every direction, but so perfect
were the police arrangements that no
difficulty or disorder was encountered,
atd the human tide poured iuto the great
amphitheatre without delay or discomfort.
It is estimated that there were 12,
000 people inside the inclosure. Two
military bands were wresent and four
companiea of infantry served to insure
good order. A long row of seats intended
for President Diaz and his party, the committee
of ladies and their friends and the
members of the Spanish Casino were
decorated with bunting, the Spanish col*
ors and palm branches.
Preeently a roll from the drums, a
flourish of trumpets, followed by the national
hymn by the band outside the
amphitheatre, announced the arrival of
the President of the republic. His appearance
in his box was the signal for
enthusiastic cheers from the spectators,
salutes by the soldiers, and a repetition
of the national hvmm bv a band inside
the enclosure. The applause was genuine
and universal. Hundreds of miniature
Spanish and Mexican flags were unfurled
and waved by the people duriDg
the hoisting of the Mexican ensign in
froDt of the presidential box. The President
was evidently in excellent health
and spirits, and advancing to the front of
the box, and acknowledged the cordial
reception. Accompanying the President
were Mrs. Diaz, the committee of ladies.
and a brilliant company composed of
the very cream of Mexican society.
Nine bulls of celebrated breeed were
killed amid the bravos of the spectators.
The animals bad been trained for the
occasion, and many of the matadors bad
many narrow escapes. President Diaz
and party left the ring during tbe killing
of the eighth bull. The banderilloa that
had been stuck into tbe bulls were, after
the fight, sold by peddlers at extravagant
prices.
This was one of the greatest Ggbts that
Mexico has seen for years, and the
amount received for admission fees is
supposed will reach $25,000. The great
crowd was demonstrative, but good-natur*
ed and orderly.
Saved by a Joke.
For getting a man out of a bard place a
joke is sometimes better than a gun,
thinks the Youth't Companion. A
Yankee drummer boy was out on a little
foraging expedition during Che late civil
war all by himself and had scaled a bristling
picket fence to get at a tree full of
tempting, rosy apples. He had filled
bis haversack and his pockets, when he
was startled by a stentorian voice: "Drop
them apples, boy, and git, er yer a dead
yank."
Crashing through the tall weeds came
the owner of the apples, rifle in hand.
The boy ran for dear life, but clung to as
many apples as he could.
On reaching the fence be grasped a
post and tried to climb over, but the pickets
seemed to have gained a foot in
height and maay degrees in sharpness
since be entered the orchard, and, as he
scrambled over, one of them managed to
insert itself between the small of hi?
back and his leather belt in such a way
as to hold him suspended at the mercy
of his oncoming foe. "Git, I tell you !
Git, or I'll shoot!" roared the Confederate.
The boy looked over his shoulder, and
despite the ugly rifle leveled at his bead,
called good-humoredly : "Oh, see here,
now dop't shoot! Dont you see I'm on
picket and can't leave my post ?"
The mau lowered hia gun. a broad
smile over his face, and ho answered:
'All right, sonny, stick to your post."
Tben he turned and went away in the
direction whence he had come, leaving
the yankee boy to get out of his predicament
as best be could, which he finally
did by cutting his belt with his pocketknife.
-w?
? Mr. W. M. Beard, of Colston, Barnwell
.County, has a banana which grows
in a most charming manner. The tree is
fifteen feet high, and is eight years old.
This year it has made a large bunch o
well formed bananas. In tbo winter he
protects the trees with an arbor.?Bamburg
Herald.
? Out oi the letters iu the sentence
"Let charity arouse your ?eal," a St.
Jyouisian has formed 29,059 words.
EXTRACTS FROM THE ANDERSON i
INTELLIGENCER. 1
The St. Louis Republic remarks that
whatever happens in Ohio, there is a
gratifying probability of getting rid of
John Sherman, a man who has damaged
this country more than all the drought,
grasshoppers and canker worms with
which it has been afflicted in the last
twenty years.
Ditn's Review of Trade represents business
as steady and assuming natural pro_
4.2 AU ~ >^.^1 mu ~ ^ ?
purtiuus an uvor tnw cuuutry, xuu iliuiiuj
market is much less stringent than some
time since. Cotton is moving freely.
The report is encouraging, and indicates
that "hard times" are beginning to disappear
and give place to a normal condition
of affairs.
It is reported that an agreement has
been reached by a majority of the members
of the next House of Representatives,
after much correspondence this
summer, to put a free coinage bill
through the House as soon as Congress
meets, and to send it to the President, if
possible, before the adjournment for the
holiday recess.
mu. x? i. i-i- - art t T?:?
1 Lie water iu iuu in.inaiaaipjji xvivor
and its tributaries is the lowest ever
known. The Ohio is fordable in many
places whero steamboats usually ran, and
business is at a standstill on account of
lack of transportation. Along the upper
Mississippi the bayous are drying up and
fish are dying in myriads. The low stage
of water is the result of the drouth of the
past five months, and more serious results
than those already shown are apprehended.
We have heard an Ex-Confederate,
himself a brave soldier, say that General
Kershaw (who is now holding Court here)
was remarkably calm and self-possessed
under fire during a battle, and always
undemonstrative. When the battle was
raging and victory was wavering between
the foes, Gen. Kershaw invariably caught
the brim of his cap between his thumb
and fingers and settled it firmly upon his
! head. He seemed to do this unconsciously
and from the force of habit. He was a
gallant soldier, and his men loved him
dearly.
In the election of Maj. John F. Finken,
"Reformer," to the mayoralty of Charleston
over Mayor Bryan, "Regular," the
"Regulars" ("Ringsters,") seem to have
met with an unexpected and severe defeat.
"Rotation" is the order of the dav.
Maj. Finken's record is a good one, and
he will doubtless make a good-.mayor.
Rotation is not a bad policy, and we believe
that Charleston will not suffer by a
practical operation of this principle,
however capable an officer Mayor Bryan
may have been. It is now a favorable
timo fnr ffio rilmrlnqtnn nflrtnlft to cet to
gather, cease their quarreling and look
after the growth and prosperity of their
city, like Anderson is dojng, for instance.
The Court of General Sessions is not
inaptly denominated a "jim crow" Court.
The time of a learned Judge, an efficient
Solicitor, Jnrors that have to lay aside
their pressing personal duties, and the
Court officials, is consumed largely in
determining whether some hapless negro
is guilty of carrying a concealed razor or
pistol, whether a "coon" did or did not
strike, or attempt to strike, another, or
whether some certain "son of Ham" stole
(Bill Arp would say "borrow") ayearling,
shoat, mess of "roasen' " ears, a pair of
shoes, or some other trivial thing. Of
course some heinous offences came up
for trial. As a rule, however, we suppose
75 per cent, of the cases tried are negroes
charged with some misdemeanor, which
a sensible trial justice could dispose of
just as effectually as the Court of General
Sessions, and with a great deal less expense
to the County.
LET THE LAW TAKE ITS COUUSK.
Some people and papers in the State are
raising the hue and cry of "wholesale
butchery," and calling on the Governor
to commute to imprisonment in the Penitentiary
the sentence of the ten negroes
who were recently convicted in Laurens
of murdering one of their own race and
condemned to hang.
A V*aa Kofltl r?rOQftnfprl f.llA OnV?
ernor asking that a negro recently convicted
of murderiug a white girl near
Columbia, and sentenced to be hanged,
be imprisoned in the Penitentiary instead.
A counter petition has been presented
in this last case praying the Governor to
refrain from interference in the negro's
behalf.
South Carolina has a law on her Statute
Books embodying the Scriptural command,
"whoso sheddeth man's blood, by
man shall his blood be shed," and there
| is not a better law in existence. As an
abstract proposition, the law should be
enforced, or promptly repealed. We are
not one of those who favor the abolition
of capital punishment, and therefore have
no sympathy with tljoso squeamish senj
timents entertained by some against
hanging, or otherwise killing, murderers
after a duo legal process,
The fact that so large a number as ten
men are to bo hanged at once, and for the
killing of one man, does not change our
ideas of justice, or justice itself. It rather
aggravates the case?ten killing one.
The murderers in question were tried
and convicted before impartial juries and
judges, in whose breasts both the quality
and quantity of mercy, we presume, was
strong a^ in the breasts of those who
clamor for interference by the Governor.
Lot the law as established by conscientious
juries and righteous judges be enforced
to the letter. Let thoso who seem
outraged by such a course, imagine themselves,
or some one dear to them, the victim
of the murderer. That will test the
sincerity of their appeals for "mercy,"
and perhape put a stop to their untimely
petitions and addresses to the Chief Executive.
,
How do these howlers for "mercy"
think lynch law can ever be effectually
suppressed if murderers, who are too
frequently acquitted in our Courtd, can,
after conviction, receive a commutation
of tbeir death sentence to imprisonment
by presenting a petition to the Governor
?a petition that always ftnds ready signers?
THE TAX ON FINE COTTON,
The Charleston Now and Conrier sayBthat
at the next session of Congress Representative
Elliott, from South Carolina, will
introduce a bill to place tariff duty on imported
cotton sufficient to cover the increased
labor cost in this country. He
sees no reason why agricultural products
should not receive whatever benefits
come from the tariff, or why imported
cotton, amounting annually to several
million dollars in value, should not conMKnfa
Ua citiar/i Marar/^a ATnanafia r\t
the Government.
The Imports of Egyptian cotton in 189091,
accorning to the Boston Journal of
Commerce, amounted to 20,900,000 pounds.
The New York Dry Goods Economist
estimates that $3,000,000 in gold, or its
equivalent was sent to the Egyptians for
fine cotton during the year. This cotton
comes into direct and hurtful competition
with the fine cotton grown in South Carolina
and other Southern States. We are
utterly opposed to the doctrine of Protection,
but so long as the tobacco growers
of Connecticut receive the benefit of a
duty of $7.65 a pound on the products of
their fields, which the farmers of the
South pay in part, it is only ?alr that the
growers of fine cotton in the South should
receive like benefit from the tariff laws.
If Protection is a good thing for the tobacco
growers in Connecticut, Protection
ought to be a good thing for the cotton
growers in South Carolina.
Representative Elliott desires, as far aa
possible to remove the inequalities of the
tariff system, and to make the Southern
planters share in equal degree the benefits
which the tobacco growers enjoy under
the McKinley Act We have sought in
vain to obtain from our esteemed con- %
temporaries, tne rnuacuipnia rress, notion
Journal of Commerce, and the New York
Dry Goods Economist, an expression of their
views in regard to placing a heavy doty
on imported fine cottons. The silence
which they continue to preserve is almost
painful, but it appears to be a silence
which cannot be broken. The New York
Press, one of the principal organs of the
Protectionists, says very frankly "that
whenever it is shown to be to the intereet
of the American people that fine cotton
should be protected, Republicans will be
found voting for a duty on the imported
and competing article."
We have no doubt that Representative Elliott,
who has been investigating the
subject, will be in a position to convince
our contemporary of the justice of taxing
Egyptian cotton, and we shall expect the
Republicanfcontingent in the next House
to vote for the Elliott Bill.
The duty on Egyptian cotton, like the
duty on Sumatra tobacco, should be made
prohibitory. This will work a hardship,
we know, upon the manufacturers of fine
cotton goods in tne JNew jtsngiana states,,
but it will be truly Republican, and, of
course, the Republican members of Congress
will vote for it.
A LOGICAL ARGUMENT.
"A Farmer," of Equality, S. C., who
evidently reads the National Economist,
scores a good point against Dr. Macune,
editor of that paper, in this week's Advo
cole, and rasps him severely. Like all
good Democrats, l'A Farmer" keenly
appreciates that the tariff question is the
momentous subject before the American
people to-day, before which all others
fade into comparative insignificance.
How, then, can Dr. Macune be a good
Allianceman and yet speak disparagingly
of this, the strongest and most important
plank in the Ocala platform, and seek, to
smother discussion of it by declaring
"there is nothing in the tariff question,"
and terming it a "breeder of sectional
strife?" What sensible man does not
know that the tariff bill now in operation
is the most iniquitous burden resting
upon every tax-payer, except the protected
Northern manufacturers? Who
does not know that the abolition of -this
Republican enormity would afford greater
relief to the farmers, and everybody,
than the enforcement of any other of the
Ocala demands ? Wequote the following
from "A Farmer's" letter, and commend
it to the unprejudiced consideration of
every reader as a sound and logical argu
meat:
"Protection protects less than one
million out of nineteen millions of our
industrial population and taxes all the
nineteen millions; yet the National Economist
says: 'There is nothing in the tariff
question,' that it is 'a breeder of sectional
strife,' and that 'the agitation of this
question is an effort on the part of the
Democratio party to galvanize an old
ghost of sectional hatred.' In the last issue,
October 20, its editor says the discussion
of the tariff is a 'hoary conundrum,'
and we find published in its columns
such articles as these: 'The misleading
tariff issue,' 'the tariff question is a hoax,
all of which lead us to believe that Dr.
Macune is either a protectionist or in fa~
vor of a third party or both, and that be
is using his influence as editor of the
official orgau of the National Alliance to
divert the minds of farmers from the tariff
question, and commit them to olftss
legislation, the very thing the proteotivo
barons of the East most want. Now,
what right has Dr. Macune to say anything
against any of the Ocala demands ?
Is not a reduction of the tariff one of these
demands ? Certainly. Then, can we follow
his leadership and ignore this demand,
and still remain Democrats, when
we know that this question is the leading
issue with the Democratic party? "We
think not. Wo know not," Of all classes
of our people the agricultural'olass should
be more interested in tariff reform than
any other. Why? Simply because the
American farmer pays the burden of tax
levied for protection?that is for the pecuniary
benefit of the American manufacturer.
It is a tax of which the farmer in
particular gets no manner of good," eto.