Newspaper Page Text
THE WEEKLY TELEGRAPH.
ESTABLISHED 1826.
PEGGY O’NEAL
Who Wound General Jackson
Around Her Finger.
breaks up the cabinet,
■■.throne Calhoun, Dlneovers V. r, lllnlr,
Klerl» Van Baron President nnd
Cluinge, the Potttiml lllnteoy
of the V trifled States.
gpedsl Correnpondenoe Macon Telegraph.
‘ Washington, January 27.—This week I
hire Icarnrel somcthiiiR new almut that
n,«t remarkable episode of VU kind in the
history of tliia country, tlic .rials and the
triumph* of Peggy O’Neal, the protege of
lV>iiimt Andrew Jackson. The full lli>-
torr of the extraordinary event lias never
teai printed; Mi fact, movt of its details
an (till unknown, but I liavo thia week
tilled with two genflemen who were
prominent figures of Oen Jackson’s time,
and who revealed to me some interesting
particulars •“confiderttially.”
*1 called yesterday onoodhurw pi . ,
bright lawyer in the Corcoran bmWmg,
who ha* in his possession a wliole cart-
lo»l of grnpen which his grandfather,
Francis 1’. Blair, received from the hand of
Jackson in hia old ngc. They have never
teen mod or even assorted, and only a por
tion of their contents are known. Somo
Jar, Mr. Blair «ay»i lle a,ul “** Brother
iwill make a judicious selection for publi-
Ltiso.
PF/iCiY O NEAIm
When the popular idol of the West,
(Andrew Jackson, was a member of the
U nited Slates Senate in 1828 he boarded
pit tavern at I ami Twentieth streets,
•ar where Secretary Whitney’s residence
In.w is. kept hv an-Irish mutt named
(William O’Neal. Ho bad taken ;■ special
Diking to Mrs. O’Neal, the efficient land-
wr, when he «;i a itu-mls-r of C’ongt
iwk brlore, Mu). John Tf. I'.alnn,
r Senator from Tennessee, ltoarded
i- same place, and together they petto
pad forfeited with candy the daughter of
ieO’N'eali, Peggy, a f ill of 12 or 15, who
rew daring the years of their pretence :tt
Ihe tavern into an uncommonly handsome,
Polling, intelligent and livel y jfoaai l i b
Pi was alsmt the worst [Kjssibie place to
tiring a virtuous girl in, for it was the
■pecial rendezvous of the gay and disia-
Ilenry Clay, during hia faat days
fu a cuntinuou guest. Growing ati among
lui-lt men ami the atmngerw who freouent,
The average inn. with all the familiarity
Kbicli such a position implies, she lnekeil
lefinement and delicacy, out she hail, bp-
|idi* (lie inevitahle chic nnd cheek, that
liTsdty of tpeacli and voluptuon. beauty
Taiih characterise so many maidens of
“e North of Ireland.
Hie was thoroughly unconventional and
lefiant of proprieties, and became auilo-
liims, willful mid reckles*. She flirted a
Tod deal, had a nodding acquaintance
run most of the good-looking travelers,
i’ r ’ n S t ‘d twice to clope,and finally, about
It™ married Purser Timborlakc, of the
^ mted States Navy. She disliked the sea,
' remained most of the time in Wnsh-
Ufton among her old associates. Three
™ldren were burn to her during the next
1e veil*, one, it is alleged, after a too
-’[’'""find absence of her hnsband. In
XjSithe very wear -of “Old 11i.-k<>rv
Vfi**, Timberlake, then on duty in the
twluerranean, cut his throat in a fit of
pjMeholy, and left a most attractive
r 1 * 1 “‘adsome widow to mourn hia loss
■noreorle,*.
h ' T“ B0 * wholly inconsolable, for
enml wonderful grace nnd matchless
a Jty sad a thousand admirers. Polly
the President’s wife, liail publicly
“ , “er at a bald as “the prettiest girl
/j^diington.” She waa brilliant and
ii5» -j y <lu rngeous and capricious,
L 'IS® v Vf 1 ^ a b |i g. affectionate, goner-
" T" Maki.iemjierod.
Milts 'T ®^win Oates Pinckney had
ten the poem still famous, ls-ginning:
iL^i'bU.cp n, onc miul e llp
■s lovellnoM alone,
’reman, rt ber gentler sex
^^svssrai-nu
a ■***« have riven
Unit, like t be Air.
» waa of earth than be&7en.
^ news of Timber! ake’s
EL ***?wake its way home, Senator
CU® Jaclwon: ••General, I’ve a
Mri? 1 , 1 ** U .\ raarr 7 l’<“ggy myself.”
u Y »I * means, if vou love her and
[■wuihaw yon. 1 ’ waa Um reply, “ft
foitore Peggy’s good name.'’
as I wished it! It is not as I wished it! I
cannot go to Washington.” Two weeks
after the news of the victory was known at
the Hermitage she died suddenly of heart
disease.
Jackson mourned her sincerely nnd con
sidered her, as she no ifobut was, chiefly a
martyr to the partisan aaperatlons of her
chaarcter on account of her having lived
w-ith him as his wife for years before mar
riage, erroneously supposing herself di
vorced from her former husband. For al
luding to this Jackson had already fought
with Gov. Seiver and killed Charles Dick
inson in a duel.
When Jackson came back to Washing
ton as President he called his friend, Sena
tor Eaton, into the cabinet as Secretary of
War. Then there was a breeze! The other
ladies of the cabinet refused to associate
with his wife officially or recognize her
privately.
'flic virtue of the whole United States
was stirred up, nnd a committee of clergy
men was sent to represent the scandal -to
President Jackson, supposed to be ignorant
of it. They assured him that Peggy hail
always borne a hail reputation from her
girlhood; that no respectable ladies would
speak to her ; that several gentlemen wore
ready to testify to personal knowledge -of
her dissoluteness; that she had told her
servants to call her two children Enton,
not Timberlake, for tluU was their nnme,
and that she and Eaton had traveled
together on several occasions to various
cities and registered as mm and wife.
Jackson replied indignantly in -defense
• P-rbj Eaton. A Cuiicsijionucncc of
months resulted, on his part long, vehe
ment nnd hitter. The whole mass of these
confidential writings, mostly in the Imnd-
writing of General Jackson and still ex
tant, would fill thirty eolnmns-of a news-
mper—not less than 200 letters in nil. lie
irought to the defense of Peggy all of the
energy that had made him such an Indian
fighter.
But he was fighting women now instead
of mere Indians, and they defied him and
cut Peggy dead.
Then he called a cabinet meeting on the
subject, and assured his advisers that Peg
gy Eaton was “as chaste as snow,” and
formally demanded that their wives should
recognize and visit her. “You seem, Mr.
President, to labor under a misapprehen
sion as to who is General in my family,”
said Attorney-General Berrien.'
Still the ladies revolted. The wives of
John C. Calhoun, ’Vice-President; John
51. Berrien, Attorney-General; 8. I). Ing
ham, Secretary of'the Treasury, and John
Branch, Secretary of the Navy, refused
either to receive Peggy or call ’upon her,
and the wives a the .foreign in inisters de
clined to bow to her or to recognize her in
tray way. Even Jackson’s niece, Mrs.
IVmeUon,. the mistress of the White
House, joined tho revolt, and said, “Any
thing else, uncle, ask me to do; bnt I can
not call u;>on Mrs. Eaton.”
The warrior’s blood was up. “Yon take
the next stage and go home to Tennessee 1”
he replied, and she nnd her husband
packed their Ihtnok nnd went.
He then started tlf discipline his intra
able cabinet. Van Boren, Secretary ofStatc
Wits a widower, ami Barry, I’ .aiu.a.-ui
General, was a bScheBrVso they good-
naturedly lent themselves to the President'
wishes. They mllcd on Mrs. Peggy Eaton,
as also did Amo* Kendall, Col. Benton and
Isaac Hill, prominent partisans, nnd I/ml
’Vaughan, the British minister, nnd Bunin
Knidrner, tlm Btissiun minister, both
bachelors, joined the whitewashing bri
gade.
MACON, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, JANUARY :tl, issa. -TWELVE PAGES.
YOL. LXIT., NO. 42.
present Chief Magistrate. Such great!
events, ” etc.
And Bennett wrote from Washington to
the Herald: “I think JohnC. Calhoun has
doomed himself to oblivion by his refusal
to rehabilitate Peggy Eaton.”
So, indeed, it proved, and very shortly.
With the promptness which character
ized him in all warfare, Gen. Jackson,
when his first term was half ended, de
manded the resignations of Secretaries Ing
ham, Branch and Berrien, the three mar
ried members of his cabinet whose punc
tilious wives had brought mortification to
to “good little Peggy,” as he fondly called
the lady in question.
.They resigned. lie sent them home
without any liypocritical letters of regret,
and filled their places by men whose wives
were understood to Ik? willing to declare a
truce with Peggy. The new cabinet (for
both Van Burcii’and Eaton had resigned
for foreign missions) were Edvard Living
ston, Louis McLane.Levi Woodbury,Lewis
Cass and Roger B. Taney.
Calhonn resigned the Vice-Presidency
and espoused nullification, drawing from
Jackson his famous indignant message.
Jackson was not satisfied with rebuking
Calhonn and overthrowing his ambition;
he wanted to make sure of securing the
promotion of Peggy's diplomatic defender.
So during his first term he wrote a letter
“to he published only in case of my death,”
In which ho definitely nominated Van
A PRACTICAL VIEW
y
Of the Effect of Protection
on Wages.
SOME BIG FALLACIES EXPOSED.
The^Ad vantage* of the American Manu-
met urer, Who Still Clamor* for Pro
tection—A Practical Statement
■ of Important Fact*.
ProfJlt. T. Ely is Itultlmorc Bun.
I {Vink it was a French king who asked
his wise men to explain how it was that if
you Should put a large fish into a pail
filled with water, the water would not run
over, ' This puzzled them all greatly until
some one suggereted that it was not n fact
that^he water would not run over. The
kingpin deed, had not stated that it was a
inded of this story when I
f the current discussions on the
fact.* 1 si
hear 50m
tariff. ■'
It is Said, for example, that the Ameri
can snamifacturer must receive higher
Burenas h'uw^^and'theJTi^tailwi j pr5 *?”” iabor costa “j more , tban
him to his 'side as Vice-President, vice | ** 1,8 European competitor, and that
Calhoun, retired.
Peggy O’Neal comes into history only
onco more, or at most twice.
Lientenant Randolph succeeded Timber-
lake as purser aftertlie latter’s suicide, and,
his accounts being found irregular, he was
arbitrarily dismissed from the service with
out a hearing. He alleged that it was
Timberlaket^who had defaulted ami de
manded a hearing, which Jackson persist
ently refused him.
\ I
rf j IB *2 * ran 8 tails ami they were
ff... *** there was a great time- in
^ ungton. Peggy was ambitious and
iM p il of the occasion. Jack-
I. 1,1 : "’d li-tll tli« Senate, :itul the
t? y wt pnmtit tfe* wid*
I. '■ •’ ' 1 “It— t;ilmM*. ,1 the :«rrau;;« -
l r 0,1 *ta ground that Pteogy’* charac-
aIU * l -*ther too notorious,
doom » ? veni bod lost il..- Km
[f M 5 °* tar reputation. She ware votetl
up to the inevitable as-
j tar kind. Men talked about
|, r L ■ •J* 4 * women ignored her. Mrs.
IS? fcf?enl, J disliked her nd dm
Cr/to her, nod when she nnd
I, V. J * 4 ‘ * **•« V*. :u h.ime to Trim,-.-.,’
u I‘I k ***1 hu election to the
ncy by ererr means in her power.
“Andrew, I don’t want
-' NN .*-1, i u^t- >ii s k -:un nii :in_v
UrptWen an.l tears and
. 1 tb r iu*r«» of New « )rle:iim
1 . . ' 1 a t«^» toL* President of the
l tc i . And when he went t
with the n«wsshe said: *It U no
MAROAllBT BATOV AT 60.
Vaughan gave a brilliant and expensive
ball in the direct interest of “Bellona,”
which waa Mrs. Raton’s nickname: but
though the l’rilireh mini-t» r liim^lf led
her to the head of the banquet table, other
ladica were persistently unconscious of her
presence, nod every cotillion she^ joined
was immediately broken up by .their with-
drnwnL
Then Baron K rude nor gave a splendid
ball, ami when the wide of the Holland
tninmfr refn^yi to «t lw PwpVji ruIa
supi>er Jackson wathftiliy threatened
semi her husband liotne.
Jackson’s whole fienr sonl was in Peg
gy’s vindication, and often, while lie wai
President, he used to stroll across the lot’
to the little cottage where Pqggy'a moth
lived and plan the campaign.
The women were inexorable. The three
married men in the cabinet refused
speak to Raton, Secretary of War, excel
as official business absolutely required, ami
in the presence of the ProfidenL Mi*
Calhoun snubbed Peggy publicly and re
I peatedlr, and for every enub, immediate!}
reported to him by Peggy, who was a con
stunt visitor at the White House, Old
Hickory laid away u poisoned arrow for
the Great Xulliticr, his associate in office
It was at this time and during the
progress of this affair that Van Buren be
came a pet of Jackson and his preordained
successor. The President slapped him fa
miliarly on the shoulder at reception* and
addressed hint as “Matty” in public.
I)uff Green’s administration “organ.”
the Telegraph, spoke slightingly of Peg
gy, and JacKson at once threw U over
board, and called Francis P. Blair, from
Kentucky, to start a new organ, the Globe,
which sprang, by the aid of Peggy’s parti
sans, into instant success.
I Liniel Webster watched with delight
the breach in the Demoratic party, awl
wrote at this time: “Mr. Van Buren has,
at this moment, quite the lead in iofla-
encearrd importance. He controls all the
t the hack stairs, and flatlets what
RANDOl.rit ITI.I.INd JACK-oN :• No-1 .
In Mar, 1833, when the President wn*
going to Vmlerieksburg to lay tin- corner-
stose of the monument :;1 Mtht
lotherof Washington, llamb.lp!. ciowdcd
u 1». ard tin- boat and ileliberaD ly pulled
• i.eral .1 ••ek-on’re ,<•. the •«'TSv iv..* Jaj*k*
at* ly sei/.fd :m»l j»ut hshore. rcaen
the irate President.
Raton was sent :ts minister Sj ain, ;
his Peggy really had a brilliant and ii
proarhable career at Madrid lor fifteen
the happiest years of her life. Then tl
returned to Washington and here he di
At the ago of CO the remarkable won
married a man of lews than 21, an Itnl
muffic teacher. It proved to he the ere
of her follies.
She survived even thw youth a!
divorcing him, and died here* in 18711 at
the ripe old age of 83. I remember lie
well ns a famous personage of this capital,
amiable and vivucious to the last and at
tracting attention wherever she went. II
last words were: M I am not afraid, but
this is such a beautiful world!”
I do not now remember anv woman wh
has so impressed herself on tlic destinies of
this country u* did Peggy O’Neal. Sec
1. She drove three members of the cabi
net into an obscurity from which the;
never emerged.
2. She made.Martin Van Buren Jack-
ton's favorite, and ultimately his successor.
3. She brought Iacwia Cass into Federal
politics, and made ' him a candidate for
President, securing perhaps the election of
Gen. Taylor.
4. She introduced Roger II. Taney to
pubjic life, virtually making him chiei
justice of the Supreme Court, with the
Drtd Scott decision at the end.
6. She called Francis P. Bla*r and Rives
into Washington jonrnaltani* where they
established the Globe and proved a potent
intlucncc for a generation.
Nothing succeeds like success. One of
Peggv Timberlake’* daughters married Dr.
Randolph, of Virginia, and the other be
came the Duchess de Sampayo, in Pari*;
and a granddaughter, inheriting the family
fnsciuations, has become the Baroness de
Rothschild of Austria.
There i« only one Timberlake in this
city now, nnd lie undistinguished ap|H-an«
in the directory as “servant/ 7
W. A. CliOPKUT
these Baber prices must be secured through
the action of a protective tariff. But is it
a fact that labor costs the American manu
facturer more? I doubt it. Wages may
on the whole be higher, nlthough even
here, on account of unsteady employment,
the difference is not so great as many im
agine: but wages and the cost of labor are
two quite difierenl things. The cost of
labor depends upon two things—first,
wagefcoai.l ; second, the efficiency of labor.
Will tin* practical man, who pays $2 a day
to his employes engaged in some manufac
turing enterprise in Massachusetts, at once
remove his business to Georgia if told that
employes can in the South be procured in
abundance for $1.50 a day? Bv no means.
He would be a fool to do it. ife will first
ascertain many other things about busi
ness. and he .will institute a diligent in
quiry into the relative efficiency of North
ern and Southern labor. He will say:
"The vital question with me is not how
mueti'TL pay a day, hut how much will it
Corel mv iu gel a good piece of w ork done.’
Now when we thus compare labor cost in
Europe and America it appears that in a
large'portion of the industrial field the
i rican manufacturer has. a decided ad-
iuge over his foreign competitor,
it costs him less to get a
n pi* < - of work done. The American
iv“s higher wage*, hut docs so much
work iu a day than the European
arc cheaper and more do
th is plain? Suppose I
A and B. A receives
day,but U accompli*I
^itts much iu u day are A. Wit
I not'ifci* ta^orer? litre/ a
*. . j m rvK^-tiiins' v‘ lh T e *»
. h«'.tqicWt,' nolo* lift. An Anieriet.il
brbkluver receives more per dnv than lli
I hit.li brick Inver, but he receives 1
bri. k laid. Tnc same holds with
to v .-ices per day and wages per piece 1
is familiar wdth the details of manu
facturing in Europe and America can
give examples in abundance. Mr.8di
oof haa looked certainly into tins matter
and made a report to the Department of
State, which was noticed in the Sun in its
isreucof December 21, 188G. It appears that
in the manufacture of silk in an English
mill the average earnings of the employes
were $2.25 u week, while they were $5.50 a
week in an American mill with which Mr,
Schocnhnf was acquainted. Nercrtnelcw,
the American operatives did so much more
work that the results were cheaper in our
country. A factory near Fran k fort-on-thc-
Main IH'Germany pays 21 cents per pair
for making the upj>crs of ladies’ high top
button gaiters, while the orice paid for the
same services in Lvnn, Mass., is only 11
cents. A pair of boots can be manufac
tured in Lynn and laid in boxes at
cents, which is far below the German cost,
although the German laborers receive$3.38
per week, on the average, and the Ameri
can $!) per week.
it is not true, by any means, in all in
dustrics in this country, that the cost of
labor is less, hut it seems probable that,
on the whole, we are quite capable of
holding our own in this respect. As a rule
high-priced lalnir is chqap Intar, and la*
bor for which little is paid is worth little.
I have often l>cen impressed with this fact
in observing the effectiveness of servants
in those parts of the North with which
am .acquainted as compared with the ef
fectiveness of Virginia servants. A house
servant may be procured readily in the
remall towns in Virginia for $> a month,
whereas In a New York village you would
be very likely compelled to nay $10 a
month. Nevertheless the Northern ser-
“ho;,<
the gf
tin
A CHICAGO SKNFATION.
pagn
IS to be at prereent the Aaron’s rod
among the Pr&tdent's desires, a settled
purpose of making out the lady of whom
re*, much haslft-n mid a person of reputa
tion This disput* may vrry probably •!«*-
tenuine who “ball bv auccosaor U the
Allcgrri Si’hnno of Labor .Men
New Party In a Certain K
CniCAUO, January 20.—The
morrow will Ray: There is a pla
among Chicago labor orgnnizatinr
carried out, will cither keep the
Democratic convention awoy from
or else place all organized labor i
ni>m to the candidates of the cq
It is Leiiig'pushtd by some of the
arts for an independent pol
bor movement for the purj
forcing organized labor to
the old parties and join an indep*
ical political movement. Of late it
to be generally believed among 1
that not only did the contractors <
di tori uni building employ non-uu
but they used stone that cairn
Chester penitentiary, and ihe m«»'t
ing eirruinstanrea to each of thr
union men it, that this stone we
from the Chester peniti
the Wabash, Chester and Wes
road, of which the principal
Chanes P. Cole, w ho, in the la
the Legislature, introduced a
the boycott a cruel conspiracy,
tion is to again bring aboot a cor
ment of all Chicago central lab
tlons, similar to the one at the t
lent Cleveland's visit, and io
Tin
much, and is it
furni.-h the chea|
Unlive tariff”
or \m diaci
economists in re
bill
reality the aiie
labor.* A “nocial pro-
lias been more
Timed by politic
nt year*. A “social pro
tective tarifl” means nSup'y a Uiiffun
to compensaW the inanufacturt rs for in
creaacu labor cost in a country when*
laborers receive high pay for few hou
and enjoy other exceptional advantages.
.Something can be reaid on theoretical
ground* in favor of this proposition, but
the difficulty in applying it is found to he
the fact that it i> the* laborer* with long
bouts, low pay and few privileges who
•ee® rao-t to require protection. England
in the country mo-t dreaded in interna
tional competition, hut nowhere in Europe
were wages so high and the number of
hours’ work per week so small. The Eng
lish workman lias, in some resj»ects, at
least the advantage over the American*
He works only fifty-fix hours a week,
and hi* labor organizations are so strong
( that they eaa afford him better
, protection than American organizations,
j Lalororganizatimi* in England hare, in
fact, |>a*re<-d through that ret ire of existence
in which American organizations ••till find
them-elves, and are no longer obligisl to
I -tniggle for the right to exist. They are
j accepted are a titled fact. Arbitratfon is
ful in England than with us,
- an.l
highly de
rnt i
the De
mittce not to hold
in tiic Auditorium
woald be glad to \
to Chicago.
id !»<
win
aasylv
I'litre ’ (sugar-*
beadaehe, sour
Ry druzxisU.
the orfpina!
logislat
vc!oj*cd. “IMuck-.m
hibited in England
IVnitajlvania {uiIko
a Suu- where tin- Ai
u.tii.n i- th<‘ .tror
irr i. , 1887 «tu»llr ,ii , Ian-,l the law |n
hibilii * pavmwnt in kind un.-im.titulicm
and that on the ground tliat Anteric
...rkirm mu.t U> protorted in th
of P
freedom of contract! The falhef of
one of my colleagues is an English
manufacturer of cotton, whose
employes, to the number of twenty, I be
lieve, came to America to seek their for
tunes, and they all, without a single ex
ception, returned to England convinced
that they fared better where they were.
This is not meant to depreciate the advan
tages of our country, for on account of our
still undeveloped resources there are open
ings here, and Darticularlv for the gifted,
which can be found nowhere in Europe.
It does prove, however, that our superior
ity for the workman is not a clear case,
and the country wo moit uicml iu interna
tional competition is the one where, with
the exception of our own, wages are high
est, and where workmen actually toii fewer
hours per week than they do in our own.
Some of the countries with the lowest
ages in the world arc not at all felt in in
ternational competition.
After all, it seems a strange thing to con
tend that a country with superior advan
tages, cannot compete with one with infe
rior natural gifts. It is like claiming that
man who raises one hundred bushels of
corn per acre, will be driven out of the
market by one who raises only fifty. Yet,
this is actually what some claim.’ What
is the reason why wages are high in the
United States? It is simply because na
ture has lavished her gifts as never befor-
upon au intelligent, enterprising and ine
dustrious people. Labor and capital, when
government does not force them into un
natural rhannoTk. yield a lnrorpp return
than in Europe. iC you invest a capital
of, say $1,000, and an amount of labor
efjual to 1,000 days’ work in America, you
will receive a greater product, more bush
els of potatoes or wheat, or pairs of shoes,
than in a' country like Ger
many.' There is, consequently, more to
be divided among all those who take
part in production than in the fatherland,
and of this greater plenty labor receives a
■hare in higher wages. There is nothing
so veils the real nature of trade ns the
use ot money as a medium of exchange,
and if one imagines transactions to take
dace without the intervention of money,
t helps wonderfully to clear up rnnijy
things. A farmer and two laborers, let
us say, produce, with a given invest
ment of labor and capital, one thousand
bushels of potatoes, whereas a .Ger
man peasant, with his two hired laborers,
produces only G00 bushels. Manifestly,
there is lcss to divide between labor and
capital in Germany, and profit and wages
are both small. Now, .there are those who
want to tell us that men working under
superior conditions cannot hold their own
against those working under inferior con
ditions. Is any one disposed to dispute
the fact that our condition* are more fa
vorable for the creation of wealth?
little ' travel' and careful observa
tion in foreign lands must be suf
ficient, I should say, to convince any fair-
minded person that our natural facilities
e superior. Barren hillsides are cultf
ted in Germany which would in Anier
be neglected. Why is thU so, il not bc-
lu- \nierio:m fiitim r can do lnttcr
,thad to exiieud hire labor and < .ipital on
bum n idnsldes? Take railroad building.
Tin* grand opportunities for inn-1mi nt in
rat I road construction have iu Europe
already been seized, and new investors
arc obliged to be content with small
returns on insignificant branch lines.
Go into an English or German town
and you will find capitalists and
laborers eager ,for opportunities which
Americans would despise. Why? Simply
because the grand opportunities in old
countries are very few. This may be
looked at from a still different Ktandpoinb
Will it he disputed that the total wealth
created in the United States is large in
pro|>ortion to our capital and otir popula
tion? If not, then the entire point is con-
eroded. The tariff laws create no uew
wealth, and our larger wealth creation can
only be traced to our tatter advantages.
1 desire, as soon as possible, to tell the
readers of the Sun whnt I think ought to
lie done at the present time with respest to
the tariff, hut 1 must beg them to oe pa
tient, because reo much ground murel be
cleared of undoubted fallacies before it is
possible to take a rational view of the pro
tective tariff, and when the won! fallacies
is used reference is bad to things which no
man can believe when he once turns
them over in his mind and carefully an
alyzes them. The fallacies, in fact, fre
quently amount to absurdities, nnd all the
absurdities by no means proceed fnim the
protectionists. However, I desire now to
call attention to the fact that England and
Germany could not ruin all our industries,
even if their advantages were in every
thing superior to ours. Many will
say if foreign countries can produce
more than wc with n given amount of
labor and capital, they will drive us out of
the world’s market, apd even capture our
home markets. But how is this possible?
Will they supply us with commodities and
take no return for them? If that were
true, the backward nations of the world
would indeed have an easy time of it,
for Other more devplnnsd natmn*
would supply them with commodities
for nothing on account of their in
feriority. If. however, something is taken
in return, then the production of that
something will furnish opportunities for
»n| rnnital, IVrhaps, it will be
said, they will take their pay in money.
If they do this, the precious metals begin
to leave us, prices will fall in our country
and rise elsewhere, and it will thus become
profitable to buy our commod
ities, which would again turn
the stream of precious metals hack to us.
The truth is simple. It is relative ad
vantage*, and not absolute advantages,
which determine the course of internation
al trade. If England can with ten days*
labor produce either 100 bushels of wheat,
or 200 yards of woolen cloth, and with the
same labor we can produce 76 bushels of
wheat or 100 yards of woe*
cloth, England will' not
account of her superiority fun
us with both wheat and cloth. Fhe will
furnish us with that commodity in whicli
her advantage is greatest, and wc will send
her that in which our inferiority is least;
in other words, we wil^exchang'-our wheat
for English woolen cloth. Both England
and America will gain thereby. Each
will do that for which nature lias
best fitted her. This is the way
exchange naturallv tak* place between
nations. One may f«e superior to other* in
well nigh every branch of production, hut
each one will seek to find those pursuits in
which it hare gn-alrrel advantair*'*. The
wealth nt th,- world will thereby U- in-
ref creareed. Had England accepted our offer I ?!
of reciprocal free trade in 1873,1 i» r
and free trade had alw : t>* ub-jwi
tallied, we would have had ™
manufacture*, but it douhtle** true j*>
that a larger portion of our labor and cap
ital would have been devoted to agricul
ture, and farming would be a more flour
ishing purreiiit, for it is in agriculture
tliat our relative advantage over
European countries are most
conspicuous. While not prepared
to join without qualification Jefferson's
* nidation of agricultural pursuit* and his
condemnation of manufactures, I cannot
but think we would fare quite as well if
our change from an agricultural people to
a manufacturing people were not
proceeding with such hot-bed rapidi
ty, and if our cities grew
with a more regular and less
feverish haste. Has not, indeed, this un
precedented increase in the population of
cities been one of the chief causes which
have made them so corrupt and depraved
that they are regarded as a menace to our
civilization ?
LETTER FROM EX-GOV. BULLOCK.
lie Combats an Editorial in tho Errs* and
Suggests a Policy.
From tho New York Press.
Ex-Got. Bullock writes as follows to the
New York Press: In a recent issue of
your daily paper you editorially commend
the communication of a correspondent
signing himself “Republican,” who urged
that the party commit itself to renewed
interference in our affairs under the pre
tense that the vote of the Southern colored
man is suppressed. And I ask space in
your columns as another “Republican”
that the party will not commit itself to
anv such illogical measure.
Ik* pleased to remember, Mr. Editor,
that the party some years ago offered to
us in the South the option of accepting
tho enfranchisement ot our former slaves
or submitting to continued military gov
ernment. The great mass of our white
people believed that such acceptance
would result in negro supremacy and social
tnuality for the blacks. Under the lead
n President Johnson and other skillful
poiiiicinnn thin iiiintakeu belief wiai -mag
nified, and nine-tenths of our white peo
ple refused to accept thu terms proposed.
The other tenth who did not fear the sup
posed danger of social efforts led the way
acceptance of the terms proposed,
and established tho forms of civil gov
ernment under the reconstruction acts of
Congress. This was done by us, not be
cause we believed the plan of Congress a
wise one, but because its acceptance was
necessary to relieve our section from tho
paralysis of military supremacy.'
I repeat this hit of ancient history for
our mutual edification. Now, it was rea
sonable to suppose that under these cir
cumstances we of the* white minority
would need tho sustaining arm of tho
progenitor of this system of civil govern
ment until time and experience could
calm the fears and prejudices of the white
majority. Leading Republicans in tho
South ami iu the North saw this need of
protection, and asked for it The refusiD
of a Republican Congress to grant this
protection you have cuiiwUllr referred io
“truckling cowardice of loading Bapub-
ans.” You have also editorially said
4 a ..Mill of tliat ••mwardice” .ill
of protection t" Soutln rn voter* by
vernnient which forced suffrage upon
departed.”
I am not prepared to deny cither the
torce or the truth of your statement, for
when the party’s refusal to sustain the
logical result* of It* own policy was em
phasized by a Uepubiican Cong re-re mating
opposition members from Congressional
district* having large black majorities, and
ignoring both the Republican contest**!*
nnd the circumstances which made tho con
test necessary^ those of us who were not de
sirous of seeking and holding office by fed
eral appointment abandoned the recon
struction scheme, and the opposition very
properly took charge of it. and are now-
reaping the political advantages derived
from it.
If this refusal of a Republican Congress
to protect it* own policy was not enough
to justify your opinion of it, so tersely ex
pressed as “truckling cowardice,” the for
mal abandonment of South Carolina and
Louisiana, after counting them to elect
Mr. Ilaycs, would seem to make the cast*
conclusive.
Understand inc, Mr. Ed!tr.i, I am riot
now complaining of “cowardice,” which
was in cficct a complete abandonment by
the Republican nartv of it* reconstruction
scheme. This abandonment disarmed the
prejudices which inflamed the minds and
clouded the judgment of our white people
and worked no harm to our colored peo
ple. But to begin once again now and stir
up all this race prejudice would result in
placing the negro at serious disadvantage,
.and would not give vou the partisan ma
jority in Congress which you seek. Let mo
urge upon you to offer and press Issues of
practical interest, abolition of Federal in
ternal taxation, protection to Ameri
can labor and liberal appropriations
for otir commerce, rivers, harbor*
and public buildings, and we will
send you Congressmen who will stand
with you on all economic questions nro-
motive of the welfare—not of the North or
of the South, but of the United States of
America. These are questions upon whieh
we cun divide among ourselves, and upon
which the colcied man will vote according
to what he considers to ta for his own in
terests as a man earning his own living.
That vote will surely be caret without dun **
and will ta counted as cast. The unfor
tunate result of Republican “cowardice’ ?
has been an increased opposition represen
tation in CongrcM from the South. Do
not let this alarm you, for when the ques
tion at isreiu* is the protection of American
labor in the mines, in the facory and on
the farm our “brother in black” will hold
the balance of power in every Southern
Congressional district.
Burrs B. Bullock.
Atlanta, Ga., January 21.
A Western Tribute.
From the Roreton. Herald.
For a pure bit of Western wit, commend
us to this paying of respects to the im
passioned llJutclIe of Bangor, by the edi-
t" r of tin- St. I... i i i - l‘o-t-1 Mrepateh : “The
Ma. "ii TM.LMt veil -ays that BoutvUe ia
th. •rean.lh.i;' «jf tin- lluiiM.* "i Ucprvsenta-
ti v« but tl..’ . .Mupari-.li i- liwl I« lit it.,!!*.
A sandbag lias it* mouth Ued up with a
string, while Boo telle frequently has hi*
•topped up with his
An EnterprWInff. Ileliable llou*«*.
n Thro.
ronfl.t»-ncr
ottU free.
.r*ly
i SR