Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-08-13
FOR THE SENTINEL.
Brother Farmers and You that Labor:

l..
NUMBER L.
Brother Farmers and You that Labor:
England has made gigantic stride towards
equal rights In the repeal of the Corn Laws
and shame to say, in the United States-a
country boasting to be Republic-to recognise
equal rights the people have succeeded, aye
succeeded, in throwing off some of the irnposi-
tons OF privileged class that was fleeing
them, as blackleg feeces his victims, at the
same time thai he laughs at their being his ca
sy dupes. The law which has just passed
Congress has in measure released the people
from oppression, and only in measure; but it
shows one thing upon which we can congratu-
late each other:-it shows that the people are
sensible of the injuries they suffer, and 1t is
presage Of relief to come, when the very idea
of protection will be secuted as hateful thing,
and this whole band of political gamblers, that
now have the impotence to call their scheme
OF fraud "the American SYSTEM" will be dri-
ven from the halls of the Government of the
people with the same odium and contempt with
which their brethren were driven some years
ago from the town of Vicksburg. The finer
ican System! IT'S false upon the face of it
it IS lie in every word-it is anything but an
American system-no system can be an Amer
lean system but one based on equal rights
this system robs the many to enrich the fe,v.
1t enrlches the cotton spinner, and the cloth
weaver, and the iron master, and the salt ma
ker, and the sugar planter, and just in proper
ton as 1t enriches them, it impoverishes YOU
1t excludes the importation of some articles en-
tirely; it raises the price of given amount of
such article, say fifty cents-you buy that a
mount-you pay the fifty cents-the manufac-
turer of that article puts the fifty cents into his
pocket and takes it out of yours-takes one
whole days labor from you and gives you no
thing in return. Farmer, if you buy hun
dred dollars worth of iron, it takes at least
twenty five dollars out of your pocket and puts
1t into the pocket Of the iron master-equal to
nearly nine barrels of your flour, and some of
you are fools enough to be willing to give the
iron master nine barrels of flour for the prvi-
lege of ironing your own wagon, and to thank
him for the favor he does you in taking them.
Laborer, when you buy dollars worth of su-
gar for your family, this tariff reduces the
quantity of sugar you ought to get for your dol
lar nearly one half, so that you pay half
dollar out of your pocket for nothing. great
part of which goes into the pocket of the sugar
planter, and you have 10 work for him-to
send hand in your place to cut cane with his
blacks;-and this is the american SYSTEM"
You that navigate the ocean-that plough the
held-that sweat in harvest-that shoe the far
mer's horse-that build his house-that make
his coat-that mend his shoe-that teach his
child, have to send hand to work by proxy
tor cotton splnners, cloth weavers and sugar
planters. American System 1t is system
which sprang up in oppression-it is called
customs, because, in feudal times it was the
custom for the robbing barons to put their red
hands int the pedlar's pack, and to take from
1t what they wanted, and then TO send the ped
lar to fleece their vassals, to make up as well
as he might the amount that he had lost-n-
stead of the feudal lord, the privileged class
now puts its hands into the pack and takes cut
what it wants, and the merchant goes to fleece
the people of the amount which he has lost
1t is system which has been sustained by ig-
nofance-the ignorance upon the subject is fast
passing await is now sustained by slen- |
der thread Of fraud and deception. the last
strand of which is nearly snapped. 1t is equal
to any of the receptions practiced by the Cath
Olc clergy upon the ignorance and credulity /
Of the lalty in other countries in times gone by; |
and in years to come, that we suffered the i'm !
position will be looked upon with as much sur
prise. You hear it said, that both parties are |
patriotic. Ills false-a protective tariff party |
is the very reverse of patriotic.
fit be patriotic to PROSTATE the energies Of
the whole country that a few may fatten like
vampires upon the blood they suck in the act |
Of doing so-then, is the tariff party patriotic If
patriotism means to injure the many to benefit |
the few-then is the tariff party patriotic. If
patriotism means to impoverlsh the nineteen
twentieths of the population to render immense
" rich the other e-twentieth-then is the
ariff party patriotic. If it be patriotic to coin
pei the white man to pay IL l-2 cents for SUI
gar, when he could get it for cents, to dou-
lie the wages of sugar planters slave-then
S the tariff party patriotic. If it be patriotism
o make cloth and cotton so dear that the poor
mans child is only half clad, that the child of
he cotton spinner and woolen weaver may lie
IN down and ride in coaches-then is a tariff
party patriotic, but not till then.
In England. the tariff party starved the peo-
BE that the landed aristocracy might have
ystem. In America, the tariff party pinch
With cold the laborer's child-put double
,rice upon his shrt-bar him from the use of
sugar and molasses, and in the end nearly dry
Up the source of his wages, by reducing the va
ne Of the products of his industry, that shut
lie driving. cotton-spinning aristocracy may fat
en- upon the ills which they effect. This is
he american System"
What laborer is protected by tariff? None.
There is no such thing as protection to labor;
| tariff protects no kind Of labor; labor is high
" low as there is demand for it; drive it from
he fields, and you overstock the factories; op-
press, lower the wages Of nineteen out of TWEEN
y laborers his master will cut his wages
Town or turn him out to rough it with the rest,
lnd learn humility, and take in others tanned