The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1871-02-16

these furnaces use about $4,000
worth oil corn, to say nothing Of hay.
This one industry, in this small
territory, furnishes this market for
the produce Of the farmer. Now,
to these furnaces add the rolling mills,
nail mills, foundrys, salt furnaces,
mines operated, wooden and other fac.
tories, and observe tho mouths
that are to be fed here by our Ohio
farmers. If the farmers claim the right
to purchase their, salt, iron in fts'va-
rious forms, machinery and clothing
Of foreigners, they turn these people
out on the fields, and while the grain
produced will be doubled, the market
therefor will be practically annihila'
ted.
..G1 LUxuRrrs. 10 ..-
! have remarked that we cannot pro-
duce tea and coffee-this is the main
exception. There ARE certain Injuries
we think we should enjoy, such as fine
wines and brandies, silks. %satins, etc
which are partly produced here. We
should place a fair tariff OH these, be-
cause they are used only by the
wealthy classes who can afford to pay
good prices, and who in fact rather
prefer IN these useless articles to have
the figures we'll up. The price often
adds to the luxury. The fact that the
poor do not rustic in silk makes the
daughter of the millionaire happy in
her robes An American shawl at S25
may be as comfortable as one of A. Il,
Stewards $4,000 imported ones; but if
people prefer to buy onc-of imported
richness" they can afford to pay an
import duty; and ! say that a fairly
adjusted tariff, which taxes luxuries
rather than necessities, and which pro.
tects a days labor in one industry as
much as it does a days labor in ans
other, has always been and is to day q
sound principle in our political ccOno-
my.
EMPLOYMENT.
The price of any article is in the
main measured by the days works it
absorbs. A labOrer in Wales, Ireland,
Germany, or Prussia can not, with
equal skill, produce any greater
amount of handiwork in a day than can
a laborer in Ohio; but his labor, his
sweat, his bone is cheaper. Why?
Because in this country where every
avenue is open, where the shops are
wanting hands and the broad acres lie
idle waiting for the pillow, capital iseyer
calling for lhborerO: whilc there the
lands are held by the few, and home
steads are unknown. The vast popu.
lation is driven into the one channel
of mechanics, the laborers are counted
by the million; the swarms of peas
ants-paupers crowd the manufactures
cryiag for employment and bread.
Capital, meanwhile independent, says
10 the mass of starving humanity, this
%pittance for your tOil-no more.
Here, when any industry becomes
crowded or overdone and wages de-
cline, the llboror goes TO some other
branch where higher wages are paid,
and ifthe manufactures ref sc the fair
wages due a MAN, he goes to the fields
and tills the soil. Thank helvcn for
q few acres not yet given away! But
in that land of cheap goods, If he does
not take tho pittance given, the 81 80
Or $500 per week, he goes to the by
way to beg, adding himself to the mill
lions known in Europe as ''Out Of
employment"
FREE TRADE.
But whence comes free trader I will
tell the gentleman. 1t comes from
England. When she had arrived at n
point Of superior excellence and power
in manufacturing wooden goods she ats
tempted to force her way into the mar
kets of the continent. Then tariffs
were laid on her wooden goods. Henry
the Sixth, in a treaty with the Duke CT
Burgundy expressed free trade thus :
IF our wooden goods are not received
into Brabant, Holland and Zealand,
then the merchandise grown or
drought within the dominiOns of the
Duke of Burgundy shall be prohibited
in England Wnder pain Of for fciture."
[Taylor's Manual of History, page
476. Such was the original free
insOlence of England. She was
above the wave of doubtful
for self support-poor, naked
and helpless but a century ago, naked
but for the clothing wrought by for
eign hands, she now, rising clad in the
glory of her might and robes of her
own handiwork, proclaims herself not
only queen of the sea but mistress Of
the manufacturing world. And to-day,
if she dared, she would say to us, as
she did tn the Duke of Burgundy, but
she Dare not. Hence she insinuates a
and procurcs cheap philosophers
to preach clap'trap political economy
to us, to try to induce us to shut our
eyes to the lessons her ovn history has
us. But in whose interest is all
this cry of free trader Suppose we
adopt it, who will reap the benefit.
The consumers, they say,
Next comes the middle men, the great
shipping companies and the mammoth
corporations. Here is some
to account for the milk in the
cocoa nut" Enlarge the circle, they
say. Goto market at Manchester, Eng.
land. Carry your aour.beef pork, cheese
there for sale and buy there your
household furniture. There's richness
for the middle men. No wonder the
mercantile firms, the heavy rail-
road kings, the importers and dealers in
foreign goods, cry out, "letus buy where
can buy the cheapest"
REACTION IN PRICES.
But no intelligent man supposes that
foreigners would keep their prices
down a day longer than we compelled
them by competition. Compel our
wool rover to compete with Austria.
liza and our factories with those ofScot-
- 49, 1880,