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

Would the acres produce four time
the amOuut2 Let our people try tn,
experiment. Why try III Can we no
look across the ocean and see the suf
ferIng and poverty from low priced Ia
Dor? Why do the slip loads of emf
grants come to our country You SAL
for freedom. Sir, il is for bread ahC
clothing, Yet bread and clnthine ar,
deaFeF here than there.-Tho farm Ia
horer is better paid here, than there
the coRmQh klboreI better paid. Pa
said 70 the. merchant when a hat was
priced to him at 50 90, "Sure, in the
ould country | could buy the likes OF
that for a shilling" "Why didn't you
buy it in the old country rhen2'
Would yes be akin that same; trOth,
didn't have to come to America for
the shilling?' Is not this an e~xplana.
ton OF much of tho mystcry2
But TO day nearly all the articles
used in the families Of our common
people as prints, jeans flannels, tweeds,
hats, boots and shoes are but little
higher than they were before the war,
while wages are over double what they
were in those days.
MIDDLE MEN.
But much of the price of every ar.
ticle we purchase is paid to the middle
men, the carriers and traders. The
farmer exchanges his produce for the
handiwork Of the artisan and mechanic.
If my neighbor makes the article /
need, why should 60 to Europe to bug2
Cheaper you say2 Cheaper mean
nothing. If ] pay my ncighbor for bis
tolls he can pay me for mine. If | 90
away from home to buy | must expect
to so away to sell. If | buy a hat, |
buy it o the halter; it may have come
directly from him to me, or itmay have
passed through n duzen hands and
houses; it may have been carried one
mile or a thousand. Mark this every
man that buys and sells, and every
ship or railroad that carries it, must
be paid. The hat has not increased in
actual value, but in price only. must
pay more than it is worth or the halter
must have taken less-one or both-for
one or both Of us must pay the
middle man. If | sell products, | sell
to the consumer. 1t may be through
a middle man, yet none the less to the
consumer, If exchange potatoes for
the hat, the halter and | have q fair
1t his hat has passed through a
dozen hands my produce may have to
pass through as many to reach him,
but those middle men are ever ready
to make exchanges and be paid
for il. They wax fat on trade. "They
toll not neither do they spin Whence
comes their ~fatness' The producer and
consumer furnish it. W. need mid.
die men and common carriers, but the
fewer Of them intervening between the
agriculturalist and the mechanic the
better for both. ....Its
Last year we imported somewhere
about th'rty>five millions Of dollars
worth Of cloth, eassimeres and dress
goods, manufactured Of wool. That
mighty package was made up across
the sea; the hands that toiled and the
mouths that cat were there, AMI the
for provisions IA there. How
much benefit to our peOple2 Not me
part of the benefit it would have
been, had those laborers been in
America, the mouths thus brought
closer to the field. See the millions of
dollars in shipping and railroads. Who
pays for it? Simply the man who goes
market, Why then go by way of
Prussia, Russian Why not
build mp q market at homer
Last year we imported over 400
millions of dollars worth Of foreign pro-
Two-thirds Of ii might have
,een produced at home. This vast sum
aid to foreigners would have been
the vast sum paid for carrying,
wo.thirds of which was paid to foreign
hips, would have been saved, our own
would have been enriched in.
tead of strangers, and we could have
prevented IN increase in our already
'nor6ous foreign debt. WI would
ave strengthened our W people and
tur home industries, thus rendering
ur neighbors more able to buy and
for the necessities their civilization
emand;.
BALANCE OF TRADE. r."
Our foreign commerce is tending to
rush us,, While we claim that the ma
ion borrowed money Of its own peo-
lie to carry on the late war, and was
ot compelled to ask loans Of other ma
ions, it is estimated with q high de-
rec of certainty that some 800 mil
.ons Of cur national obligations to pay
re beyond the sea. 70 this vast sum
70 may add half as much more Of
abroad, State municipal and other
onds. These obligations to pay have
asst into foreign hands, simply because
'e have purchased more Of foreign
Gods than We have sold to foreigners
{ our own products, and the balance
{ trade on the great unbalanced
seems to be increasing year af,
sr year. d
It has been wisely said that "the
to produce and the ability TO
for and consume in a nation is
makes commerce and toealh -
We certainly have the power to pro-
luce nearly all that the wants of our
Utilization demand, and if every labor.
r is paid fairly his hire, he will he
bic to pay for what his wants require.
f we as a nation would use the
lain, common sense of a pruden bust.
esq nan, we would not buy of anotl-
r what we could as well produce our
elves. and those articles which we
lust purchase of foreigners, as tea
nd coffee, and which are not luxuries,
70 would buy at the lowest possible
ate. We would thus build up our
ONE manufactures. We would pay
ur W people for labor, rather than
oreigners. We would build up our
masses, keeping our wealth
.:.L.z -. laulo.. .Lz-o "a ..z-J1