The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-01-20
For THE VALLEY VIRGINIAN
TO THE FARMERS OF AUGUSTA.

The Grange organization had its birth, and was
cliistened in the great Northwest. In all that re-
lates to moral and socia' progress aud reform the
Patrons of Husbaldly. in all sections of our
country. North, South. East and West. are in
perfect accord. The principles of the order are
snch as to commend themselves ton iversal ac
ccpance. and so far as they are applicable, serve
as a common bond Of union. securing to that
extent that which is the end and object OF all
orgallizat io.l-c corporation. But here an i'll
curry frees itself up ~ that invites the serious
consideration OF agrlcutnrists III all the Atlantic
States: To what extent are these principles APP
plicabe, and how far, and in what can there
be general co-operaton9 Let Us look at the
condition Of that which might be the most
hully favored of all lands, the Valley OF Viz
aiia. Her people are almost purely agTieul-
tgraI II we have division Of labor among as,
it serves only to mark the depressed state OF
agriculture. Already Tie foreign a!sisan is pa
trn.lze As the u0st deNteroiis AND skilled work
man aud as a consequence, tlinost all tie al
vautayes arisit4 from division Of labor Will
soon be lost to lis from the operation OF this
cause. Political economy teaches that eX-
cilIsively agricultural people can be prosperous,
and lat those nations have been the wiathiest,
most cultivated and refined ia which the divis-
ion of labor has been carried to the farthest eX
tent. II we are to remain What we are, almost
1. purely agricultural people, and the present
tendency Of things is not arrested, the V0tley
is doomed to Il decatlcnce which will be hasten
ed by the operation of causes that have now
only bot begun to pr>duce their effects. We may
denouuce money as the root OF all evil, but it
would be difficult to perceive how we can make
any progress in anything, 0: in any direction
vii hout capital. Material progress must concur
with all other progress. Ii now we have what
is known in political economy as a territorial
division of Labor, that is, simply commerce he
tween distant parts of our own country, Or be-
tween our own and foreign countries. Ii we have
great marts Of trade. they avail lis as agricultu-
rists. nothing. AS between the East and West
and Northwest, what is commerce to us as ag
liculturists? As between the East and West
and n, rthwest. what are the great centres of
trade on the Atlantic seaboard to us as agricu-
turists? Between two countries exclusively
agricultural, there can be no such reciprocity
as is implied by the term commerce. An agr-
cultural people can have nothing TO exchange
with an agricultural people. So we of the East
have no agricultural products that we cansend
back in exchange for those of the West and
Northwest They have the father of waters
and his immense tributaries. and the great
lakes, and they are theirs by Divine right
They have their artificial channels Of commu
uicstlon and they are theirs by dnt of their
irdomitable enterprise. Give them, BESIDES
file great thoroughfares &C. oss the continent
They will bind together the widely separated
narts of our great country in a ion that will
b. indssolube; they will dispense blessings in
eyrrv form. and challenge comparison with the
traciless highways of the Ocean steamships.
We woull not ..nderrate the advantages of
conomercp nor its influence upon the worlds
d,stinies. We would give it wide sweep, and
all the aids and facilities that science and art,
and labor and capital, can secure to it. We
wopld not assign any hounds to our lberality
in that regard But we must say that the wise
- tlnt in Is nrnis e;,,.,,
has devised system in every way admirable
in its general adaptation to the wants of all
sections of our country, and of all classes and
conditions Of our people, is found falfering in
tbat which is by ar the most ardous feature
of the undertaking, the proper regulation OF
the SYSTEM so that no section shall be shOrne OF
its natural and local advantages, and so that
no section shall hold predonliInce, by means
of q tribute imposed upon another section, to the
annihilation Of it's natural and local ativanta-
ges. and the prostitution and ruin OF its local
trade and commerce. 1t is a startling fact that
the ayriculturSts. not OF the Valley only, but
IF the entire Atlantic slope, under the system
as it is now orkng, have to face the co'npe-
tition of the entire Vest, in the markets at our
doors We have our proximity to the markets
on cur Atlantic seaboart' as one OF natural
and local advantages We are deprived of
his bv the alinlllilalon of distance through
the determinations in favor Of through freights
from the West, and against our loo and way
freiyhts This comes Of the cnpidity and ava
rice natural to man, checked By no legal re-
straillts. and that grow by what they feed on.
are that by singular motive OF co-opperation
are fed by those souless misunderstanding
and .;lilroal corporations.
The rates of freight must be forced down to
the lowest point to enable the p. oncer sholl-
sand miles away 10 ship his produce to the sea-
board. He has his choice OF water carriage, o.
Of railroad transportation, and his choice OF
various routes by waterand by rail. rms gives
rise to competition among the Carriers, and
they that will carry at 4 lowest rates WI ~
tl,o o.,rviny trade. THUS the interest OF the
western nroducer, and the competition OF
steamboat owners and railroad companies run
toueIher. and tend to the same reslt-the re
duc;ion Of freight to the lowest poat. Starting
at the lowest point from the extreme West,
these rates must reach their maximum, py