The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-01-11
The South in Congress.

~F -NoS~Sco ohiO SSA5A"eASA hOW OSAH0
considered in Congress on the tariff ques-
ton. They expect a modification of the
tariff rates on iron, and to the degree that
these are reduced are they contemplating
ought to carry with it lesson. Any legis-
lation which favors English manufactures,
to that degree operates against American
manufactures. The question is, therefore,
what is the duty of Congress? Is it to fos-
ter our own industries, employ our own
labor and develop our own resources, or to
contribute to the advancement of these in
terests in foreign country A tariff that
encourages home manufactures and stimu-
lates home enterprise, at the same time
cheapens the article produced. Every new
furnace erected causes additional competi-
ton with our own manufactures, and COM
petition reduces prices to the lowest posi-
BILE profit. Many furnaces have gone out
of blast because they could not make profit
at present figures for iron. To open the
American market TO foreign products, man.
ufactured at less cost because of cheaper Ia
Dor, would cause a general suspension of
the industry, destroy capital invested, and
throw out of employment thousands of our
own citizens. Should the policy of Con-
gress be to favor reduction Of tariff rates
on iron it will cause political revolution in
this country that is not dreamed of by the
thoughtless politicians, who are welded to
theories without considering the effect of
their practical operation. The combined
capital of the country involved in iron
manufacture and kindred enterprises, and
the labor thus employed, is a power that
it will not do to tribe with. Not only are the
capital and labor thus engaged, great
force. but the ram ificat ions of the inf1u-
ences growing out of them, reach to the far
mer, the mechanic and the merchant-the
practical business men who constitute the
warp and wool Of the nations progress and
/ prosperity. These will be arrayed against
the political theorists, in every section OF
the Union, and the issue made whether it
is the duty of Congress to conserve Amer.
| tNnA AAsSASSco VA AOi OiSh lAAtCA C0eo~ oOubu-
ern politicians who have learned nothing by
changed conditions and relations. do not
understand the thoughts and sentiments Of
their own constituents. There is scarcely
farmer, mechanic or merchant in the
entire South who has not given the
subject of protection and free trade more
or less thought, and every one who has
done so,will not hesitate to say that he is op
posed to any modification of the tariff laws
which would operate to the disadvantage
of the manufacturing interests of the coun
try, and invite foreign competition. Each
one knows that every furnace or factory
established and operated, contributes te
his own prosperity. 1t gives home mar
ket to the farmer, it increases the demands
ON the mechanic, and furnishes cash Gus
toners to the merchant. 1t aids in build.
values, retrieves waste lands, develops un.
touched N minerals, and sends a current oil
vigorous life through all the ramifications
of society.
| 1dNluS COaSOtuCQ RlCCiOuo eluuC III Qle'
posing of Civil Service Reform, which we
regard as the most transparent humbug Of
the age, let trifing with the people cease
and Congress go to work in all seriousness
laws. These involve practical business in.
terests, which implcate the welfare of eve.
ry class of citizens, and the prosperity Of
the whole country. A failure to do so, and
in the right direction, will call for a popu.
lar protest which will unsettle parties, as
they have never been before, and settle
trading politicians as they ought to be dis.
posed of, in manner that will teach them
that the American people know what theil
rights and interests are, and mean to care fol
them. The South especially is being weaned
from all sympathy with the doctrine of free
trade. Railroads are ramifying every por
ton of our aff1uent section-capital is seek
ing our mines of minerals-furnaces anG
factories are springing up in every direc.
ton, and these are educating the people out
of the ruts of the past and opening to them
the possibilities which lie in new Industrial
pursuits and broader and more remunera.
tive fields for labor. The policy that was
adapted to slave labor is not applicable to
free labor. Diversified industries, calling
for the active energies of The mind and
body of the citizen, creating products fol-
mutual exchange and to mutual advantage
and emolument, must be encouraged, SC
that the results of our labor may be kept al
home, increasing prosperity at each ex'
change, and building up self-reliant and
self-sustaining community. Under the OLD
system of labor, everything that was pro-
duced was sent away to purchase some.
thing that was not produced. Our section
was thus drained to enrich other portions o1
the country, and each recurring year found
us at a stand-still in material progress, OIL
retrogading. This condition was the legit
innate outgrowth of slave labor. The plan
tation was its theatre of operation. There
was no space or occupation for free labor
and no possibility of improvement so long
as this system prevailed. The ruling class
were as much the slaves of the system al
the labor element itself. Now both have
been emancipated. Each must be de-
pendent upon itself and the reciprocal re-
lations which make one profitable to tine
. other. We must, therefore, look to diver.
sified industries, not only for the employ.
ment of labor, but for the use of capital
and enterprise to develop the resources
which constitute our real wealth, but
which remained as nature fixed them un.
der the inert and enfeebling system Of
slavery.
The public man who does not readily
grasp the situation as thus stated, and ad
dress himself to the lesson which it teaches
is not suited to represent the new and de.
yeloping South. The dogmas and notions
inculcated in slavery times are as foreign te
the practical uses of the South now as they
were to the progressive ard enlightened
policies of the North thirty years ago, and
the man who cannot reach to the realiza
ton of this change is not in sympathy with
the forces which are unfolding new civil.
ization and opening up more propitious
destiny for the Southern States. If he can.
not read in the railroads which are pene-
trating every portion of our secti0n-the
combinations of capital and enterprise that
are creating new channels of commerce and