The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-10-23
Communicated.
s CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, Oct. IS, 1884.
Editor TuUeu Viy0in5a1

Editor Talley Virginias:
Nearer and nearer is it becoming appaI
emit to the people that the great issue be-
| fore them to he decided at this coming
election is that of protection to American
workers. EvaIe as they may, the Dem.
ocrats cannot put 1T down. Like Ban.
euo's ghost. it will not down.
They say here in Virginia, it is not the
issue, but in the parade of their party re-
Gently at Youngstown, ONO, there was in
the procession man and woman clad i'll
rags hearing this inscription: This Is
mhut Protection has doRefor as. The great
Napoleon used to say, Scratch Russian
and you will find Tartar" Scratch a
Bourbon Democrat, in other words get
enough into his true inwardneSsN and
you will find free trader.
AS our gallant leader Blaine, lately said
in Ohio, Never since 1888 has the Demo-
cratic party sustained by its votes pro-
tective tariff, not once. They have
never failed to repeal a protective tariff
if one existed, OF tried to repeal it. OF to
prevent the enactment of such tariff. y
Many of us old Wings can remember
how they gained the election in 1874, de-
feating the gallant Clay by the same
double dealing. straddling policy they
ASSAY now In protection districts declar-
ing for IL tariff, and in all others for free
| trade and sailors rights. Well can the
writer of this remember the disastrous
effects of the dark days that followed the
repeal of the tariff of 1912. The scarcity
| of money. drained out OF the country as it
were. the low price Of agricultural produce
and of labor. and the high prices which
followed for all manufactured goods as
soon as foreign manufacturers had de-
stroyed American competition. Our
Democratic friends talk glibly of its fos-
tering monopoly?
Any country might well hail the advent
of such, if like beneficent results be OBJ
tanned. Never in the history of the world
have such marvellous achievements been
made in industrial progress and material
advancement as our own country can
show since the necessities of a long and
wasteful war compelled the adoption of a
policy which not only made good the
enormous waste of that great war, but
has already made us the wealthiest nation
in the world. Why have hd1f to three
quarters Of million immigrants been
yearly attracted to our shores?
Is it not that the fame of our success
and our prosperity has extended oyer the
world. Our policy has been distinctively
protective since 1852. The necessities
of war, it is true, caused every source of
revenue to be worked. We had tax to
| pay on many articles we did not produce.
| such as tea and coffee. But these have
long ago been placed on the free list, while
| England, free trade England, raises a
large revenue on tea and coffee.
Now compare the condition of the
| laborer and artisan i'll the two countries.
La America it is safe to say that four
| fifths of those who are distinguished above
their fellows in every department of life.
| be they merchants. bankers, farmers,
| manufacturers. professional men or states
| men, have once been poor men. Fremont.
Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grant, Gar
| field, and our present great chief, all Illus
trate this point. Few in England rise to
power and influence from poverty, unless
aided by those possessed of rank.
| In days passed by, jealousy of sectional
| benefits gained by tariff legislation has
| been an important factor to aid the oppo-
sition.
How can anyone be so blind as to urge
| that now?
Nobly, has our chief, Mr.. Blaine, illus
| tIated this in Ohio and West Virginia.
| Ohio, 'once almost a purely agricultural
state, was called upon to oppose protec-
tive tariff because it unjustly favored the
manufacturers OF the East.
Now Ohio is one of the largest.manu-
featuring States of the Uniop." Combin-
| ing within her borders a vast manufacture
Ing interest. her agricultural interests
have kept pace and she is among the fore
most OF the American States III prosperity.
| The farmer and the laborer share in the
glory and the growth.
| Now that the spirit Of the age has spread
over the South, is it to be fought back and
Overborne by Bourbonism
With its mountains teeming with min
eral wealth, and its valleys and hillsides
Astounding in agricultural riches is it to
be permitted to staGd still and witness the
tide OF prosperity pass to other and less
favored sections, that few moss-backs
may continue to dominate. There need
be no fear if the real issues be kept before
/ the people.
1t is not the vital question whether Mr..
/ Cleveland was hangman and libertine,
and Mr.. Blaine an untruthful man. 1t is
not whether the Republicans are thieves
with four hundred millions of swag piled
4 up In the Treasury lcrlDtg from a beggared
people, nor yet whether the Democrats are
worthy to administer upon that swag. 1t
is whether the policy which has made the
country great and wealthy and prosperous
shall be reversed.
Here in Albemarle and Nelson, vine
growing ana Wine making have, as III sew
eral other portions of this State and other
Southern states, been growing into i'm
portance under the fostering influence OF
protection. Without that there would be
no hope for success. Yet it appears thai
large number of the people directly in
terested are not to be allowed to vote OF
that question and are to be kept in ignor
ance of its Importance to them, for the de
cree has gone ont that there mast be no dis
cussions before the people.
And our Democratic friends in tn,
meantime push The race issue to the from
and say niger There is evidently
niger in the fence somewhere.
The wQokgrowers Of Virginia are vitall
interested in this matter. Can they no
see that the reduction in the tariff on woo
has disastrously affected their interests
1t will be a happy day for the true inter
estS of oar great State, when she is place
in alignment with the great national part
7 which has achieved so much in advancin
, every interest of our country. and cease t
act with the party which has conteste
every step in her path of progress.
The cheering news from Ohio indicate
: the futility of longer resistance and tn
continued ascendency OF the party whic
sustains the American system of protec
ton. J. w. PORTER.