The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-09-04
The Tariff and the Farmer.

public question, or suppress an important
fact, bearing on public question, if it
knew it. For this reason we call atten-
ton to the following statement in that
paper Of the 2sth of August, and the fact
that is misstated
with wheat at 75c. per bushel with no
protection for it, and all manufactured
goods high by reason OF protection for
them, they could agree with Mr.. Tucker
unless they desired to antagonize their own
interests. y
There are two fatal errors in this para
graph-one of fact, and the other of fact
and deduction. In the first place, the
present tariff laws impose the following di-
rect protective duties on agricultural pro-
ducts. Rice. cleaned, q cents per pound !;
wheat 20 cents per bushel Indian corn,
10 cents per bushel oats, 10 cents per
bushel rye, Is cents per bushel barley,
Is cents per bushel butter A cents per
pound ; cheese, cents per pound pota-
| toes, Is cents per bushel poultry. 10 per
cent. on value; peas, from 10 to 20 per
| cent; beans from 10 to copper cent. tobac-
co, manufactured. 80 cents per pound !;
| unstemmed, so cents in addition to a rev.
enue duty Of "a cents per pounds horses.
| cows, bulls, oxen, steers, calves, sheep,
lambs, goats, hogs and pigs, except for
breeding purposes, 90 per cent. horses for
breeding purposes are admitted free to
benefit the farmers beef and pork cent
per pound mutton, 10 per cent. (; wool
from 10 to IL cents per pound, and from 10
to IL per cent. added hay, 20 per cent. of
value. These duties tend and are designed
to keep out foreign competition, and
| leave our home market-the most impor-
| tant we have-almost exclusively free for
our own farmers.
This corrects the error of fact. that
wheat has no protection from our tariff
laws.
The error of fact and deduction is, first
as to fact, that all manufactured goods are
high because of protection. Manufac-
tured goods were never known to be lower
Passing by the store of F. M. Young,
Esq, of this place, the other day, we no.
ticed some beautiful, substantially woven
towels. We asked the price, and he said,
two for 25 cents. The mention of the
price and the quality of the goods sur
prised lis, and so expressing ourself, he
said the goods were manufactured in
Georgia. And pointing to a pile of ele-
CANT domestic prints, he said they came
from the same factory. The price was
from to 10 cents per yard-such goods, as
twenty-five years ago, would have brought
double that price, if they could have been Ead
at all, outside of the English factories. The
protective tariff laws induced capital to
invest In cotton mills in the South COM
petition brought the prices down to the
lowest cent, justified by the expenses in
CURED, and the result, the people bene-
fitted by getting manufactured goods at
half the price they would have to. pay
if we were dependent on English facto-
ries.
The benefit is not only to the consumer.
Where these factories are in operation labor
is employed. That labor is drawn from
the fields and becomes a consumer. The
Investigation of production keeps the re-
suits of the products of each at home. 1t
creates more wealth. All classes become
the beneficiaries. The community grows
richer taxable resources are increased ;
| the public treasury supplied. and general
prosperity follows.
| 1t is this policy and these results that
the enactment into law of Mr.. fuckers
views would oppose. And when the Reg
is tesays 'sAs for Mr.. fuckers anti-pro-
lection views being unpopular in the Val
| ley, we know it to be incorrect. The Re-
publicans don't like them, but the Demoe-
racy, our planters and farmers, are with
| him almost to man. there is as much
| ignorance of public sentiment. as is shown
by the same paper in regard to the provis-
ions Of the tariff laws. Here and there,
we find an intelligent farmer, who is in
clined to doubt the policy of protection
and leans to free trade. We met q
| friend of that kind, not long since. His
argument was that if wei had free trade
English ships would bring over English
manufactured goods, sell them, and with
the proceeds buy our wheat, and in that
way raise the price of wheat up to $1.50 or
| So. 90 per bushel. That was his argument.
When we called.his attention to the fact
that not more than 10per cent. of our wheat
found market in Europe and that at least
80 per cent including seed, was consumed
at home, he said he did no believe it. He
had not looked into the facts Of the case,
just as our enterprising contemporary did
not look into tie tariff laws before he
stated wheat was not protected. But it is
there. It islands unassailable-and by
reason of the encouragement given to
American manufactures by our tariff laws
we create home market for the produc-
tions of the farmer and we reduce the
prices of the goods he has to purchase by
reason:of the competition caused, and in
that way the farmer is doubly benefited.
| Not only benefited in this way, but the
lands become more valuable. Manufactures
draw labor from the farm. sM Producers
are converted into consumers the demand
for farm products increases; prices become
remunerative both for what is produced
in the field and in the truck patch, and as
the net savings of the farm increase the
value of land. the investment becomes more
valuable and thus nearly all the benefits of
the protective policy come back to the
farmer-making the husbandman the prin-
cipal beneficiary in the protection laws, as
he is one of the primary sources of our ma
tional wealth. If a comparison be insti-
tuted between the prices of lands in man.
ufacturing States and non-manufacturing
States, it will be seen that in proportion as
manufactures prosper and multiply, lands
increase in value and saleable demand
Pennsylvania and Virginia furnish strik-
ing illustration of this. The natural for
nations are similar. The lands naturally
are as fertile in the one as in the other.
In Pennsylvania manufactures flourish
and improved farm lands bring from $3.50
to 5000 per acre. In Virginia, where man
ufactures are sparse and in the crystals
state, the best of our farms will bring
from $40 to $65 per acre.
These facts cannot be rubbed out. There
must bea cause for them, and the only
cause mortal man can assign is the differ