The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-10-09
ries consume large amount Of farm pro-


other words he gets his .'home market.
Now a free-trade policy would revers
all this ; it would tend to discourage risinI
industries and would make of us more o
less an agricultural colony dependent Oh
Europe for the arts and convenience %
life.
we do not wish to go back to the perio(
when bricks were brought over from Eu
rope toabuild country houses in America.
NOW John Stuart Mill, one of the deep
est thinkers OF this century, in his remarks
on cooperation or the combination of la
b0r, gives an instance of a set of agricul
turists where there are no home manufac
lures, and describes the sluggish mode il
which their operations would be conducted
from the want of good tools and the want
of a market in which to sell their produce
wherewith to furnish the means for pur
chasing those tools.
A pastoral state of society in fact which
was well enough in the days Of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob but does not answer now
Then he describes the effect produced by
a settlement of artificers provided will
tools among such people and shows thai
they would by giving s'home market" t(
the unpaid settlers. not only enrich then
In this WaN--bat also in anethef way By
1i6tttcff CstcftJOfks
they would improve their lands so as t(
make them produce much more per acre
than they did before and he says (quotine
now his exact words):
The new settlers constitute what is
called a market for surplus agricultural
produce, and their arrival has enriched the
settlement not only by the manufactured
articles which they produce but by the
food which would not haze been produced
ataatess they had been there to consume at. y
And further on he says:
From these considerations it appears
that country will seldom have produc-
tive agriculture unless it has large town
population, or the only available substitute
a large export trade in agricultural pro-
duce TO supply a population elsewhere. |
use the phrase, town population, for short
ness, to imply a population non-agricul-
tural, which will generally be collected in
towns or cities for the sake of the combina-
ton of labor. z
And again he remarks
1T is above all the deficiency of town
population which limits the productive
ness of the industry of a country like
India.N
Now the whole chapter from which the
above words are quoted is written to show
wiz NSt fesAOcboSo VI VI Ndl1OltO
labor in a given community. And it is
obvious to the most puerile comprehension
that if we imported any large quantity of
goods from Europe to great
extent we lose the advantages arising from
the increased energy and productiveness
resulting from the principle of the combi-
nation of labor, and the farmer has the adj
vantage of feeding the non-farming pOr-
ton OF the community, in other words he
has his ''home markell
Now it is clear that gigantic country
like America can obtain by it's Protective
policy the advantages of home market
for it's farmers, while at the same time
their advantages may be supplemented by
the large export trade of surplus agricul-
tural products to Europe.
Now political economy is very far from
being finishd science-it is not yet es-
tablished inductively. 1t is not anything
like SO well established as astronomy or
geology Oh chemistry, and conclusions
drawn from experiences are the only real
test of truth all the rest is considerably a
matter OF theory and could be so shown
this is not the place to do so. An
'sOunce OF facts is worth a pound Of
theory"
Let us now look at Canada formerly u
Free-trade colony of Great Britain, now u
protective one-excluding the manufac-
tured products OF the old country. In the
case OF Canada it was found that a free
trade policy led to the enrichment of i'm
porting firms and to the impoverishment
of the farmer.
When the free trade policy was in force
in Canada, foreign manufacturers and
large importing firms had the market en-
tirely in their own hands and were enabled
to charge pretty much what they pleased.
And the farmer was in this position that
while he had to pay their prices. he had
small home market, and lost all stimulus
to improvement. This is not a matter of
but a question Of fact. Such
was the state of facts in Canada.
Now what would those farmers who
that they are being taxed for the
benefit of the manufacturer, find if the
country adopted free-trade ?
They would find that they would have
got out of the frying pan into the fire, in
asmuch as they would have to pay just as
much for the benefit of the importers who
would take advantage of the situation to
impose upon them, while the latter would
not employ labor which consumes agricul-
tural productions, since importing firms
can conduct their business with far less
abor than manufacturers can.
So that to make long story short, free
5rade would merely substitute a system of
private taxation by importers for the privi-
ege of protected manufacturers, with the
additional disadvantages to the farmer of
lot having 1.-THE most important of all mar
zets, y the home market.
Now some people Try to gull tie public
by the phrase tariff for reuenue !" in other
words they would only tax imported goods
tIff Iv for oOuarnn1ontol ovnapcac
will be well for such persons to hear what
John Stuart Mill says of such proposal.
He says:
I'm the case OF manufactured articles
5his doctrine involves a palpable incon-
sistency. The object of the duty, as a
means OF revenue is inconsistent with it's
affording even incidentally any protection.
1t will only operate as protection in so far
IS it prevents Importation and to what
ever degree it prevents importation it af-
fords no revenue"
Thus does J. S. Mill dispose of tariff
Tor revenue only"
But now we can hear some Southern
farmers say if we go for Protection at all
we should like protection against New
England and the manufacturing centres of
5he North. Ii this were necessary it
night still be asked, how do you benefit
yourselves by letting Europe into the
American market? But it IS not necessary
or experience shows there are certain dis
;ances, varying according to local adapta-
bilities within,which it becomes profitable
20 start new manufactures. Railroad
'reights are heavy and soon put their own
Tariff on excessive distances. The railroad
is your real local protection-you real SO
edl ISSUE"
But if this country adopted the free
trade policy British ships could cheaply
transport large quantities of goods at
ow freight and a low price and would
prove far more antagonistic to local enter
Prise than the northern manufacturers.
Northern trade is largely pushed in the
South by means of drummers. and the sal
aries and commissions of those drummers
have to be paid out of profits. Thus point
arrives at which local enterprise gets fair
chance of competition, other contingencies
being favorable.
Moreover we cannot depend on the for
eign market for wheat. Great Britain is
the largest consumer of American wheat.
but every year she gets more wheat from
India, and the wheat production of Rus
STA is also increasing. This year wheat is
down to IS cents and time is soon to come
when those farmers of the Northwest who
have hitherto made wheat their exclusive
will have to vary their farming.
For which reasons the home market which
takes their varied products in the form of
milk. butter. eggs, bacon and fresh meats
is daily becoming of greater Importance.
1t is the only market which the farmer
foIx nlU on in ha In1r r7s,1,,