The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-10-23
A Calm View.
CLIFTON FoRGE. VA. Oct. l6, 1884
Editor TTngiaiaa:

telIlEtilt voters OIL Augusta. OF LnG lUIl
district and Of old Virginia. [ know there
4 are appropriated voters in Virginia men
who have ceased to regard party prejll-
dces us the sole object Of political exist
enca and especially young men. who have
lot the opportunity to be as bitterly
STEPPED in prejudice us are their elder rep
resentatiYes. To these | wish to speak
and beg them to hear me for my cause.
! on see before you two great political
parties struggling for the possession of
this government. Each has a man whom
il wishes to place in the chief executive
Office of the nation. As to these two men
we will say nothing; it must be admitted
that p0th must have ability to occupy the
4 positions they do: either of them is un-
/ doubleday capable OF filing the office to
which they aspire; and neither of them
1 can hardly be supposed to be as bad as their
most bitter opponents endeavor to make
! thems What concerns US mostly. and
! what concerns .tha I. people, everywhere
| mostly is. what is to he the policy of this
| government for the next four years? The
man Who IS successful next y ovember will
1 be controlled by his party, and it is to the
party we must look for the deciding points
as to which way toyote.
First we must decide as to what is best
for our welfare and then see which party
advocates that for which we are seeking
In the Union we find that for the past
twenty Years uneXampled prosperity has
! attended our country the wealth of the
nationllaving in that time increased more
in actual dollars and cents, than it had in
two hundred and fifty years previous. We
find that onr national treasury has in it a
large add increasing surplus. We natll-
| rally ask what has caused all this
BefOre answering this let us revert to
two on three Of the principal states of
Europe. to see what they have been doing
in tharstime. England, for instance, has
been gradually goingdeeper anddeeper into
debt, her agricultural interests have been
almost destroyed and her mechanical in
terest5 have been on a continual decline.
For proof Of this do not go to campaign
literature. but will refer the reader to the
reports issued annually by the State De
partment on Foreign Domestic Rela-
tions. - There will be found the reports
of the consul general and consuls for every
county in England, supplemented with
many extracts from English papers, Civ
ing the official output and full CONNER
cial history of the realm for each year. OF
late years these reports have become so
| Thorough that the volumes are now quite
bulky and it is rather tiresome work to
look through them and gather general sta
III i
4 have done, he will find that what have
said is true and will marvel that any
nation can stand the drain that England
is now standing and has stood for many
years.
Germany. too, as is shown by these vol
| umeS. for many years was on a Decline
and although bouyed up for while by the
large war Indemnity paid by France, con-
tinued to decline until five OF six years
ago when she commenced to rally. France
on the other hand has been very prosper
Gus. supporting an Emperor who has made
/ Paris the most magnificent city Of theWorld,
and notwithstanding most disastrous
war and the payment of vast war indem-
nifty, has continued to progress, and has
recovered from these shocks, that would
certainly have utterly FRUSTRATED England
| OF Germany with all elasticity and q
rap;dity that is without parallel, our
own country scarcely being an exception.
/ What has been the cause Of these great
differences in these four great countries
What curious fact do we find on eXanin-
.fsiHg all of them We find that England and
Germany arere goreraed by Ff'ee-trdoe.
France and the United States By Protection.
Is there no significance in this ? Further
let snote that Germany five or six years age
became so Disguised with her Free trade
feeling that she adopted the strongest pro-
tective tariff now in existence and since
then has been more prosperous than be-
fore.
Are we to conclude, then, nothing from
this 1t seems to ne, and / don It see how
anyone can fail to come to any other con.
clusion, that such records prove the adj
vantages of protection as opposed tC
Free-trade. Yet we hear it stated that
the increased wealth Of this country is not
due to protection that simply because we
have had u high tariff for the past twenty
four years has not caused this great pros
perity to us. Maybe these persons will
also tell us why France has flourishe(
under protection and why England anG
Germany have retrogaded under Free
trade If the United States were alone il
this respect ! might admit the force of ;
coincident argument, but the cumulative
evidence from these other countries is too
great, and can't help believing we owt
our great prosperity almost solely to on
protective tariff.
In looking then to the two great partie
for guidance ought we not to follow TIL,
8 one that promises us continuance OF thl
E policy, under which we have so greatl
1 prospered Undoubtedly, yes. Ever
voter who carefully considers the abov
facts must, it seems to me answer in tn
r great parties we find that in Virginia tn
= = members OF each claim that their party i
e for protection. The Republican party w
e all know has instituted this policy, ha
continued it to the present day, and prom
. ises to continue it in the future i'll Ian
guage that cannot be mistaken. In
Y Democratic party has always passed Free
:, trade laws when it has been Empower
d has within the past twenty fou
d years frequently endeayored to restor
them and declared against the Republica
system, and now stands before the coun
4 try pledged to oppose the present protec
y tive laws. But you may object, that tn
Democrats here claim they are not i
favor of Free trade Let Us see as to this
J. No one will deny that UP to the preSen
campaign they have been Free traders
the last presidential contest indeed wa
fought exclusively on that issue. A yea
ago their representatives in Congress b
l. an overwhelming majority supported an
did their utmost to pass an out and on
: Free-trade bill. Their recently adopte
platform at Chicago. to say the least,
ambiguous on the subject to the ordinar
reader, and one who examines it closel
as absolutely Free-trade platform as wa
the one of 1880. Mr.. Henry WattersOl
the warm. personal friend of Samuel !,
Tilden. the man who controlled the actiO
y of the committee and actually wrote til
platform of 1880, and who had asmuch il
fiuence as any man in the construction {
re the present platform, says of it in H.
paper, which is the leading Democrat
$. paper of the South that the platform
Il Free-trade platform, and that I'm IL
to committee Converse and has projections
were beaten at every point, and in IL
convention the protectionists under Bu
ler were likewise routed. Is there at
further testimony wanted? Mr.. Waite
son goes on further to state that the Ne
q York San. otdr, and other protectic
papers are in revolt against the party al
it's time honored principles. while IL
Free trade papers are doing the 10y
A. work Gen. Butler, (who however, we m;
= regard his motives, and as for myself
u have not the highest regard for Their
labored in the Democratic convention Il
ssl protective tariff plank and now oppos
he the party, ostensibly at any rate, becau
ng it refused to adopt his protective resol
es, lions. If any further proof is needed la
es, the Democratic candidate for Congress
fN your owl district and see what ne say
let He brings forward the Free-trade dc
ID d trines, taught in the Golden club, that ,
'e are constantly drained OF our resources
paying higher prices for our cloth'
/ wagons, harness, &C.. and vet, people W
X | J,ol;ovn tbot ha ic n nrotpctiODISt. Decau