Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-10-10
which Should IL Re-TarlT or
Internal Revenue?

systems Of taxation We must have,
and that the internal revenue tax
is the most odious and UNEQUAL
method ever devised; that it was
a necessity born Of the war, and for
that reason alone tolerated by those
whom it so heavily Oppressed.
In this and succeeding papers, We
shall endeavOr to show, that in the
choosing, we are not merely select
ing between necessary evils; but
that there is much positive good
in the tariff for a State situated as
Virginia is, and the Industries OF
whose people are such as ours.
Anterior to 1860 it was worse
than idle to talk of tariff in almost
any State Of the South. Slavery
existed then, and this was cheap
labor. This labor was doing for the
South exactly what we opposed tho
tariff for doing in the East 1t was
building up monopolies. 1t was
making plantation owners rich and
aristocratic. But it was wor ling
an evil that had no counterpart in
the East. There, protection was
educating, training and paying the
best mechanics of the world. In
the South, slavery was enriching
the plantation owner while it was
making the small farmer, the mech
anic and the labOrer poorer and
poorer. The Southern aristOcrat,
with cheap slave labor, wanted no
well paid labor elsewhere, and es-
pecially was he averSc to it when
he calculated that his cheap labor
contributed its mite of the duty on
imports which kept up the standard
of free and respectable labor. Vir-
ginia's interests were not then
identical with those of States furth-
er south, but, as at the beginning
of the war, demagogues, so insiS-
ted, and so she acted. Her only |
historian and many Of her ablest |
and most patriotic sons appealed |
to her, but the appeals fell upon
ears deafened 10y a prejudice that
no reason could penetrate.
That period Of blindness and
darkness is past. The war, its cal
antilles and consequences we're not
unmix9d evils. They opened a
pathway to the judgement Of men.
The fathers, sittln e amidst the
ruins of harmless and fencclcss
homcsteads, were thinking during
that four years. Their sons came
home from the field stronger and
broader in intellect, and they are
defying Bourbonism by thinking
now. Such men no longer spend
their time whining over a "SOlid
South" We want to know our real
and how to shape our s
action for their quickest and sureSt :
promotion. ;
The Bourbon still brawls about (
that the tariff taxes the farmer, the
mechanic and the laborer ia enrich {
a few men. Grant it. If we must {
pay taxes, it is Of little consequence S
how We pay them. 1t is Of conse- 7
lucncc TO ascertain whether any q
system is more equal and S
ess void Of benefits than others. a
Let us bring the question right |
Town TO our pockets and look at q
{ by the bright light Of experience i
md observation. We have been S
,aying taxes 10y tariff eighteen C
ears. To-day there is not piece q
# manufactured cotton goods that II
S not cheaper than in the free-trade Il
,criod. Standard calicocs now sell Ii
or - to S cents that were never fC
nown to sell for less than the old Il
nine pence in the ten years Of Al
ee-trade from 1850 to 1860. All Il
ottOn goods of the very same I'll
rade and quality as Of that period I'll
re reduced. Every agricultural "
Implement, the drill, the reaper, co
le rake, the plow, and every anti m
e of use made of iron or steel, is M
reaper now than during that per to
d. Steel rails are lower to-day mn
IAN iron was then. American tn
eel sells to-day for ID II cents III
II pound as against - - cents INF
free-trade England. The sta tie
e articles Of common use made tut
CHER by the tariff are sugar, rice Is
d salt. The Senate finance com PEI
ttee reduced the aggregate duty OF
the first Of these twenty mill the
IS Of dollars, and, as we write eel
IS article, the JOnaScs, ElliScs ke'
Il other Southern Democrats (so- aga
led are speaking and voting in any
ngreSS against the committee ann
,Ort, lest they be placed in COM zln'
itiOn with Chinese and slave the
or. The same men who come OF !
Ong us at intervals berating pro- tina
ton for our minerals and beg MOI
& Virginians to remain in the was
INN of a "Solid South" and vo- II
: a "SOlid South for . IL cents the
pound duty on imported com they
/ sugar so as to compel Virgin hav,
, to pay that much additional and
sugar manufactured in South TIL
states. to i
ut observation does not end ed al
B. There is no production of learn
farm-poultry, butter, eggs, by IL
lie, sheep, &c, &c.-that does Virg