Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-11-21
The Elections And Wheat.

office OF president conducted on
lower plain than the one just
closed.
Lawyers of ability and of Sener-
al goodrepute,and business men, too,
of good character, went head-lOng
into any and all discussions with
out regard to or for anything but
the success ofparty.
This was possibly most noticeable
in the reasons pro and con given
for the depression of the wheat
m arket. 1t was an hourly thing
toh ear some man say the tariff was
the cause oft; another would say
it was retaliation another that
the taria so impaired commerce that
there were no ships to transport
our surplus and so on till there
was a reason good and sound
enough for ever neighbOrhOOd.
1t was idle t. answer them. The
excitement is now allayed, and
people are in a better frame Ofmind
for thought.
The real and only reason for the
depression in wheat prices is to be
found in the fact that the "Iudies,'
produced last year 81 millions Of
bushels of wheat. This is but an
outlying province of England, and
England takes care of her own
first. This wheat can be put in
Liverpool at IS cents a bushel.
The labor that produces it is paid
from to 6 cents a day. In q word,
it IS subject, serf or slave labor.
Now this same wheat can be put
in the Atlantic cities and markets
of the United States at 50 cents, or
possibly a fraction less. The tariff
of 20 cents a bushel would make it
worth 70 cents here. And this is
about the market as 1t has obtained
for some months past.
This is matter for serious consid-
Grafton by our farmers and those
who live by wage labor. The poll
cy Of England has always been
to raise and manufacture every
thing possible. The cotton states
were surprised to find that Cotton
was not King in 1861. England
had dethrOned that monarch with
ont the brilliant craftsmanship
of the South knowing or suspecting
1t.
SO she is now engaged IN Kidding
herself OF all dependence upon our
crops for supplies. With a few
bayOneis and a superior navy she
makes the Valley of the Black Sea
raise her all the wheat she wants,
and her own bottoms transport it
to her commercial centres.
Against theinevitable ruin which
this portends there is but one re-
mcdy. 1t is the policy which Eng
land acted upon till it made her
master. It's a policy so protective
as that nothing made or produced
here shall find competition with the
same things made OF produced
abroad.
1t is this, and this alone, in our
humble judgment which can save
our farmers, laborers, manufac-
turers and mechanics from direct
competition with the slavery of the
East Indies.
The last fourteen years added |
seventeen millions to our popula- /
ton. The next ten years will add |
as many more. These go into di- /
versihed business. Few Of them /
adopt farming. These people make /
a market for our products, and the
manufactures in turn makes the i'm
plements with which to produce. A
home market, is all that can make
us independent Of England. Pro-
lection to American labor and pro-
duce and manufactures is all that
makes the home market.
IN considering this subject our
readers should always bear in mind
one unpleasant thought. We are
not all patriots. Many men in
whom you have confidence ably
argues the treetrade, or revenue re-
form idea. Interest is a controlling
principle with weak human nature.
The money lender and Spectator
wants seasons Of panic and bank
ruptcy. These decrease the price of
property and enhance the parchas.
ing power Of money. Nine.tenths
Ofthe banks and all the importing
cities are for free trade. These are
non-prOducing. Their interests are
as Numerically opposed to those Of
the producing classes, a. are the
interests Of all American working.
men antagOnized by the English
system of provincial serflOm.
1t was British free-trade gold
that carried New York, hoping to
reap rich return by the inaugur
alton of q so-called tariff revision.
We cannot refrain from repeating
our congratulations that the SEN
ate stands in the way of this.
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The HERALD promises to reprint
ccrno. f.loo<auf orffntoo f,or. A.