The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-11-26
a Free Trade Farmer.

III. q. II. rierson, of Summit Vir-
GINA. appeared in the last issue Of the
Harrisonburg Form and Home in COM
nSupication Under the caption Of '.Sugges-
tions for Virginia's Amelioratjon. The
Farm and Home endorses Mr.. Pierson as
a thinking and intelligent farmer. -
The communication was intended to be
read before The Farmers Convention re-
centlyi in session at Richmond. but was
not, for S0me cause, and is given to the
public through the medium Of the paper
referred to for the enlightenment of the
farmers. Mr.. Pierson may be and doubt
less is i thinking and intelligent far
mer. but lie is neither thoughtful nor in
lteiligeDt i'll the discussion Of the economic
question of tariff duties, as he presents
the matter. There is not. indeed, a
thoughtful or intelligent farmer in the
Valley who will not question Mr.. Pier
son S soundness Of conclusion when he re-
commtnds Free Trade as the means of
iamelsosating the condition Of the farming
/ community. He simply reproduces Mr..
fuckers exploded notions about the oper-
alton of tariff laws. He assumes that the
tariff duty ona certain article Of English
manufacture is aadedto the price of the
same Article manufactured III this country
ana that this excess is paid by the farmer
! for the benefit of the manufacturer. He
states his view thus Suppose a wooden
manufacturer in this country and one IN
/ England. They both can make cloth at
| say SO cents q yard. The EDglishman
sends his cloth here and must pay 50 cents
to come into this country and therefore
costs 81. The goods being Of equal quail,
ity, the American can undersell the Eng
lishman az 80 cents, and still clear 40 cents
profit over and above the legitimate profit,
Who pays the 40 cents? The consumer.
| You and I. But understand, We get no
cloth for it. We pay SO cents for our cloth
and an additional 40 cents for the privilege
of patronizing home industries"
There are more Of such fallacious notions
in the article, but this will suffice. Mr..
Pierson argues just like all free traders ar
que, without reference to results, or con
sidering for a moment the effect Of the
protective policy. He ignores the fact
that protective duties not only encourage
home manufactures, but cause COMPETE
| tion in the manufacture of the articles
protected, and competition brings the
price of the articles manufactured down
| to the lowest living profit, making the ac-
tnal cost as little to the consumer as the
English article would. The wooden mills
at Bridgewater and the cloth factories at
Rankin's, in this county, and at Char
lottesville, Va, and all through Georgia.
will turn out as good an article at the
same money as the English factory can
furnish it. These home manufactures not
only give US the article as cheap as We
could get it, If imported, free of duty, but
they give employment to home labor, en-
able consumers of farm products to pay
for what they consume, and thus not only
benefit skilled labor. but furnish market.
for the farmers wool and other farm pro-
ducts. There may be certain fabrics mana-
featured in England where for hundreds Of
years they have been preparing for it, which
are not made in this country to the same
perfection,b but these are not the articles the
great mass of the consumers purchase. A
few only are able to pay for them, and it
is to these the tariff duties are charged
and not the farmer Under protective
policy American industries will not be
|
long in reaching the same degree of per-
lection and when that is done, then the
goods will be reduced III price to cores
pond with the cost of manufacture here.
Previous to 1928, under a revenue only
tariff, nails sold in this country at is cents
per pound. After the enactment Of the
protective tariff laws of that period, nail
factories sprang up all over this country,
and nails went down to cents per pound.
So it is now with iron and steel rails.
They can be made here almost as cheap
as they can be ia England, and with com
petition encouraged by protective duties,
they are sold to consumers at about what
the English article could be purchased.
They are made by American skill and the
workmen become profitable consumers
for the farmers, giving double favor to
the people of this country, to whom the
government looks for supportfn times of
peace and war
Nothing pleases England so.much as a
genuine free trade American. She sees in
his theories and arguments a support to-
her own industrial progress and wealth.
Institute once an American Free Trade
policy. and England would hail it as a ben
efaction for it would give hersthe control
Of the American market. destroy our
own industries, and with this effected
enable English manufacturers to fix their
own profits as they did with nails and
steel and every other article, not made in
this country. before protective laws were
enacted.
What this country wants is industrial
independence-to make everything tile
people need, and thus by diversifying pur-
suits and exchanging products, build up q
manufacturing, farming, commercial and
political power that could defy the world.
With our diversified climate and natural
resources, and almost limitless unoecupied
territory, there should be no barrier to the
enlargement ofindustrial enterprises of all
kinds and under our system of free trade
among the States, as a substitute for free
trade with other nations, establish our own
workshops, encourage our own farmers,
and by reciprocal exchanges, make the
American people the wealthiest and most
powerful en- the globe.
This cannot be done under free trade
policy with other nations, which would
transfer our workshops to other countries.
Labor is the primal source of national
progress and prosperity. To cripple or
starye it is to sap national life, impoyer-
isf the body polite and dwarf the capaci- /
ties OF the state. A distinctive American
policy which recognizes the essentially of
industrial independence, is that only which
COMFORTS with the dignity, the power and
the intelligence Of government of the
people, for the people and by the people.
Governmental policy should be shaped