The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-11-26
Dangers Ahead.

refreshing. 1n6 last utUerdnce lIOu tu4e
source Of prophetic wisdom. is that
the Republicans will make the Temper
ance question national, and subordinate
all other matters to that. Temperance is
a very good thing in its place, and will
some day assume the proportions OF great
national question. But other interests,
affecting the material welfare and the
rights of the people. will first have to he
adjusted. The Educational, the Labor,
the Tariff. and the Free Ballot questions
must be satisfactorily disposed Of before
any other matters can be given paramount
prominence. These are apart andparcel OF
the Republican creed The party believes i'll
universal education as the only true
source of wise laws and healthy govern
ment. 1t believes that the labor inter-
est lies at the base of our national progress
and prosperity !: that the policy of Protec.
tion to Home Industries is the only truly
| American policy: and that a free ballot
is essential to the perpetuity of our insti.
tutions. These great and vital interests
comprehend enough to engage the atten-
ton of the party that has brought the
/ country from condition of chaos to one
of unexampled development and wealth
and until they are settled in the light OF
the highest craftsmanship and the de-
mands of an advancing civilization, the
Republ can party will not have fulfilled its
mission or be content to give other inter
ests the same intense and determined CON
sideration.
| The indications point to the Tariff as az
issue that will be pressed to the front not
only in the approaching Congress, but in
| the Congressional elections of 1886 and the
Presidential election of 1883. The recent
Convention of Free Traders in Chicago
gave notice that there was to be no daily
| ing on this issue. 1t was there announced
| that fund was to be collected to prepare
for the contest of Free Trade against
| Protection in every Congressional Dis
trict in the Union, and that the people
! would be forced to choose whether they
i would accept the one or the other. Under
the disguise of Revenue Reform the issue
will be precipitated upon Congress and
| thence it will be brought before the people
| in 1886, when another Congress is to be
elected, and be injected into the great
national contest of 1883. when the control
of the government for four years will be
determined
| We are aware that there is much Of spe-
cious sophistry and deceptive logic in the
Free Trade arguments. Were the condi-
lions of all civilized nations the same, it
would be difficult to refute their formula
| lions. A monumental defect in their pre-
sensations, however, is that they do not
| fully consider the wants of the people of
their own country, the conditions which
surround them and the necessities of their
situation. 1t is one of the faults of the
doctrinaires that they never address them
selves to practical things or contemplate
results growing; out of practical legisla-
tion. They will point you to theories and
| ignore results. The revenue tariffs of
1916 and 1857 brought the country to the
verge Of rum, with impoverished treasury,
| idle labor and deprecated credit. Our
own dependence for all manufactured ar
ticles was the workshops of Europe. We
toiled and labored for European advantage,
while our own people were reduced to
almost abject dependence. The free trade
notion of cheap goods furnished from Eng
lish factories was presumed to be realized.
but there was no money to buy them at any
price. Not until the Morrill, tariff was enact
ed did this condition change. 1t looked to
building up American industries, the sup
ply of our demands from home labor and
the Investigation of productions to be ex-
changed under unrestricted Interstate
commerce. The result was that not only
were furnaces and factories brought into
existence to give employment to labor in
the manufacture of articles Of home
consumption but market was thus Gre
ated for our surplus farm products. Ell
couraging larger operations and assuring
more remunerative returns. From pow
erty the Nation speedily marched on to
wealth. The treasury was made to over
dow The credit of the government was
established upon high standard, and
throughout all classes of society and in
every ramilication Of trade prosperity
abounded.
A simple reference to the results OF the
two policies ought to satisfy every Aneri-
can citizen as to his duty. The Free Trade
policy would work to build up foreign in
dustries and give employment to foreign
labor, while the Protective Policy oper-
/ ates to encourage every interest of Amer
lea and make her independent of all other
powers.
The policy of the Free Traders, under
the disguise of Revenue Reform, is to
unite the solid South with New York city,
as controlling power in New York poll
tics, and through the influence thus ema-
mating hold New Jersey and Connecticut.
practically outlying provinces of New
York. and to compensate for any risks in
these latter States, make forays into the
agricultural States of the Northwest. 1t
is calculated thus to control the govern
ment by the Democratic party, and to
eventually establish the policy Of Free
Trade as that which is to direct the COM
merce and industries of the United States.
There is danger to the country in this.
1t would be the death knell of our indus
trial independence, destroy the vast sys-
tenn of factories and furnaces which en-
rich the North, throw upon commune
ty idle labor. and precipitate condition
of absolute anarchy. 1t is for this that
the Golden Club of England, with its
subordinate organizations in America, is
laboriDg. Whatever pay be their preten-
sions and however plausible their theories
this would be logically and inevitably the
result Were it not to benefit England
and injure America, why is it that Eng
lish Free Trade organizations busy them
selves so much in intoxicating Free Trade
notions and urging Free Trade policy for
the acceptance of this country They GER
tainly would not do SO If they did not ex-
pect to reap some advantage from their
labor, and they certainly would not reap
advantage if the result was to build up
American interests, for all of their invest