Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-01-20
Communicated
NIT. JACKSON. VA, Jan. 1

~ - - n thA'C-ff AAs1 " Nhs 80
MR.. Editor If farmers think
times are hard and have difficulty
in getting hold Of money, can
give them "pOinter" on the situa-
lion. Last month the federal GOV
eminent collected over $4,000 900
more than it had any use for. That
was more Hdnd haG million dollars
d dag, taken from the people to be
locked up IN vaults where 1t will do
nobody any good, because there is
not, and has not been, wisdom
enough in the democratic admins
tration to make proper disposal
of it. And now they are bowling
over 1t and trying to find fault with
the tariff, calling the tariff "vicious,
inequitable and illogical, "-trying
to revive the Old deception, which
goes by the name of unnecessary
taxation Lo! the people have
been calling for proper disposal
of the surplus for long time. Why
don't it comet Are they holding
it back for hobby Yes; and
holding 1t up as proof of our being
taxed beyond necessity, and that
the burden is so great that it is
"viciOus, inequitable and illogical"
Now, we will eDdeavor to prove
that the tariff is and has been
great blessing to the people of this
country.
In the first place In the wisdom
of the Union party the tariff be-
came necessary (withOut debate) to
pay off the war debt; during its
operation it has encouraged indus.
tries, AMI has paid of all the war
debt that is due and optional.
It is true, that the tariff when
first passed raised the price of
everything that was imported so
high that we could then truly say
1t was a burden. BUTT IS no long
er a burden; that burden has been
removed long since, by our own
home industries, which we're pro.
tected by high war tariff 10 that
extent that we can make many
things so much cheaper now than
we would have been able to do
without the tariff, that we can af-
ford to throw the surplus in the
Potomac rather than remove the
tariff. Without the tariff the sur.
plus would have been in the hands
OF foreign people-pald to them for
things bought OF them to build up
their manufactures and discourage
our own.
Without the tariff our industries
would 90 back-as in the case of
wool. In 1863 and 1864 wool was
Is cents per pound, and when the
tariff was put on it, in 1867, wool
came down lower and lower until
1888, when it had reached the low
price Of % cents per pound, and
when a portion of the tariff was
taken off, IN the same year, wool
began to raise until IT has reached
the price of 80 cents. So it will be
with everything else that is, or can
be, produced here. Our capitalists
are afraid of foreign glut and Will
not invest their money when it has
no protection. The "pOint" the
farmer, and every other class OF
our people, need to understand, is,
that to lower the tariff is to dis.
courage our own industries; and
to discourage our own industries Is
to better the chances for foreign
nations to sell us goods, get our
money, break mp our own indus
tries, raise the prices, and throw
our own poor people out of employ
ment.
We have been twenty odd years
building up our industries, and now
when we are reaping good return
in the way of buying cheap, and
when the prospect is that many
things will still get cheaper, to
have our industries howled down |
by a set of hungry politicians, will
prove the weakness, and be a dis
grace, to a republican form of gov
eminent. Both parties are crying
Monopolies monopolies and |
causing strikes, riots, blOod-shed |
and even some poor devils to be
hanged. Truly, cur country IS get
ting into lamentable condition.
j. II. S.