Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-08-24

FOR THE STATE AT LARGE,
RICHARD F. BEIRNE, of Hanover.
JOHN 7. HARRIS, of Rockingham.
DISTRICTS.
1st 7. R. B. WRIGHT, of Essex.
I'd. D. GARDNER TYLER, of Charles CITY,
3d. TAZEWELL ELLETT, of Richmond.
18th. VIM R. MCKINNEY, of Petersburg,
5th. HERBERT G.. PETERS, of Henry.
9Th W. W. BERRY. OF Bedford.
18th. M1CAJAH WOODS. of Albemarle.
9th. e. z. MEREDITH of Prince William.
9Th. JOHN A. BUCHANAN, of Washington.
10th. r. B. POORE, Of Appomattox.
A COSTLY EXHIBITION OF
PATIENCE.
The Valley Vdrginia1 argues In reply to
the INDICATOR, that if the people would
have patience and pay the tariff tax on tin
plate, tin ore mine In Virginia and
another in Dakota would be developed,
tin plate would be manufactured In this
country, and this would follow:
The price to the consumer would be lessen
ed; the mineral development of the South
would bound forward, idle labor would
be given profitable employment, and every
class of our peopls receive some part of the
benefit from the expenditure of the $50, 000,-
900 which would be paid out in their midst.
This is proposition deserving of con-
sideration. Let us give it the considera-
tion it deserves. The Virqinian and VIM
DICTATOR are agreed on two propositions.
One is that there is not now, and has never
been pound of tin plate manufactured
from ore mined in America. Another is
that there is no tin-plate manufactured in
the United States.
There Is not workman engaged in
making tin-plate in this country.
There is not a man engaged in digging
out tin ore in this country.
In this state of affairs, with nobody be-
ing benefited in this country by tariff
on tin plate, the government has for years.
under Republican tariff, been collecting
q tax of SIS, 100000 from the people and
adding it to the surplus already in the
Treasury. This would, for illustration,
amount to $3.50, 900 annual tax on the peo-
pie of each Thirty-Eight States of the
Union, if so distributed.
The Democrats determined to put stop
to this absurd and useless taxation of the
people, and in the Mills bill took off the
tax from tin-plate, thus leaving $5.7O0,OOO
of the peoples money in their pockets
In meeting this proposition. H on. Jacob
Yost of Virginia offered an amendment to
the bill. not only retaining the tax on the
people, but doubling 1T. His amendment
proposed to make the tax and 2-1 cents
pound, which would make tax of about
$11 900, 900, or, for illustration, an annual
tax of $3.50, 900 on the people of each State
of the Union. The Democrats defeated
Mr.. Yosts amendment, and the Mills bill
removes all tax on tin plate.
The VirQinian is sustaining MIR. YOst's
amendment-not for its Immediate effect
had it been adopted, but because it would
be spur to the developing of tin ore,
which is believed to exist in this country,
a belief shared in and certified to by some
expert mineralogists. Let us see how
reasonable is that demand and how likely
1t is to be conceded by the people.
most far-reaching Of any in the tariff sched-
ules, it strikes every man, poor and rich
who uses tin in any form. 1t strikes the
workshop with it's dinner pail, the farm
with Its home Industries of canning, and
1t strikes heavily the first new industry
that Virginia has taken hold of. Under
Mr.. Yost's proposed tax every three-pound
fruit or vegetable can would pay one cent.
Take the canneries around Mr.. Yost's
home-where the farmer disposes of his
surplus. We see from the Rockbridge
Nea0s that the Lexington cannery alone
will turn out this season $50. 600 cans
That means tax by the government on
that single establishment Of $500. We
see from letter in the Richmond Dis
patch that the StauntOn cannery expects
to use 100000 cans this year. That means
an annual tax on an industry just started
in Mr.. Yost's home, of So, 500. The latest
estimate of the cans that will be used in
the eight canueries of the county of Rock
bridge in Mr.. Yost Is district. puts it at
1900, 900, which means tax in that county
alone of $l6.0O0on an Infant industry" in
which the farmer has deep interest, the
deeper because it is cash consumer of his
surplus vegetables and fruit. We have
no means at hand of ascertaining the out
put Of the canneries Of our State. but as
many of them are giants compared with
the younger enterprises of Augusta and
Rockbridge we may infer that the tax in
this State advocated by Mr.. YosU and the
TirQiuian, would have been very many
thousands of dollars. And when we come
to add the canning done by the farmers
themselves on their farms would be many
thousand more. This money thus wrested
from the people in the shape of a tax
would be for nobody's benefit and would
simply 60 into an already overlooking
treasury at Washington and be added to
the surplus.
The Varginaon desires this burden and
anomalous state of things-this costly
waiting-to be kept up-for what and till
when ? For encouragement of effort to
develope tin ore; then till it is discovered
and mined; then till tin-plate is produced
here equal to foreign tin plate; then till
home industry has produced cAeap tin
plate and then forever to keep it cheap.
The people to pay yearly burden of
$11 900 900 year in order that ''every
class of our people [may] receive some
part of tho benefit from the expenditure of