Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-09-01
TRUE HERE TOO.
" HoRNY.F1sTED SONS OF TOLL y

those Democrats who are leaving
the sinking ship of Free Trade De-
mocracy and uniting with the Re-
puOlicans because of Protection. 1t
bewails the folly of such action, as
it would term it, in the following
sentences:
But, why this separation from
the party with which they formerly
voted7 Is it because they regard a
high protective tariff as being sub
servient to the welfare of the mill.
ions Of horny handed sons of toll,
who receive small wages for their la
Dor and pay exorbitant and impov-
Crushing prices for what they con-
sumo 30
Will our contemporary tell the
I" horny-fisted sons of toll y in what
particular they pay exorbitant
and impoyerishing prices for
what they consume. Is it in
anything they wear or eat ?
Is it in cotton cloth, calico cloth, or
the pet scare crow of Mr.. j. Ran
dolph Tucker and his son Harry st.
George, the poor mans blanket and
wool hat. We venture the assertion
that there are a number of Demo
cratic and Republican voters in
Highland county who remember
very well when cotton cloth, calico,
blankets, hats, etc., cost double what
they do now, and when wool sold for
10 cents pound, cattle for 2 and D
and potatoes 25 or 80 cents a bushel,
and that under Democratic "reve-
nue. only" policy. When the peo-
pie think of the conditions under
which they lived up to 1861 and the
conditions which have prevailed
since that time, under the protective
policy, they will not agree with the
Recorder, that they are worse off
now than they were then, or that
they are oppressed with burdens
which did not obtain them. There
is but one article of consumption that
is dearer which comes into daily use,
than before 1861, and that is coffee
and coffee is and has been for years
on the free list. Butter, eggs, fruits,
potatoes, wool, cattle, sheep, and
everything else that the "horny listed
sons of toll" of Highland county
raise, bring better prices and have
reader market now than thirty
years ago.
Why should Highland county
want free trade, or the adoption of
legislation such as the Mills Bill,
which would lead in the direction of
free trade =? She has mountains
of mineral wealth, which only want
access to market, to be a source of
immense value to her people. With
railroad passing through her terri
tory, which will be the case at no
distant day, there is no equal area
of Eand that would produce greater
or more affiuent results. Highland
is rich in natural resources, and what
is wanting is capital and skill to de-
velOp the facilities for reaching it.
Such can be assured only under the
protective policy. Free trade wOnld
arrest public enterprises of all kinds.
Railroads would cease to be multi
piled at the rate they now are, for
the reason that material develop
ment would be checked, which fur.
nishes remunerative freight bust
ness. Corporations, as source of
taxation, would diminish, and the
land be called upon to pay larger
tribute for the support of govern
ment. In some States. notably
Pennsylvania, the whole revenue
for State purposes, is derived from
assessments upon personal and cor
porate property. This will be, in
time, the case in Virginia and other
States, where the natural resources
give promise of industries and such
enterprises as can bear taxation.
What the "horny-fisted sons of toilD
of the whole country want is the
perpetuation of that system which
encourages material development,
gives employment, and remuneration
to the men who pay the taxes and
fight the battles of the country, and
who constitute the warp and
wool of its strength, its growth and
its grandeur. They do not want to
build up the workshops and facto-
ries, the furnaces and the mines of
other countries. at the expense of
their own, as would be the result I'M
der the policy contemplated and
aimed at in the Mills bill and the
Democratic theory as to revenue col,
lections. They want home employ
ment and home market-the en-
largement of the industrial system.
and its diversifcation, so as to &C.
commodate the natural conditions
and resources of every portion of
our diversified country-so that our
60,0O0,O00 people can produce what
they want and by interchange of
commodities, each community con-
tribute to the wealth, comfort, hap
piness and progress of the other.
That is what protection means. 1t
means America for Americans in
the broadcast and most practical
sense, and the upbuilding of our
country by the united efforts and
labor of our own people, working IN
and through each other and for
common object. We have our own
wool, our own timber, our own iron
and steel ores, out of which to make
tin-plate, our own hemp, our own
vegetables, our own salt, why not
so leglslate as to use them, instead
Of inviting such products to come in
free of duty, to destroy the value of
what we have? Why not give pref
erence to our own people and our
own land and what it is capable OF
producing, rather than look abroad
to encourage those who do not con-
tribute cent to the support of our
government or offer an arm to de-
Eox,l IL IL, ti.,,a af x,aad 9