Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-08-17

ject to being starved to death, are threat
ened by negroes; and we should have
Chinese did not the law forbid. So far as
1 can find out, the poorest-paid labor in
the United States is protected labor. Min
ing work never was skilled labor, and,
owing to the improvements in machinery,
manufacturing has ceased to be of that
sort. Even girl Or child can stand by
and regulate the machine.
said the protected labor was the poor
est paid. l must qualify that. There is
very little difference between that and
farm labor. At the rate we have been
sinking in the last twenty-five years, in
the next twenty-five we shall see farm labor
little better than the old serfdom OF
Russia. We are coming to the eighteen
dollars year and the sheepskin coat. And
as the right honorable protectionists adj
dress us now, in our distress, as their dear
ly beloved farmers, l suppose when in our
misery dying, as their miners and mill
operatives die, of want, they will still give
us this taffY. And why 7 Because we vote.
They treat their own laborers rough be-
cause they know there are so few of them
it can make no difference. But if we far
mers were to get up in our wrath, we
would make short work of them at the
| polls. don't know whether this will ever
occur, for we are ignorant and stupid,
ho inbf
ists' taffy to common sense.
Let our agriculturists once comprehend
the true working of the protective system
and its reign will be short. Let US look
at it. [ have a few hogs, bunch of
sheep, some corn, and more wheat. How
have ploughed, planted, fattened and
cured these, tells story Of hard labor and
exposure scarcely known to any other pur-
suit. Now, why have thus toied through
the year? Certainly from no philanthro-
pic or patriotic motive. 1 have done so
simply to secure market; no more. no
less. Does this paternal government SYM
pathize with me? Not muchI Congress
is in session the larger part of the year.
Does Congress do anything for the fam
er? Again, not much! Sometimes MEM
Der makes speech in which he bespatters
as with fattery. And every year the
President sends in message in which he
speaks of farming being the great under
lying prosperity of the land. Do any of
them concern themselves about our mar
kets? Again L say, not much! And yet
the most influential committee of the
House, that of the Ways and Means, sits
in almost perpetual session to hear, con-
slider, and devise how the mining and
manufacturing interests are to secure a
profit therefor through law of Congress
instead of leaving these interests to the
trade law of supply and demand If del
egation of farmers were to go before that
committee and say, "We are losing. not
money, but our labor, and We cannot live
on the prices Of this market of your max
jng," the delegation would be told that
the great American system of protection
was devoted to fostering mining and man
ufacturing Industries, and when that was
done the farmers would reap consequent
tial good which the committee hoped they
would be patriotic enough to accept. And
when the door closed on the disguised
delegation, roar of laughter would 60 up
over the ''haY -seeders."
Now, let US see how the Internal system
works as to the farmer? His market is a
foreign one. All the surplus that is over
the home demand goes to Europe, where
our Congress has no Jurisdiction, and
where the price is fixed, not only for what
is sold there, but for all that is sold at
home. This is free trade. He is free to
sell, without tax or charge, wherever he
finds demand. And in this market he
comes in contact with the lowest form of
it when he comes to buy 1t is protection.
Every article of clothing, every materi. l
that goes to give him shelter, all that is
necessary to carry on his work, is increased
as to price, to twice or thrice its value. He
then bugs atader protection and sells under
free trade.
Small wonder the poor man stands aghast
in the midst Of his Overtilled fields, and
sees the very ground slipping from beneath
him, as, year by year, this fearful abuse
goes on. To meet his loans he borrows
money on mortgage, in the vain hope that
the next seasons crop may prove more
prosperous, pay him out. and save his poor
home and few acres to his family. That
season never comes. l read in a story
once of man confined to solitary impris-
onmeut in round tower in which was a
circle Of windows. The victim woke every
morning to the fact that his prison grew
smaller by the disappearance of window.
till, at last. the mysterious walls Of death
| closed in on him. This is the farmer; and
the poor fellow cannot understand the
awful system that slowly but surely con-
tracts about him with its worse than death;
for it is perpetual servitude to his chill
| dren, wrought out by a government that
was built above him by the patriotic
fathers for the sole purpose of atfording
him and his, equal rights under the law.
lam writing this as any other old man
would who suffers in himself a public
wrong, while / know there are thousands
of ADLER pens engaged in exposing the
crime. If found worthy of publication, l
hope you will correct the sentences 50 far
as to make them readable, for my stiff
| fingers and dull head are not accustomed
| to this sort of work.
My main purpose, however, is to explain
and. as far as 1 can, set myself right in
reference to an unpleasant transaction
| 81 koo