Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-02-10
BILL NYE on THE TARIFF.


little as do about il are freely discuss
ing the tariff il seems almost cowardly
in me to hang back. l have always
resolved, therefore, TO give utterance
to few terse and ringing sentences,
| not calculated to inflame the country.
OF course, for have always tried 10
be temperate, especially in my Ian
guage, and sought 10 avoid using my
wonderful gifts as a word-painter and
rhetorical thunderbolt-jerker in a way
that would excite the lower-case ma
| ture of men 10 war or tend 10 depress
the stock market Go TO any Wall
street man of prominence to-day and
he will tell you, unless he should hap
pen to be prejudiced because | may
have pinched him in some deal or
other, that / have never tuned my
Tyre for the purpose Of melting the ma
! ton TO civil war or sought TO unsettls
values or TO wreck great financial on
/ terprises. But | say that al time
! when the less man knows about the
tariff the more freely he enters into
| discussion OF il. think il would be
wrong for me longer TO restrain myself.
Go where you will in this country to-
day and you will find men talking
! about tariff and the tax on raw mate
rials who haven't had a mouthful ot
raw materials OF any kind in the house
for weeks, except as their wives earned
| il and brought it home TO them. This
| country il full of men who have
| thought so hard for the common weal
| that the seats of their trousers shine
| like the dome of the Massachusetts
| state house.
! And now there rises in the distance
large and growing surplus which in
dicates that as soon a, the two parties
get nearly balanced and sit up nights
TO watch each other at Washington
there is a good deal more money com
| ing into the treasury than is needed
to run the mighty machinery OF the
government Friends Of the present
methods say this is better than a de
ficiency, for you can return surplus
| 10 the people. That is true. You can
take it from the pockets OF those who
unjustly paid it and then return IT to
those who have no claim upon IT,
meantime paying good salaries to
those who collect il and to those who
disburse it, allowing a good-sized per
centage for what may be detected to
wards Canada.
Mr.. Blaine desires to reduce the sur.
plus by reducing the tax on tobacco,
thus making tobacco juice IA free rs
water and winning the esteem OF sew
eral voters who would trade what pat
riotism they have for an election-day
cigar with a spinal column TO IL any
time. As man who has used a low
grade OF high-test cigars for some
wears, and as man who has been IN
the habit disappearing Mr.. Blaine year
after year until had almost become a
slave to the habit, desire to state
that the style Of statesmanship when
strives to win my young and trusting
heart with the promise Of seven good
cigars for quarter is not the KIND
that first established this republic on
a paying basis.
Everybody recognizes the utter i'm
possibility of knocking out financial
strineency by means OF melodious res
olutions or Of paralyzing poverty with
a dark-red preamble. You cannot
gather fresh train figs on board the
Thistle, or pacify old man Gastric with
the empty promise Of cheaper chew
ing tobacco.
Several gentlemen have invented
methods for the prevention OF rich
men, schemes by which property could
be equalized and divided per capita
instead Of per capital The result OF
this could be easily figured out in ad-
vance. To-day Jay Gould would be
wealthy and Henry George hungry,
we will say. Tomorrow Jay Gould
and Henry George would have t6l
apiece. Tuesday Henry George would
have S35 and a case Of collie. Jay
Gould would have $50 and be at the
head Of Jamaica ginger trust Wed
nesday Mr. Gould would have si30 and
an order on Henry Georges agent for
the proceeds OF his next lecture on
anti-poverty.
! Ii infant industries here are to be
fostered, and protected by the way,
why is not the American lecturer pro
tected from competition with foreign
lecturers? Whether you regard OF
| American lecture a. a manufactured
article or raw material IL IL generally
essentially American, and ought II
not TO be protectedf Lectures build
up a town They make business foi
railroads, hotels. opera houses, news
papers, laundrymen, tailors, etc, and
il successful they go abroad, and theil
lectures become an export, bringing
money into this country. Just as soor
as our lecturers here produce more
lectures than are absolutely required
for home consumption we can send
them abroad, but a. 1t is now onI
struggling lecturers here are forced to
compete with foreign lecturers like
Wong Chin Foo, who can live much
cheaper than our native-born lectur
ers who have been used to dried-applt
pie three times a day.
How is it with the American farm
er? He has been driven up further and
further into a corner by the legisla